Friedrich Meinecke (October 20, 1862 – February 6, 1954) was a
liberalLiberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted today throughout the world, and was recognized as an important value by many philosophers throughout history...
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
historian, probably the most famous German historian of his generation. As a representative of an older tradition still writing after
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was an important figure to the end of his life.
Meinecke was born in
SalzwedelSalzwedel Salzwedel Salzwedel of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, and has a population of approximately 21,500. Salzwedel is located on the German Framework Road.-Geography:Salzwedel...
in the
Province of SaxonyThe Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:...
. He was educated at the
University of BonnThe University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in 1818 the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number of undergraduate and graduate programs in a range of subjects. Its library holds...
and the University of Berlin. In 1887-1901 he worked as an archivist at the German State Archives.
Friedrich Meinecke (October 20, 1862 – February 6, 1954) was a
liberalLiberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted today throughout the world, and was recognized as an important value by many philosophers throughout history...
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
historian, probably the most famous German historian of his generation. As a representative of an older tradition still writing after
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was an important figure to the end of his life.
Life
Meinecke was born in
SalzwedelSalzwedel Salzwedel Salzwedel of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, and has a population of approximately 21,500. Salzwedel is located on the German Framework Road.-Geography:Salzwedel...
in the
Province of SaxonyThe Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:...
. He was educated at the
University of BonnThe University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in 1818 the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number of undergraduate and graduate programs in a range of subjects. Its library holds...
and the University of Berlin. In 1887-1901 he worked as an archivist at the German State Archives. He served as editor of the journal,
Historische Zeitschrift between 1896 and 1935, and was the chairman of the
Historische Reichskommission from 1928 to 1935.
Meinecke was best known for his work on 18th-19th century German intellectual and cultural history. The book that made his reputation was his 1908 work
Weltbürgertum und Nationalstaat (Cosmopolitanism and the National State), which traced the development of national feelings in the 19th century. Starting with
Die Idee der Staatsräson (1924), much of his work concerns the conflict between
Kratos (power) and
Ethos (morality), and how to achieve a balance between the two.
Under the
German EmpireThe German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871 to 1918, when it became a German republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of Wilhelm II .The term Second Reich...
, Meinecke had called for more
democracyDemocracy is a system of government in which either the actual governing is carried out by the people governed , or the power to do so is granted by them...
in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
. One of his students was
Heinrich BrüningDr. Heinrich Brüning was a German politician during the Weimar Republic. He served as Chancellor of Germany from 1930 to 1932.- Early life :...
, the future Chancellor. Under the
Weimar RepublicThe Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government, named after Weimar, the place where the constitutional assembly took place. Its official name was still Deutsches Reich , however...
, Meinecke was an
Vernunftsrepublikaner (republican by reason), someone who supported the republic as the least bad alternative. Under the Third Reich, he had some sympathy for the regime, especially in regard to its early anti-semitic laws. After 1935, Meinecke fell into a state of semi-disgrace, and was removed as editor of the
Historische Zeitschrift. Though Meinecke remained in public a supporter of the
Nazi regimeNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
, in private he became increasing bothered by what he regarded as the violence and crudeness of the Nazis. Meinecke's best known book,
Die Deutsche Katastrophe (The German Catastrophe) of 1946, sees the historian attempting to reconcile his lifelong belief in authoritarian state power with the disastrous events of 1933-45. His explanation for the success of
National SocialismNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
points to the legacy of Prussian militarism in Germany, the effects of rapid industrialisation and the weaknesses of the middle classes, though Meinecke also asserts that Hitlerism benefited from a series of unfortunate accidents, which had no connection with the earlier developments in German history. In 1948, he helped to found the
Free University of BerlinThe Free University of Berlin is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on humanities and social sciences and on health and natural sciences...
.
British historian E. H. Carr cites him as an example of a historian whose views are heavily influenced by the
zeitgeistZeitgeist is a German language expression referring to "the spirit of the times" and/or "the spirit of the age." The word Zeitgeist is used to describe the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual, and/or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general...
: liberal during the German Empire, discouraged during the interwar period, and deeply pessimistic after
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Works
- Das Leben des Generalfeldmarschalls Hermann von Boyen (2 volumes, 1896-1899)
- Das Zeitalter der deutschen Erhebung, 1795-1815 (1906)
- Weltbürgertum und Nationalstaat: Studien zur Genesis des deutschen Nationalstaates (1908)
- Radowitz und die deutsche Revolution (1913)
- Die Idee der Staatsräson in der neueren Geschichte (1924)
- Geschichte des deutsch-englischen Bündnisproblems, 1890-1901 (1927)
- Staat und Persönlickeit (1933)
- Die Entstehung des Historismus (2 volumes, 1936)
- Die deutsche Katastrophe: Betrachtungen und Erinnerungen (1946)
- 1848: Eine Säkularbetrachtung (1948)
- Werke (9 volumes, 1957-1979)
External links