Fritz Gause (4 August 1893 – 24 December 1973) was a German

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can cons ...

, and

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

described as the last great historian of his native city,

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

(now

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

. Gause's most important work was his three-volume history of Königsberg, ''Die Geschichte der Stadt Königsberg in Preußen'' (1965, 1968, and 1971). He was connected to nationalist historic movement called Ostforschung

Life

Haus Königsberg in Duisburg, established by Gause After attending Königsberg's

Collegium Fridericianum The Collegium Fridericianum (also known as the Friedrichskolleg, Friedrichskollegium, and Friedrichs-Kollegium) was a prestigious Gymnasium (Germany), gymnasium in Königsberg, Prussia. Alumni were known as ''Friderizianer''.Gause, p. 716 History ...

, Gause studied history and

German philology German studies is an academic field that researches, documents and disseminates German language, German literature, literature, and culture in its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies therefore often focus on Culture ...

at the Albertina, the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

under nationalist historian Albert Brackmann. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he volunteered for service in the front-line artillery. After receiving his doctorate in 1921, he began lecturing at the Goethe-Oberlyzeum in Königsberg. In 1938 Gause became head of the Königsberg City Museum in the former Kneiphof Town Hall, as well as the City Archive and

Public Library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

in the original campus of the Albertina in

Kneiphof Coat of arms of Kneiphof Postcard of Kneiphöfsche Langgasse Reconstruction of Kneiphof in Kaliningrad's museum Kneiphof (; ; ) was a quarter of central Königsberg (Kaliningrad). During the Middle Ages it was one of the three towns that co ...

. In 1939 the library contained 106,000 volumes. When the Eastern Front of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

grew closer to the city, Gauleiter

Erich Koch Erich Koch (; 19 June 1896 – 12 November 1986) was a ''Gauleiter'' of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in East Prussia from 1 October 1928 until 1945. Between 1941 and 1945 he was Chief of Civil Administration (''Chef der Zivilverwaltung'') of Bezi ...

prevented Gause from transferring the works under his responsibility to a safer location. The archive, museum, and library were subsequently destroyed during the 1944 Bombing of Königsberg and 1945

Battle of Königsberg The Battle of Königsberg, also known as the Königsberg offensive, was one of the last operations of the East Prussian offensive during World War II. In four days of urban warfare, Soviet Union, Soviet forces of the 1st Baltic Front and the 3 ...

. After the end of the war, Gause was held as a prisoner-of-war by

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

until 1947. After his release from imprisonment, Gause taught at a girls school in

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

. He was pensioned in 1959 as senior lecturer. Gause was also a member of the Stadtgemeinschaft Königsberg (Pr), a cultural organization for expelled former residents of Königsberg. While serving as chairman, he established the Haus Königsberg, a historical and cultural museum which opened on 20 October 1968 in

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

. The Haus Königsberg was replaced with Duisburg's modern Museum Stadt Königsberg on 5 December 1992. After the war Gause claimed Adolf Hitler was morally justified in his territorial claims against Poland and published studies that were aimed at defending aggressive policies of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. In the same publication – 'Deutsch-slawische Schicksalsgemeinschaft' – he ignored all objective German historians as well as Polish ones and used as sources known supporters of Nazi Germany and Hitler, while defending Prussia's actions against Poland and showing as the main villain USA's president Wilson. While objecting to Hitler's policies, he showed Nazi demands as morally justified; his efforts to paint Nazism as just another form of "Prussian militarism" were described as "amusing denial", but understandable in view of the author's open admiration of "Prussian spirit." In one of his books he went as far as describing Nazi invasion of Poland and takeover of the town of Dzialdowo (Soldau) as "liberation from Polish rule", while keeping silent about the actions by Nazis in the town and their atrocities. In his work on history of Konigsberg (Królewiec), Gause tried to show Polish minority living in the city as mostly temporary merchants arriving for brief visits, the Polish church as German and avoided mentioning the Polish name even once throughout the three volumes of the book he published. The existence of camps for non-German forced labor during Second World War as well as sub-camp of the

Stutthof concentration camp Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in the territory of the German-an ...

in the city was concealed by Gause as well, with only one footnote mentioning the topic of slave labor. In his other works he praised

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

as progressive act and claimed that Germany brought the "Slavic East" into European civilization. The state government of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

granted Gause the title of professor in 1972. He died of a heart attack in Essen in 1973.

Selected works

* ''Die Landgerichte des Ordenslandes Preußen bis zur Säkularisation, unt. bes. Berücks. d. Landschöffenbücher von Bartenstein u. Gilgenburg/Hohenstein'' * ''Die Geschichte der Stadt Königsberg in Preußen''. Böhlau, Köln/Weimar/Wien * ''Der Kämmereibesitz der Stadt Königsberg im 19. Jahrhundert''. Gräfe & Unzer, Königsberg i. Pr. 1924 * ''Die Russen in Ostpreußen 1914/15''. Gräfe und Unzer, Königsberg 1931 * ''Erbe und Aufgabe des deutschen Ostens''. Gräfe u. Unzer, München 1955. * ''Geschichte des Amtes und der Stadt Soldau''. Herder-Institut, Marburg 1958, . * ''Ostpreußen''. Burkhard-Verl. Heyer, Essen 1958. * ''Deutsch-slawische Schicksalsgemeinschaft''. Holzner, Würzburg 1967. * ''Die Mittelalterliche deutsche Ostsiedlung''. Klett, Stuttgart 1969. * ''Acta Prussica''. Holzner, Würzburg 1968. * ''Neue Ortsnamen in Ostpreußen seit 1800''. Verein für Familienforschung in Ost- u. Westpreußen, Hamburg 1983, . * ''Königsberg, so wie es war''. Droste, Düsseldorf 1983, . * ''Geschichte des Preußenlandes''. Rautenberg, Leer 1966, 1970, 1986, . * ''Königsberg in Preußen. Die Geschichte einer europäischen Stadt''. Rautenberg, Leer 1987, . * ''Kant und Königsberg bis heute''. Rautenberg, Leer 1989, . * ''Ostpreußen und Westpreußen. Kleine Geschichte des Preußenlandes''. Rautenberg, Leer 1994, .

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gause, Fritz 1893 births 1973 deaths 20th-century German historians Historians of Germany Directors of museums in Germany German archivists German librarians German Army personnel of World War I Writers from Königsberg University of Königsberg alumni German male non-fiction writers