Wilhelm Koppe (historian)

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Wilhelm Koppe (born September 28, 1908 in Schleswig ; † June 11, 1986 in Kiel ) was a German historian and university professor .

Life

Koppe studied history, English, philosophy and physical exercises for one semester each at the universities of Göttingen, Vienna, Königsberg, Hamburg and finally in Kiel, with Fritz Rörig and Otto Scheel among others . There he received his doctorate in 1931 on the subject of the Lübeck – Stockholm trade from 1368–1400 .

Koppe became a member of the NSDAP and the SA on May 1, 1933 and used these memberships to pursue his own academic career without being politically active on a large scale.

With the help of grants from the German Research Foundation , Koppe worked in the archives of Lübeck, Stockholm, Reval and Riga until 1936, partly on Hanseatic and partly on Swedish-German problems of the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1936 he completed his habilitation at the University of Kiel and two years later followed Fritz Rörig to Berlin, where he qualified as a lecturer for Middle and Modern History as well as for Economic and Social History at the Friedrich Wilhelms University . In Berlin, from April 1936, Koppe worked as a consultant for the North and East German Research Association at the Berlin-Dahlem Publication Center (PuSte Dahlem) for the Baltic Sea and Hanseatic League and, together with Johannes Papritz, published the journal Jomsburg on behalf of the PuSte Dahlem .

In 1940 Koppe wrote a political contribution alongside Johann von Leers on The Immediate Causes of the German-Polish War in the war chronicle published by Karl Schwarz at Stubenrauch-Verlag. In 1941 he served as the head of the history department at Riga University. However, due to his conscription for military service in 1939/40 and 1942/43 and being wounded twice, he was only able to exercise his lectureship temporarily. In 1944 he also took on representation positions at the University of Greifswald and the University of Posen , which dissolved when the Eastern Front collapsed in 1945.

Since the situation in Berlin made it difficult for Koppe to resume lectures, he accepted a post at Kiel University on April 28, 1945, following the advice of the local dean, the astrophysicist Albrecht Unsöld . He was also commissioned to assist the Kiel University Library with the repatriation of its evacuated holdings. After the British military government granted the license to teach, Wilhelm Koppe was taken on as a lecturer in history at Unsöld's instigation in the same year until he retired in 1972.

In addition to teaching Koppe was beyond in the years 1970 to 1986 as a board member of the Hanseatic Historical Association eV operates whose primary goal is to research the history of the Hanseatic giving and belonging to their cities a center.

plant

Koppe belonged to the circle around Fritz Rörig, who was supposed to prove and expand Rörig's controversial “founding entrepreneur theory”. Based on the example of Lübeck, Rörig assumed that a group of long-distance trade, cooperative “founding entrepreneurs” had a decisive influence on the planning and layout of cities in the Baltic Sea region in the 12th and 13th centuries. Koppe's dissertation was supposed to prove the great importance of Hanseatic sources for the history of a Scandinavian country, assumed by Rörig. Methodically, Koppe used the Lübeck Niederstadtbuch in conjunction with the pound customs lists for a specific thematic issue. His work is also seen as a contribution to the history of people and shipping .

Koppe's work as co-editor of the Jomsburg magazine brought him close to the intentions of National Socialist science policy, which in Scandinavia was particularly concerned with evidence of the underpinning of a culturally leading significance of Germanness. The Jomsburg was clearly perceived as a propaganda tool - not least because of Koppe's own contributions.

After the end of the Second World War , Wilhelm Koppe was one of the first to campaign for the reconstruction of the historical seminar in Kiel. In addition, he made sure that regional historical contexts also played an important role at Kiel University.

Knowledge of Hanseatic history, commercial life in medieval cities and the cultural and historical significance of the bourgeoisie were significantly enriched by Koppes research.

Fonts (selection)

  • The Lübeck-Stockholm trade from 1368-1400. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1933, also under the title Lübeck-Stockholm trade history in the 14th century. K. Wachholtz, Neumünster i. H 1933.
  • Lübeck and Lödöse in the 14th century. Gothenburg 1934.
  • with Johannes Papritz (ed.): Jomsburg . Peoples and States in Eastern and Northern Europe: quarterly. Hirzel, Leipzig 1937–1942.
  • The household of the Swedish Empire under Gustav Adolf and Christina. Habil.-Schr. University of Kiel, 1938. Heine, Graefenhainichen 1938 (greatly abbreviated partial print).
  • The immediate causes of the German-Polish war. In: Karl Schwarz (Hrsg.): Chronicle of the war - documents and reports. Volume I / II. The war, its prehistory and its development up to February 1, 1940. , Stubenrauch, Berlin 1940, pp. 399–407.
  • The empire of Miseko and the Vikings in East Germany. In: Deutsche Ostforschung: Results and tasks since the First World War. Vol. 1, Leipzig 1942, pp. 253-266.
  • On the price revolution of the 16th century in Holstein. In: Journal of the Society for Schleswig-Holstein History. 79, 1955, pp. 185-216.

literature

  • Oliver Auge , Martin Göllnitz: Hanseatic history as regional history: The example of the Kiel historian Wilhelm Koppe (1908–1986) . In: Hansische Geschichtsblätter 131, 2013, pp. 229–273.
  • Oliver Auge, Martin Göllnitz: State historical magazines and university state history: The example of Schleswig-Holstein (1924-2008). In: Thomas Küster (Ed.): Media of limited space. State and regional history magazines in the 19th and 20th centuries (= research on regional history. Vol. 73). Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2013, pp. ISBN 3-506-77730-0 , 69-125.
  • Klaus Friedland: Wilhelm Koppe (in memoriam): September 28, 1908 - June 11, 1986. In: Christiana Albertina: Research and reports from the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel. Volume 23, Neumünster 1986, pp. 471-472.
  • Wolfgang Prange : Wilhelm Koppe. In: Journal of the Society for Schleswig-Holstein History. 112, 1987, pp. 8-11.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Koppe: The Lübeck - Stockholm trade 1368-1400. Neumünster 1933, p. 298.
  2. ^ Auge / Göllnitz: Landesgeschichtliche Zeitschriften und University Landesgeschichte. 2013, p. 94.
  3. ↑ Auge / Göllnitz: Hansegeschichte , p. 239ff.
  4. ^ Margot Blank: National Socialist University Policy in Riga. (1941 to 1944). Conception and reality of an area of ​​German occupation policy. Lüneburg 1991, p. 41.
  5. ↑ Schleswig-Holstein State Archives, Section 47, Akt. 7255.
  6. ↑ Schleswig-Holstein State Archives, Section 47, Akt. 7255.
  7. ↑ Information about the HGV ( Memento of February 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 21, 2011
  8. ^ Klaus Friedland: Wilhelm Koppe. 1908-1986. In: Hansische Geschichtsblätter 104 (1986), pp. 1-3.
  9. ^ Wilhelm Koppe: The neutrality of the former Norwegian government. In: Jomsburg 4 (1940), pp. 121-124; ders .: Denmark's Nordic commitment . In: Jomsburg 4 (1940), pp. 255-258.
  10. ^ A b Klaus Friedland: Wilhelm Koppe (in memoriam): September 28, 1908 - June 11, 1986. In: Christiana Albertina: Research and reports from the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel. Volume 23, Neumünster 1986, p. 471.
personal data
SURNAME Koppe, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Schleswig
DATE OF DEATH June 11, 1986
Place of death Kiel