Wilhelm Mommsen

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Wilhelm Mommsen (born January 25, 1892 in Berlin ; † May 1, 1966 in Marburg ) was a German historian , as was his grandfather Theodor and his sons Karl († 1976), Wolfgang and Hans Mommsen .

education

Mommsen, Evangelical Lutheran son of liberal bank manager, Berlin city councilor and member of the Reichstag Karl Mommsen , went to a grammar school to school and completed his schooling in Berlin before 1912 at the University of Freiburg , a study of history recorded. On September 7, 1914, he registered as a volunteer for the First World War , in which he was deployed until December 21, 1916 and was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class.

Mommsen was not able to fully resume his history studies until 1919 at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin . He completed it, supervised by Friedrich Meinecke , in 1920/21 with the dissertation Richelieu, Alsace and Lorraine (published 1922). Subsequently, for almost a year speaker of the "Reichszentrale für Heimatdienst" in Berlin, he became a research assistant at the history seminar of the University of Göttingen in October 1922 , where he completed his habilitation with Arnold Oskar Meyer in 1923 with a thesis on Bismarck's fall and the parties 1927 remained active in the same position. He then received a lectureship in French history in Göttingen, where he was appointed adjunct professor in 1928.

History professor

Mommsen received his first appointment in 1929 from the University of Marburg as full professor for Medieval and Modern History and director of the historical seminar there. Among his students there was Christoph Steding , who received his doctorate from Mommsen on Max Weber in 1931 . By 1936, Mommsen published the journal Past and Present , which was aimed in particular at history teachers, and also published numerous articles in the historical journal . In the summer semester of 1942, Mommsen was a substitute professor at the University of Giessen .

As part of the denazification , Mommsen was suspended as a professor on December 11, 1945 by order of the military government. The denazification took place under the new Kantian Julius Ebbinghaus , who was appointed by the Americans as rector . Ebbinghaus carried out the procedure with great severity. In this context, Hans Mommsen pointed out injustices and disproportionalities towards his father.

In 1949/50 Mommsen received a paid research contract from the Hessian Ministry of Culture. At the beginning of 1955 he retired and his professorship had been filled in the meantime.

Mommsen is considered - also internationally - as a specialist in political and social movements of the 19th century. His compilations of German party programs, which were revised and supplemented in 1931, 1951, 1960 and later, are considered exemplary standard works:

"The new edition, let it be said immediately, is a perfect model of what a source collection should be."

- Klaus W. Epstein

Political orientation

In the Weimar Republic , Mommsen, who came from a liberal family, was a member of the DDP and the DStP . Among his most important academic teachers were the liberal Friedrich Meinecke and the German national Arnold O. Meyer. But in 1933 Mommsen and around 900 other university lecturers signed the professors' commitment to Adolf Hitler . The NSDAP joined Mommsen at the 1940th

During the time of National Socialism , Mommsen adapted to the positions prevailing at the time. In his 1938 essay On the Assessment of Absolutism, for example, he spoke several times of “ Volkstum ”. The state, Mommsen continues, "is for us only the outer form and at the same time the core in which the higher value of 'people' finds expression and political effect." (P. 55) Referring to the Führer state, he means:

“In the 19th century people used to view the absolutist state as the arbitrary rule of an individual and thus misunderstand its true meaning. Today we see forces alive in him that were promising. "

But Mommsen also endeavored not to sacrifice his scientific conviction to Nazi propaganda theories if he continues:

“But just as one should by no means underestimate the absolutist state as a tremendous historical achievement, neither should one, as has occasionally happened, emphasize its kinship with the present too strongly. Absolutism came from the state, not from the people. "

However, he justified this attitude in a folk way :

"It is precisely our obligation to the entirety of our people that should forbid us to allow particular forces of any kind, be it state, denominational, class or family, to influence our judgment and our valuation."

Overall, he knew how to use the National Socialist position when he defended one of his liberal role models, Friedrich Naumann , with values ​​that were highly regarded in the Nazi state:

“Naumann stood up for black-white-red and proposed that German Austria should become a member of the Reich. He himself doubted whether the Weimar constitution would last for five years. [...] Above all, he fought bravely and courageously against Versailles in Weimar and what was then Berlin. "

Where other Nazi historians saw forerunners of National Socialism everywhere in German history, Mommsen advocated an independent theory:

“Right now we are seeing that the soldiery attitude of Prussia has become an all-German trait in that 'Frederickian Germany' that Adolf Hitler spoke of at the beginning of the war. Greater German conviction and an all-German view of history seem to me compatible with viewing the Prussian-Lesser German way and the Bismarckian Empire as a necessary preliminary stage of today's Greater German Reich, without therefore - as has happened - ascribing greater German points of view to Friedrich or Bismarck. "

In the Soviet occupation zone , Mommsen's writings People and State in German History , Political History from Bismarck to the Present, 1850–1933 , Politics and Warfare and Germany and Europe 1850–1933 were placed on the list of literature to be segregated.

