Dab solver - Friedrich Meinecke

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== Life ==

Meinecke was born in [[Salzwedel]] in the [[Province of Saxony]]. He was educated at the [[University of Bonn]] 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. As a nationalist historian Meinecke  didn't care very much for  the desires of peoples in Eastern Europer,^ref and went as far as writing about "raw bestiality of the south Slavs",^ref while favoring German expansionism into the East.^ref
During the [[First World War]] he advocated moving Polish landowners in the Prussian provinces of [[West Prussia]] and  (which were acquired from Poland in the course of the [[Partitions of Poland]]) to [[Congress Poland]]; in addition he proposed  German colonization of [[Courland]] after the expulsion of its Latvian population.^ref Some authors have likened his views with supporting [[ethnic cleansing]].^ref When [[German Empire]]  formulated the so-called [[Polish Border Strip]] plan-which called for annexation of large swathe of land from Congress Poland and removal of millions of Poles and Jew to make room for German settlers-Meinecke welcomed this vision of mass expulsion of Poles with contentment.^ref

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{{Infobox person
| name        ='''Friedrich Meinecke'''
| image       = 
| alt         = 
| caption     = 
| birth_name  = 
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1862|10|30}}
| birth_place = [[Salzwedel]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]]
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|1954|2|6|1862|10|20}}
| death_place = [[Berlin]], Germany
| nationality = German
| other_names = 
| known_for   =''Weltbürgertum und Nationalstaat'' (Cosmopolitanism and the National State)
| occupation  = Historian <br/> Archivist (1887–1901) German State Archives <br/>Editor (1896–1935) ''[[Historische Zeitschrift]]''<br/> Chairman (1928–1935) ''Historische Reichskommission''
}}
'''Friedrich Meinecke''' (October 20, 1862 – February 6, 1954) was a [[Germany|German]] historian, with [[National Liberal Party (Germany)|Liberal]] and [[Anti-semitism|anti-semitic views]]. As a representative of an older tradition still writing after [[World War II]] he criticized the Nazi regime, but continued to express anti-semitic prejudice, and remained important figure to the end of his life.

==Life==

Meinecke was born in [[Salzwedel]] in the [[Province of Saxony]]. He was educated at the [[University of Bonn]] 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. As a nationalist historian Meinecke  didn't care very much for  the desires of peoples in Eastern Europer,<ref>East European Quarterly, Tom 1 page 269
University of Colorado, 1967</ref> and went as far as writing about "raw bestiality of the south Slavs",<ref>Friedrich Meinecke and German politics in the twentieth century - Page 20
Robert A. Pois</ref> while favoring German expansionism into the East.<ref>The Lost German East: Forced Migration and the Politics of Memory, 1945-1970 page 73</ref>
During the [[First World War]] he advocated moving Polish landowners in the Prussian provinces of [[West Prussia]] and <<link:0>> (which were acquired from Poland in the course of the [[Partitions of Poland]]) to [[Congress Poland]]; in addition he proposed  German colonization of [[Courland]] after the expulsion of its Latvian population.<ref>Globalisation and the Nation in Imperial Germany Sebastian Conrad, page 175</ref> Some authors have likened his views with supporting [[ethnic cleansing]].<ref>Telos - Issues 94-97 - Page 159 State University of New York at Buffalo. Graduate Philosophy Association - 1994</ref> When [[German Empire]]  formulated the so-called [[Polish Border Strip]] plan-which called for annexation of large swathe of land from Congress Poland and removal of millions of Poles and Jew to make room for German settlers-Meinecke welcomed this vision of mass expulsion of Poles with contentment.<ref>The German Empire, 1871-1918 Hans-Ulrich Wehler page 112-113.</ref>
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 Empire]], Meinecke had called for more [[democracy]] in [[Germany]]{{citation needed|date=December 2012}}.One of his students was [[Heinrich Brüning]], the future Chancellor. Under the [[Weimar Republic]], Meinecke was an ''Vernunftsrepublikaner'' (republican by reason), someone who supported the republic as the least bad alternative. In 1918 he had been one of the founders of the [[German Democratic Party]]. 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 Germany|Nazi regime]], in private he became increasingly bothered by what he regarded as the violence and crudeness of the Nazis. Nevertheless he openly described himself as "antisemitic",<ref>The bourgeois Democrats of Weimar Germany page 12
Robert A. Pois - 1976  "Friedrich Meinecke, in his Erinnerungen, confessed to being a "rugged anti- Semite"</ref> and while he was willing to have Jewish friends and colleagues, the Nazi persecution of Jews never bothered him much.<ref>Militarism, Imperialism, and Racial Accommodation: An Analysis and Interpretation of the Early Writings of Robert E. Park by Stanford M. Lyman page 146  University of Arkansas Press</ref>

