Friedrich Uhlhorn


Friedrich Uhlhorn was an honorary professor at the Philipps-Universität Marburg, whose scientific focus was on the history of the State of Hesse and was also known for his work outside Hesse. His special scientific interest was mainly focused on the problems of historical cartography. In collaboration with Edmund Ernst Stengel, he published the Geschichtlichen Atlas von Hessen, which is considered his major work. He also wrote the article Die deutschen Territorien. A: The West, which deals with the West German regional history. Likewise he was responsible as editor for the by Bruno Gebhardt.

Life

Youth

Born in Lauenförde, Uhlhorn came from a family of theologians in southern Lower Saxony. He was born as son of the pastor Friedrich Uhlhorn and his wife Elisabeth née Müller. Uhlhorn's school education began in 1901, He acquired his Abitur on 24 February 1914 at the humanistic grammar school in Hameln.

Academic career

From August 1914 to 1918 Uhlhorn did his military service in the First World War. His studies officially began in 1914, after the First World War he continued them from 1919 to 1923. He studied history, German and Latin in Marburg and Göttingen and finished his studies with the Staatsexamen in 1923. During his studies he became a member of the.
He also began training as an archivist in Berlin-Dahlem. He soon returned to Marburg for good, however, to prepare his doctorate under Edmund E. Stengel. The title of this auxiliary-scientific work, which was published in 1924, is Die Großbuchstaben der sogenannten gotischen Schrift mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Hildesheimer Stadtschreiber. From 1923 to 1946, Uhlhorn worked as archivist of the House of the Princes and counts of Solms, with the task to write a history of the House.
During this period he was a lecturer from 1936, and from 1940 honorary professor at the Philipps-Universität Marburg for Hessian local history.

Hessian Regional Studies

His connection to his doctoral supervisor Edmund E. Stengel and the "Atlaswerkstatt", the later with its seat in the Kugelhaus in Marburg, also continued during his work as archivist. From 1935, Uhlhorn was responsible for Edmund Stengel's new project, and he was also in charge of the preparation of the Geschichtliche Hand- und Volksatlas von Hessen. This atlas was financed with funds from the Kassel district government and was to be produced alongside the primary academic atlas Geschichtlicher Atlas für Hessen und Nassau. Stengel named the Hessian people and the Hessian youth as a target group in order to bring the Hessian landscape closer to them again. By the beginning of the Second World War, however, it was no more than a draft.
After the Second World War, in which he participated just as in the First World War, he became curator at the Hessian State Office for Historical Regional Studies in 1947. After the end of the war, Uhlhorn pursued the goal of providing a first delivery of atlas maps for the entire area. Thus he prepared political maps for the years 1550, 1648 and 1789, which were never published. The project was later discontinued despite Uhlhorn's intensive efforts. Uhlhorn also started work on the Geschichtlichen Handatlas during this period. Following on from the work before the outbreak of war, this atlas was intended to serve schools, universities and all those interested in history as a reference and illustrative work. Uhlhorn worked intensively on this project, various government agencies were interested in the creation of this map series, which ultimately convinced Stengel, who was not too keen, of the necessity of this project and put the completion of the "großen Atlas" first.
This project was not completed in addition to the many other projects. However, a number of smaller scientific atlases were published, one of the first in Germany being the Geschichtlicher Atlas von Hessen.
From the winter semester of 1964 he was granted a leave of absence for health reasons. Even after his retirement, Uhlhorn continued to work on this atlas and its design and layout, From 1960 to 1978, twelve volumes were published, comprising a total of 79 maps and 53 sheets. The volume with text and explanations published by Fred Schwind in 1984 concluded the atlas.
Uhlhorn died in Marburg on July 24, 1978 at the age of 84 and was buried at the cemetery at Rotenberg in Marburg. The city of Marburg declared his grave a municipal grave of honour.

Achievements

Uhlhorn's achievements in the scientific field of Hesse's state history are particularly noteworthy. He was well known beyond the borders of Hesse, for example, as he dealt with the historical foundations of the present-day state of Hesse at an early stage. His collaboration on the Geschichtlichen Atlas von Hessen, which is his main work, his function as chairman of the Marburg Historical Society, but not least his numerous publications on Hessian state history topics clearly show his deep connection to Hessian history and his interest in research until his death in 1978. In his obituary of him, Fred Schwind emphasizes that during his time as archivist of the Princely House of Solms, he sought to convey to his students the "insight into the intimate relationship between the landscape and the historically active man in his lectures and especially on excursions." From 1951 on, he was responsible as editor for the first 14 volumes of the Hessian Hessischen Jahrbuchs für Landesgeschichte and is thus also significantly involved in its presentation and the high standing it occupies among the journals of the State history.

Writings