Lothar Mertens
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Lothar Mertens (2 January 1959 – 4 December 2006) was a prolific
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
historian and social sciences scholar. A principal focus of his output was on the German Democratic Republic (East Germany, 1949–1990).


Life and work

Lothat Mertens was born in
Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. The city is part of the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan ...
in
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
at the height of the country's remarkable postwar economic revival. He studied
History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
,
Catholic Theology Catholic theology is the understanding of Catholic doctrine or teachings, and results from the studies of theologians. It is based on canonical scripture, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholi ...
and
Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
at the universities of
Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...
and
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
. He received his doctorate in 1990 for a piece of work on the development of
Women's Studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...
in Germany as a branch of social sciences before 1945. A higher level doctorate from the
University of Potsdam The University of Potsdam is a public university in Potsdam, capital of the state of Brandenburg, northeastern Germany. The university is mainly situated across three campuses in the city. Some faculty buildings are part of the New Palace o ...
followed in 1996, received for a study of the life and works of the peace and human rights activist, . He also received his
habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...
(higher academic qualification) in 1996. This came from Bochum University. This time his dissertation was entitled "The Star of David under Hammer and Compass - The Jewish Community in the
Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...
/
German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
and their Treatment by the Party and the State 1945–1990". After this he worked as a private tutor at Bochum. He also embarked on a project, jointly with
Wilhelm Bleek Wilhelm Heinrich Immanuel Bleek (8 March 1827 – 17 August 1875) was a German linguist. His work included ''A Comparative Grammar of South African Languages'' and his great project jointly executed with Lucy Lloyd: The Bleek and Lloyd Archive ...
, concerning the way in which dissertations had been produced and used in the
German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
during the four decades before its re-integration into what had become the
German Federal Republic BRD ( ; English: FRG/Federal Republic of Germany) is an unofficial abbreviation for the Federal Republic of Germany, informally known in English as West Germany until 1990, and just Germany since reunification. It was occasionally used in the Fede ...
. Their work involved studying the output of East German historians and of the (East) German Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Their published conclusions were very critical of academic work produced in East Germany. Mertens was seen to endorse the view put forward by Arnulf Baring that much of East German scholarship was literally useless (''"auf weite Strecken unbrauchbar"''). As an author Mertens was formidably prolific. He died young, by which time the
German National Library The German National Library (DNB; ) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to collect, permanently archive, comprehens ...
listed 24 books which he had produced as author (15) or co-author/compiler/producer (9). Alongside the history of the
German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
and German academic education, he also concerned himself with the history of education more generally, with the history of Jewish communities in Germany during the twentieth century, and with the relations between the states of Germany and
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
. Lothar Mertens died suddenly in Berlin on 4 December 2006.


Controversy

Mertens' work on the academic history of the German Democratic Republic drew strong criticism, notably from former East German academics. His work was attacked as "corrupted" and his conclusions as all too often one sided. Mario Keßler identified in his output the same absence of the necessary self-critical reflection which Mertens had found lacking in East German historical scholarship. Mertens' description of East German academic researchers as the "Red cadre" (''"rote Kader"'') and of the Social Sciences Society as the party central committee's "Red thought factory" (''"rote Denkfabrik"'') also attracted adverse comment. objected that Mertens had characterised almost everyone who worked at the Society as interchangeable "like so many light bulbs in a string of Christmas lights".


Personal

Lothat Mertens was married to fellow academic Esther Jonas-Märtin.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mertens, Lothar People from Leverkusen Historians of Germany 20th-century German historians 21st-century German historians 20th-century German social scientists Academic staff of Ruhr University Bochum 1959 births 2006 deaths