Wolfgang H. Fritze

Wolfgang Hermann Fritze (born April 16, 1916 in Naumburg (Saale) , † September 21, 1991 ) was a German historian .

Wolfgang H. Fritze moved to Berlin as early as 1925, as his father was transferred to the Prussian Court of Justice as a judge. From 1925 to 1934 he attended the Arndt Gymnasium in Berlin-Dahlem . In the winter semester of 1934/35 he began studying history, German language and literature, philosophy, art and legal history and constitutional law in Tübingen . From 1936 to 1938 he did his military service. He then studied in Vienna in 1938/39 . In 1939 he attended the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin . On the advice of his Berlin teacher Otto Hoetzsch , he switched from German to Slavic philology. Fritze learned the Russian, Polish, Ukrainian and Czech languages. In December 1939 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht . Fritze fought in the southern sector on the eastern front . He was captured by the Americans for four months. In Marburg he introduced in the winter term 1945/46 continued the study. In addition to Otto Hoetzsch, his most important academic teachers were Otto Brunner , Heinrich von Srbik , Edmund E. Stengel, Max Vasmer , Rudolf Bultmann and Paul Tillich . In 1952 he received his doctorate there under Stengel with investigations into the early Slavic and early Franconian history . The work was printed in 1994 after Fritz's death. Fritze followed Walter Schlesinger , whom he met in Marburg, as an assistant at the Free University of Berlin . In 1959 his habilitation took place there with a thesis on the Abodritic Empire . Since 1960 Fritze was a private lecturer, in 1962 he became a scientific adviser, in 1965 an adjunct professor and in 1969 a full professor of medieval history with a focus on the early Middle Ages and the history of Eastern Central Europe. In 1970 he turned down an offer as a full professor for medieval history at the TH Berlin .

Fritze was the founder and head of the interdisciplinary working group " Germania Slavica " formed at the Friedrich Meinecke Institute , which was dedicated to researching pre-colonial and high medieval settlement in East Central Europe. The research results have been published in five volumes in the series Berlin Historical Studies . In 1979 he took early retirement for health reasons.

His doctoral thesis and his essays on the importance of the Avars for the Slavic expansion movement in the early Middle Ages, as well as the essay on the Slavs in the Anglo-Saxon mission program, made Fritze a leading expert on West Slavic history in the early Middle Ages. Another focus was the Christian mission in early medieval Europe. In 1983, Fritze was instrumental in the exhibition “Slavs and Germans between the Elbe and the Oder. 1000 years ago: Involved in the Slav uprising of 983 ”. He wrote an essay on the Slavs' revolt of 983 . Fritze also dealt with the early history of the Mark Brandenburg . He also published an article on Teltow and Barnim (1971). In preparation for the 750th anniversary of Berlin in 1987, Fritze did more research on his hometown. He published articles on the early settlement of the Bäketal and the history of Berlin's origins (1985), on the name of Barnim (1986) and on the Spandau city ​​charter of 1232 and 1240 (1987). In the later years of his life he dealt intensively with the history of Berlin-Dahlem .

Fritze was awarded numerous scientific honors and memberships for his research. Fritze was ordinary member of the Johann Gottfried Herder Research Council and the Commission for the Archeology of Central and Northern Europe the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities .

Fonts

• Studies on the early Slavic and early Franconian history up to the 7th century (= European university publications. Series 3: History and its auxiliary sciences. Vol. 581). Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1994, ISBN 3-631-46669-2 .
• Early days between the Baltic Sea and the Danube. Selected contributions to the historical development in Eastern Central Europe from the 6th to the 13th century (= Germania Slavica. Vol. 3 = Berlin historical studies. Vol. 6). Edited by Ludolf Kuchenbuch and Winfried Schich . Duncker and Humblot, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-428-05151-3 .

literature

• Reimer Hansen : Obituary Wolfgang H. Fritze (1916–1991). In: Yearbook for the history of Central and Eastern Germany . 41: 549-551 (1993).
• Manfred Hellmann : Obituary for Wolfgang H. Fritze. In: Yearbooks for the History of Eastern Europe . Vol. 40 (1992), pp. 311-312 ( digitized version ).
• Winfried Schich: Wolfgang H. Fritze (1916–1991). East Central European historian and regional historian. In: Friedrich Beck and Klaus Neitmann (eds.): Life pictures of Brandenburg archivists and historians. State, local and church archivists, state, regional and church historians, archaeologists, historical geographers, regional and folklorists of the 19th and 20th centuries (= Brandenburg historical studies. Vol. 16). be.bra-wiss.-verl. Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-937233-90-1 , pp. 174-183.
• Werner Vogel: Two new honorary members: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. Fritze (†) - Prof. Dr. Gerd Heinrich. In: Yearbook for Brandenburg State History . 42: 176-179 (1991).

Web links

• Literature by and about Wolfgang H. Fritze in the catalog of the German National Library
• Publications by Wolfgang Fritze in the Opac of the Regesta Imperii
• Publications by and about Wolfgang H. Fritze at Litdok East Central Europe / Herder Institute (Marburg)

Remarks

1. ↑ Wolfgang H. Fritze: Studies on the early Slavic and early Franconian history up to the 7th century. Frankfurt am Main et al. 1994 ( digitized version ).
2. ↑ Wolfgang H. Fritze: Problems of the abodritic tribal and imperial constitution and its development from a tribal state to a ruling state. In: Herbert Ludat (ed.): Settlement and constitution of the Slavs between the Elbe, Saale and Oder. Giessen 1960, pp. 141-219.
3. ↑ Wolfgang H. Fritze: On the importance of the Avars for the Slavic expansion movement in the early Middle Ages. In: Zeitschrift für Ostforschung , Vol. 28 (1979), pp. 498-545d.
4. ↑ Wolfgang H. Fritze: Slavs and Avars in the Anglo-Saxon mission program. In: Zeitschrift für Slavische Philologie , Vol. 31 (1964), pp. 316–338.
5. ↑ Wolfgang Fritze: The Slavic uprising of 983 - a turning point in the history of Central Europe. In: Eckart Henning, Werner Vogel (Hrsg.): Festschrift of the State Historical Association for the Mark Brandenburg on its centenary 1884–1984. Berlin 1984, pp. 9-55.
6. ↑ Wolfgang H. Fritze: The advance of German rule in Teltow and Barnim. In: Yearbook for Brandenburg State History , Vol. 22 (1971), pp. 81–154 ( digitized version ).
7. ↑ Wolfgang H. Fritze: The early settlement of the Bäketal and the history of Berlin. In: Yearbook for Brandenburg State History , Vol. 36 (1985), pp. 7–41.
8. ↑ Wolfgang H. Fritze: On the interpretation and original relationship of the land name "Barnim". In: Yearbook for Brandenburg State History , Vol. 37 (1986), pp. 41-50.
9. ^ Wolfgang H. Fritze: The Spandau city charter of 1232 and 1240 and the beginnings of Berlin. In: Yearbook for Brandenburg State History , Vol. 38 (1987), pp. 7–35.