Paul de Lagarde

Paul Anton de Lagarde Paul Anton originally Botticher common Paul de Lagarde ( born November 2, 1827 in Berlin, † December 22, 1891 in Göttingen ) was a German philosopher and orientalist. In his political views he was a representative of the " modern anti-Semitism " and propagandist an expansionist frontier colonization, at the end he a future " Germania " saw instead of the German nation -state, which in the south of the Adriatic Sea, in the southeast of the Black Sea and on the east by Bug should be enough.

Life

Origin

Lagarde was the son of the teacher Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Boetticher and his wife Luise adhesive. The mother died in the year of his birth. 1831 married the father of Pauline Seegert. As 1854 died his stepmother, Lagarde was the mother of his great aunt, Ernestine de Lagarde adopt.

Training

Lagarde's schooling took place at the Friedrich- Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Berlin, from 1844 he studied Protestant theology with Professors Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg and August Neander and Oriental Studies at Friedrich Rückert. In the winter semester 1844/45 he won with Max Müller in Rückert Persian. 1849 finished his studies with a dissertation Lagarde initiative chromatologiae arabicae. He joined the University of Halle on August Tholuck and could habilitate in 1851 with the work of Arica.

Professional activity

Lagarde's occupation was highly controversial. Even among his fellow scientists, he was unpopular "because of its antiquated world view and lack of methods consciousness" and had many enemies. His pugnacity was considered so notorious that it was discussed in Meyers encyclopedia of 1897.

At first, his lexikologisch - grammatical and text-critical work made ​​him among the colleagues well known positive. Theodor Benfey referred to him in this context as "black hussar among the young orientalist ". The Prussian Ambassador Christian von Bunsen promoted him and gave him for the years 1852/53 to study in London.

In 1853 became Lagarde - again with Bunsen's support - to Paris and made ​​the acquaintance of Ernest Renan. The end of 1853 he returned to Germany, he made ​​his hope on a chair at the University of Halle. These hopes were dashed, and Lagarde took a job at Köllnischen secondary school. In 1858 he moved to the Friedrichwerdersche Gymnasium in Berlin, where he taught until 1866.

During his time as a secondary school conducted research and published Lagarde; 1866 a three-year paid sabbatical leave was granted to him by King William I.. Until 1869, Lagarde in Schleusingen ( Province of Saxony ) settled. During this time, a critical edition of the Greek translation of Genesis was created, for which he phil 1868 by the University of Halle, entitled Dr.. H.C. was honored.

University professor

In March 1869 Lagarde was appointed as the successor of Heinrich Ewald at the University of Göttingen. There he took over the chair of Oriental languages ​​and became - after initial hostility - made ​​a member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen. There he worked until his death, with his scientific work quickly stepped behind his work on the examination of the role of Germany.

Lagarde was in correspondence with Maurice of Egidy, Julius Langbehn, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Ferdinand Tönnies, and Richard Wagner. The only significant student Lagarde is Alfred Rahlfs.

Discount

Lagarde died shortly after returning from a study trip to Italy on 22 December 1891 at Göttingen Mariahilf Hospital of cancer. His estate is managed by the University Library. His large private library whose catalog was published in 1892, bought the New York University as a whole. Published in 1897 his widow Anna de Lagarde a complete edition of his works.

Political interests: National Christianity, imperialism and anti-Semitism

Parallel to his scientific work, he tried to found a German national religion, whose most striking manifestations were an aggressive anti-Semitism and expansionist thinking. Because for the required national religion he kept vague religious or even a creed ready as his first political writing about the relationship of the German state to theology, church and religion. An attempt to orient non- theologians of 1873 shows. From the state he initially demanded as its most important task, that he maintain a climate in which a national religion could flourish. The hopeful to God people he committed the time being, to distinguish radical morality in every action exclusively between "duty or sin." Because for the religiosity of the newborn people themselves must be developed yet to a formal language. In the second part of his 1875 book appearing about the current state of the German Empire. A report he agrees with it and concretized as follows:

" Germany is the totality of all German sentient, German thinking, German ending Germans: each of us a Landesverräther, when it is not considered personally responsible in this understanding of the existence, the happiness, the future of the motherland in every moment of his life, every one a hero and liberator when he does it. "

The historian Ulrich Sieg assign its position as follows: "He despised his view insipid and half-hearted Christianity, hoping for a colored ethnic religion of the future. " Known Lagarde was the founder of the anti-Semitic movement in Berlin, Adolf Stoecker. Interest he showed for nationalist and anti-Semitic associations such as the German People's Union by Bernhard Förster and Max Liebermann von Sonnenberg, and for the German Socialist Party of Theodor Fritsch. This he sent in 1886 to contact his writing Upcoming obligations German politics, as he looked at the core of a German settlement policy in Eastern Europe. In his German writings in which he put together his previously published political essays in the 1878 taking place requirements, there are numerous anti-Jewish passages, showing among other things that he saw Jews as the greatest barrier to the German unification, while at the same time the concept a German colonization of South Eastern Europe further pursued and the resident Jewish population proposed to relocate to Palestine or Madagascar. For it was for him only the alternative of complete assimilation or emigration of the Jews.

