Ernst Posner

Maximilian Ernst Posner ( born August 9, 1892 in Berlin, † April 18, 1980 in Wiesbaden) was a Prussian state archivist and professor of history and archives at the American University in Washington.

Life and work

Posner grew up as the son of a professor of medicine in Berlin. After passing the matriculation examination at the Friedrich- Wilhelm-Gymnasium, he studied from 1910 to 1914 first political science, then history and Auxiliary Historical Sciences in Berlin, Bonn and Strasbourg. He was in Berlin in 1920 to Dr. phil. doctorate and found his first job as a volunteer with the Prussian Secret State Archives (now GStA PK). In 1921 he passed the examination and was appointed archivist Archives Assistant, 1922 Staatsarchivrat. During his time at the Secret State Archives, he worked, among others, several volumes of Acta Borussica to the authorities organization.

Due to his Jewish origins Posner was forced to retire in November 1935, the beginning of 1936 he made his hopes of finding a job in Illinois, there should be taught at the University Archives and Sciences Prof. Theodore C. Pease, Professor of History ( 1926-48 ) and Head of the Department of History ( 1942-48 ), had asked him to send him his job. 1938 Posner was sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. After his release, he emigrated in 1939 via Sweden to the United States. There he received a teaching assignment and later a full professor at the American University in Washington DC In addition, he was instrumental in the construction of the U.S. National Archives, conducted from 1942 to 1961 there archive courses and founded in 1954, the Institute of Records Management. From 1955 to 1956 he was president of the American Professional Association of Archivists, the Society of American Archivists. In 1961, he was adopted into retirement. In 1972 he went back to Europe and was first settled in Switzerland, then in Wiesbaden, where he died in 1980.

Honors

• The new building of the Federal Archives in Berlin light field named Ernst Posner construction
• The professional association of archivists in the United States since 1983 gives the Ernst Posner Award