Wilhelm Lotze (historian)

Georg August Wilhelm Lotze

Georg August Wilhelm Lotze (born March 8, 1800 in Hannoversch Münden ; † January 26, 1879 there ) was a German butcher, innkeeper, guild master and historian.

life and work

Lotze was the son of the butcher, guild master and citizen Johann August Wilhelm Lotze and Regine Gertrude Voigt from Münden. The house in which he was born is dated 1648 and is located on Lotzestrasse. The slaughterhouse was operated in the Lotzehaus. It was called Hökerstraße when a Lotze founded the business here, later Rathausstraße, and since 1936 Lotzestraße. In addition, Wilhelm Lotze dealt early on with literature and occasional poems that were printed in local newspapers, initially under the name "Hermann Liederring".

Wilhelm Lotze had seven siblings and one half-brother. One of the three brothers who emigrated to the USA, Adolf Christian Alhard Lotze, called " Adolphus Lotze " in America , became known as a pioneer of the stove business and the manufacture of air heating devices.

On June 24, 1836, Wilhelm Lotze married Wilhelmine Elise Becker, who was also from Münden, daughter of the guild master, leash weaver and church mayor Georg Heinrich Becker and the raisin Regine Hartwick. They had nine children together. His daughters left Hann. Münden. His son Gustav, born in 1837, stayed in the Lotzehaus. In Gimte near Hann. Münden are still the direct descendants of his son Heinrich, born in 1884.

Heinrich's older brother, also called Gustav, born in 1875, went to Bremen. There he married Sophie Zirus, daughter of Heinrich Cyrus / Zirus and Sophie Meyer from Bremen, and ran two hotels with her there.

Wilhelm Lotze later left his business to his adult son and dedicated himself to the history of his homeland Münden. He searched archives, registries and libraries. The main fruit of his work was the "History of the City of Münden and the Surrounding Area" published in 1878, with special emphasis on the events of the Thirty and Seven Years' War. Wilhelm Lotze was also involved in politics, was a citizen's deputy and head of the St. Blasius Church. He was a member of the historical association in Hanover and the Hessian one in Kassel. Among his friends were the directors of the Kassel library, Dr. C. Bernhardi, and the State Archives Hanover, Geh. Archivist Karl Ludwig Grotefend , who encouraged and helped him in his studies and work, as did Oberhofmarschall Dr. Carl Ernst von Malortie , who among many historical works also left one about the Welfenschloss Münden .

Portrait of Georg August Wilhelm Lotze

Wall drawing with Wilhelm Lotze in the Louis Winkelmann wine shop in Hann. Münden

Publications

• 1827: New paternal archive , 2nd and 3rd issue.
• 1828: wreath of mixed stories and essays, braided by WL
• 1830: Grains of Gold, A collection of short verses and key sayings
• 1865: history of church visits
• 1866: History of the Kaufunger Forest
• 1868: History of the organ in St. Blasius Church
• 1874: Münden under French rule
• 1877: History of the St. Blasii Church in Münden
• 1878:
  • History of the city of Münden and the surrounding area, with special emphasis on the events of the Thirty and Seven Years' War; Digitized version of the Berlin State Library (SBB)
  • History of the city of Dransfeld along with the humorous history of the Hasenmelkers and Asinusfräters , Münden: on commission from H. Augustin in Münden and R. Deuerlich in Göttingen, Wilhelm Klugkist's printing press; Digital version of the SBB
• Flowers from Mündens (beautiful) Thale , Volumes 4, 7, 8, 10 and 11.
• Talisman for boredom
• Shortly before his death, the printing of a story of the neighboring town of Dransfeld was completed.

The famous sculptor Gustav Eberlein , who is also one of the great sons of this region, created a bust of Wilhelm Lotze for the museum. The bust is currently in the upper town hall of Münden.

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  Bust of Lotze in the town hall of Hann. Münden

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  Memorial plaque at the Lotzehaus

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  The Lotzehaus (with the year 1648)

literature

• Bernhard von Poten :  Lotze, Wilhelm . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 291 f.

Web links

• regiowiki.hna.de