In his book "Jews and Aryans " In 1887, he wrote: "It is a heart on the hardness of the crocodile skin for it, not to feel with the poor be soaked German pity and - what is the same - not to hate Jews, to those not to hate and despise who - for humanity! - These Jews speak the word or are too cowardly to crush this vermin. With trichinae and bacilli will not negotiate, trichinae and bacilli are also not educated, they will be destroyed as quickly and thoroughly as possible. " For this reason, it is one of the pioneers of modern antisemitism.

In addition to its influence on the antisemitism Lagarde is thinking for himself Formative German imperialist thinking is important. In this respect, he focused in the sense of the German border colonialism on Europe and not thinking about the acquisition of overseas colonies. This comes close to the later designed especially by Friedrich Ratzel German living space ideas in Eastern Europe. 1875 Lagarde held the " gradual Germanization of Poland" for the main goal of German policy. Since he was concerned about how many German emigrated in their country search, he was concerned with a border colonizing land acquisition for a peasant class, which he viewed as " real foundation of the state ." This land acquisition was aimed at a Central Europe under German leadership, " which extends from the EMS mouth of the Danube, from Memel to Trieste, from Metz to about the bug".

In his 1918 book completed in the U.S. The new Europe Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Lagarde is one of the leading philosophical and theological spokesmen of Pan-Germanism, where he further referred to as the historian Heinrich von Treitschke, Wilhelm II as its politicians and Friedrich Ratzel as its geo-political geographers. In all of them he sees representatives of the " German Drang nach East", which threatens the Slavic countries imperialistic.

Effect

While Paul de Lagarde is more or less forgotten today, were his immediate afterlife and his fame until the time of the national socialism of intense broad impact on the German bourgeoisie. About the publisher Eugen Diederichs, beginning in 1921 with expiration of the protection period for his works on the publishers Barenreiter ( Augsburg), Langenscheidt (Berlin), the Insel Verlag, Alfred Kröner Verlag, Reclam and BG Teubner (Leipzig), the publisher Ferdinand Schöningh (Paderborn ), especially about Julius Friedrich Lehmann and his Munich publishing learned his cultural-philosophical works, especially the ideas of the German writings in anthologies widespread.

Among his most famous readers included Houston Stewart Chamberlain, who saw in Lagarde one of his main informants, the chairman of the Pan-German League Heinrich Class, Adolf Hitler, Karl Lamprecht, Julius Langbehn, Friedrich Nietzsche, Alfred Rosenberg, who Lagarde the idea of ​​so-called Madagascar plan took over, Artur Dinter, who dedicated to him his novel the sin against the love (1922 ), Hans Roth rock, Richard Wagner, as well as Thomas Mann (see " reflections of a Non-Political " ) and Martin Buber. Also on the 180 Lagarde celebrations that should have taken place on his 50th death anniversary on December 22, 1941 in Germany, can be read off his posthumous success.

Writings

• Initiatives chromatologiae arabicae (1849 )
• Arica ( 1851)
• Conservative? (1853 )
• About the current tasks of German politics (1853 )
• Didascalia apostolorum syriace (1854 )
• Notes on the Greek translation of Proverbs (1863 )
• Collected Essays (1866 )
• Genesis Grace (1868 )
• On the relationship of the German state to theology, church and religion. An attempt to orient non- theologians (1873 )
• About the current situation of the German Empire. A report (1875 )
• Armenian Studies ( 1877)
• Symmicta ( 1.1877-2.1889 )
• Semitica (1878 )
• German writings (1878, 5th edition 1920, gathered continuously every political writings )
• Orientalia ( 1.1879-2.1880 )
• Persian Studies ( 1884)
• Jews and Aryans (1887 )
• Overview of the Aramaic, Arabic and Hebrew usual form of nouns ( 1.1889-2.1891 )

Posthumous editions

• Memories from his life for his friends put together by Anna de Lagarde. Kaestner, Göttingen 1894.
• Poems. Total output, worried by Anna de Lagarde. Horstmann, Göttingen 1897.
• Memories of Friedrich Rückert. Dieterich, Göttingen 1897.
• Fonts for Germany. Edited by August knife. Alfred Kröner Verlag, 1933 tuttgart
• Commitment to Germany. Selection from his writings. Edited by Friedrich Daab. Diederich, Jena, 1933.
• National religion. Edited by Georg Dost. Diederichs, Jena, 1934.
• Franz Overbeck's correspondence with Paul de Lagarde. Edited by Niklaus Peter and Andreas Urs Sommer. In: Journal for History of Modern Theology 3, 1996, pp. 127-171.