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 [[Nazism|National Socialism]] 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 the book Meinecke interpreted National Socialism as "alien force occupying Germany",<ref>Thinking about the Holocaust: After Half a Century Alvin H. Rosenfeld - 1997, page 169</ref> while at the same expressing anti-semitic prejudice towards the Jews.<ref>Germany: The Long Road West: Volume 2: 1933-1990
 Heinrich August Winkler "But when it came to the Jews, Meinecke's thoughts reflected the same old anti-Semitic prejudices"</ref> Meinecke claimed that Jews were responsible for their own misfortune and blamed them for fall of liberalism; the German Catastrophe represented two classic themes of antisemitism;resentment based on Jewish economic activities and their alleged "character"<ref>The anti-enlightenment tradition, Zeev Sternhell Yale University 2010 Press, page 383</ref>
In 1948, he helped to found the [[Free University of Berlin]].

British historian [[E. H. Carr]] <ref>{{cite book|author=Carr, E. H.|year=1961|title=What is History?|publisher=Macmillan/Penguin|isbn=0-14-020652-3}}</ref> cites him as an example of a historian whose views are heavily influenced by the ''[[Zeitgeist]]'': liberal during the German Empire, discouraged during the interwar period, and deeply pessimistic after [[World War II]].

==Works==
*''Das Leben des Generalfeldmarschalls Hermann von Boyen'' (2 volumes, 1896–1899) (The Life of Field Marshal Hermann von Boyen)
*''Das Zeitalter der deutschen Erhebung, 1795-1815'' (1906) (The Coming of Age of Germany)
*''Weltbürgertum und Nationalstaat: Studien zur Genesis des deutschen Nationalstaates'' (1908) (Cosmopolitanism and the Nationstate: Studies in the Beginning of the German Nationstates)
*''Radowitz und die deutsche Revolution'' (1913) (Radowitz and the German Revolution)
*''Die Idee der Staatsräson in der neueren Geschichte'' (1924) (The Idea of Reason of State in Modern History)
*''Geschichte des deutsch-englischen Bündnisproblems, 1890-1901'' (1927) (The History of German-English Partnership Problems)
*''Staat und Persönlichkeit'' (1933) (State and Personality)
*''Die Entstehung des Historismus'' (2 volumes, 1936) (Historism: The Rise of a New Historical Outlook)
*''Die deutsche Katastrophe: Betrachtungen und Erinnerungen'' (1946) (The German Catastrophe: Contemplations and Recollections)
*''1848: Eine Säkularbetrachtung'' (1948) (1848: The Year in Review)
*''Werke'' (9 volumes, 1957–1979) (Works)

==See also==
*[[Historism]]

==References==
*Erbe, Michael (editor) ''Friedrich Meinecke heute: Bericht über ein Gedenk-Colloquium zu seinem 25. Todestag am 5. und 6. April 1979'', Berlin: Colloquium Verlag, 1981.
*Hofer, Walther ''Geschichtsschreibung und Weltanschauung; Betrachtungen zum Werk Friedrich Meineckes'', Munich: Oldenbourg, 1950.
*Iggers, George ''The German Conception of History: The National Tradition of historical Thought fromr Herder to the Present'', Middletwon, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1968, revised edition, 1983.
*Meineke, Stefan ''Friedrich Meinecke: Persönlichkeit und politisches Denken bis zum Ende des ersten Weltkrieges'', Berlin: de Gruyter, 1995.
*Pois, Robert, ''Friedrich Meinecke and German Politics in the Twentieth Century'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972.
*Schulin, Ernst "Friedrich Meinecke" from ''Deutsche Historiker'', edited by [[Hans-Ulrich Wehler]], Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1971.
*Sterling, Richard ''Ethics in a World of Power: The Political Ideas of Friedrich Meinecke'', Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/historian/Friedrich_Meinecke.html Friedrich Meinecke Cosmopolitanism and the National State].

Ruprecht, 1971.
*Sterling, Richard ''Ethics in a World of Power: The Political Ideas of Friedrich Meinecke'', Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1958.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/historian/Friedrich_Meinecke.html Friedrich Meinecke Cosmopolitanism and the National State].

{{Persondata
| NAME              = Meinecke, Friedrich
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = German historian
| DATE OF BIRTH     = October 30, 1862
| PLACE OF BIRTH    = Salzwedel, Germany
| DATE OF DEATH     = February 6, 1954
| PLACE OF DEATH    = Berlin, Germany
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meinecke, Friedrich}}
[[Category:1862 births]]
[[Category:1954 deaths]]
[[Category:German historians]]
[[Category:German philosophers]]
[[Category:Historians of Nazism]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Saxony]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]]
[[Category:University of Bonn alumni]]
[[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni]]
[[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin faculty]]
[[Category:University of Strasbourg faculty]]
[[Category:University of Freiburg faculty]]
[[Category:Free University of Berlin faculty]]
[[Category:Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Scholars of nationalism]]

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Dab solver - Friedrich Meinecke

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