After 1945 Mommsen distanced himself slightly from the Nazi state:

“[T] hen the policy that finally led to the occupation of Prague and the Second World War , followed on from those central European lines of thought, and with the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia an attempt was in fact made to found an empire, 'which foreign peoples laws gave'. Only since the establishment of the Protectorate has the idea of ​​the Reich been exploited in the political form we all remember. "

Works (selection)

  • Richelieu, Alsace and Lorraine. A contribution to the Alsace-Lorraine question. Publishing house for politics and economy, Berlin 1922 (Univ. Berlin, Phil. Diss.).
  • Paul de Lagarde as a politician. On his 100th birthday on November 2, 1927 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1927.
  • People and State in German History: A Lecture . Diesterweg, Frankfurt a. M. 1933.
  • German party programs. Part: 5. The party development after d. Wars, 1918-1932 . Teubner, Leipzig 1933 with Günther Franz 2nd edition 1933; 3rd edition 1937.
  • Political history from Bismarck to the present 1850–1933 . Diesterweg, Frankfurt a. M. 1935.
  • Politics and warfare . Elwertsche Verlagbuchhandlung, Marburg 1940 (= Marburg University Speeches , No. 4).
  • Bismarck and his time. Teubner, Leipzig 1937 (= fabrics and shapes of German history ; Vol. 1, H. 7).
  • The political views of Goethe. German Verl.-Anst., Stuttgart 1948.
  • The German unity movement. A selection of contemporary expressions. German Book Community, Berlin 1950.
  • History of the West from the French Revolution to the present day 1789–1945. 2nd edition. Bruckmann, Munich 1960 (= world history in individual representations , 6).
  • Greatness and failure of the German bourgeoisie. A contribution to the political movement of the 19th century, especially the revolution of 1848/1849. 2nd edition Oldenbourg, Munich 1964.
  • Otto von Bismarck. With testimonials and photo documents. 20th edition Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1994 (= Rowohlt's Monographien , 122), ISBN 3-499-50122-8 .

As editor:

  • History of the political parties in Germany. 11th edition, completely revised. Olzog, Munich 1965 (= German Policy Handbook , 2).
  • German party programs. Second revised and supplemented edition, Olzog, Munich 1964. First edition Isarverlag, Munich 1960 (= German Handbook of Politics , 1).

As editor of magazines

  • Past and Present - magazine for history teaching and political education . With Moritz Edelmann until 1936.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Interview with Hans Mommsen on the topic: "New beginning and development of German historical studies in the 1950 / 60s" on H-Soz-u-Kult .
  2. ^ Klaus W. Epstein : German Party History . In: Review of Politics 24, October 1962, No. 4, pp. 588-592, here p. 589. Ibid, p. 590, the reviewer also speaks of “ Mommsen's superb source collection ”.
  3. ↑ Wilhelm Mommsen: On the assessment of absolutism . In: Historische Zeitschrift 158, 1938, Issue 1, pp. 52–76.
  4. ↑ a b Wilhelm Mommsen: On the judgment of absolutism . In: Historische Zeitschrift 158, 1938, issue 1, pp. 52–76, here p. 62.
  5. ^ Wilhelm Mommsen: On the biography of Johannes von Miquels . In: Historische Zeitschrift 164, 1941, issue 3, pp. 529–552, here p. 552.
  6. ^ Wilhelm Mommsen: On the biography of Friedrich Naumann . In: Historische Zeitschrift 161, 1940, issue 3, pp. 539–548, here p. 545.
  7. ^ Wilhelm Mommsen: Von der Pfordten a "Greater German"? In: Historische Zeitschrift 162, 1940, issue 3, pp. 551–556, here p. 554.
  8. ^ Wilhelm Mommsen: People and State in German History . Diesterweg, Frankfurt a. M. 1933.
    Wilhelm Mommsen: Political history from Bismarck to the present, 1850-1933 . Diesterweg, Frankfurt a. M. 1935.
    Wilhelm Mommsen: Politics and warfare . Elwert, Marburg 1940.
    Wilhelm Mommsen: Germany and Europe 1850-1933 . Diesterweg, Frankfurt a. M. 1944.
    See German Administration for National Education in the Soviet Occupation Zone: List of literature to be sorted out . Zentralverlag, Berlin 1946 ( online ) and
    German Administration for National Education in the Soviet Occupation Zone: List of the literature to be sorted out. Second addendum . Deutscher Zentralverlag, Berlin 1948 ( online ).
  9. ↑ Wilhelm Mommsen: On the importance of the Reich thought . In: Historische Zeitschrift 174, 1952, issue 2, pp. 385–415.
personal data
SURNAME Mommsen, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin , Germany
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1966
Place of death Marburg , Germany