Thomas Nipperdey

Nipperdey Thomas ( born October 27, 1927 in Cologne, † June 14, 1992 in Munich) was a German historian. His three-volume work German history 1800-1918 is considered the standard work in modern history.

Life

The father of Thomas Nipperdey was the labor lawyer and first President of the Federal Labour Court Nipperdey Hans Carl, his sister theologian Dorothee kettle holes. His widow Vigdis Nipperdey (* 1944) was from 2001 to 2006 Chairman of the University Council of the Technical University of Munich.

After passing the Abitur in 1946 at the High School Cross Lane, Nipperdey studied philosophy and history at the universities of Cologne, Göttingen and Cambridge. In 1953, he completed a doctorate on positivity and Christianity in Hegel's early writings, a year later he passed the state examination. Subsequently, he was a fellow of the Commission for the History of parliamentarism and political parties and assistant at the Max Planck Institute for History in Göttingen, where he habilitated in 1961 with the work of the organization of the German parties before 1918.

In 1962, he occupied the Chair of Modern History at Giessen, 1963, he was appointed professor at the Technical University of Karlsruhe and was also a lecturer at the University of Heidelberg. In 1967 he moved to the Free University of Berlin, in 1971 the Ludwig- Maximilians- University of Munich. In his time in Munich, has held visiting professorships Nipperdey the Universities of Oxford, Stanford, and Princeton.

For his work Nipperdey received, among others in 1984 the historian price of Münster, 1989, the Federal Cross of Merit, the 1992 Bavarian Order of Merit and in 1992 the German historian price.

Despite its rather conservative stance he joined the SPD in 1968. There he committed, inter alia, to in Hesse for improving the education system.

1990 Nipperdey was appointed a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.

Work

Thomas Nipperdey has been used primarily for a reassessment of the German history of the 19th century. In particular, he refused to consider the Empire to as a history of the "Third Reich". Lines of continuity he saw from 1871/1918 not only after 1933 but also after 1949. Unlike the sociological way of working Hans -Ulrich Wehler, which was in the 1960s, the predominant method Nipperdey was committed to a historical- anthropological approach. In his presentation technique he used narrative techniques. Nipperdey explored the worlds of experience and interior views of the show people. The 19th century should not be presented as pre-or post-history of, or to anything else, but according to the famous words of Ranke speak " directly to God" as an epoch in its own right.

Writings

• Positivity and Christianity in Hegel's early writings. Dissertation, Cologne 1953.
• The organization of the German parties before 1918. Habilitationsschrift, Dusseldorf 1961.
• Reformation, revolution, utopia: studies on the 16th century. Göttingen 1975.
• Society, culture, theory. Collected essays on modern history. Göttingen 1976.
• Thinking about the German history. Essays. Munich 1986.
• Religion in transition. Germany from 1870 to 1918. Munich 1988.
• German history from 1800 to 1918. . Munich 1998 Munich edition 2013 Previously published separately as: German history from 1800 to 1866. Bourgeois world and strong state. Munich 1983.
• German history from 1866 to 1918. Work and civic spirit. Munich 1990.
• German history from 1866 to 1918. Power state for democracy. Munich 1992.