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March 9 in German History
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March 9, 1009
Death of St. Bruno von Querfurt (970
1009) Bruno was educated at the cathedral school in
Magdeburg. He later entered a monastery and took his vows in
999. He was sent as a missionary to Poland. In 1008 he sought
to found a mission among the Prussians. He and his companions
were killed by the resentful pagans there. He was soon
revered as a martyr.
March 9, 1697
Birth of Caroline Neuber (born Friederike
Caroline Weissenborn) in Reichenbach, Germany. "Die
Neuberin" as her close associate, the critic Johann
Gottsched called her was largely responsible as an actress
and a theater director of moving German theater from loose
slapstick productions to serious performance of quality
plays. She and her husband, Johann Neuber, formed their first
theater company in 1727 in Leipzig. The early collaboration
with Gottsched turned to a bitter feud in later years. At one
point she referred to him from the stage as a "bat-eared
censor". She is the model of the character Nelly in
Goethe's Wilhelm Meister.
March 9, 1758
Birth of Franz Joseph Gall in Tiefenbronn,
Germany. Gall concluded from his research that mental
functions are located in given areas of the brain. This was
considered contrary to religion at the time and laws were
passed against his findings and he was forced to leave
Austria, where he was working. History proved that he was
correct in his conclusions. However he also concluded that
one could determine personality and intelligence from
examining the skull (phrenology). In the latter matter he was
incorrect.
March 9, 1831
Death of Friedrich Klinger in Dorpat,
Estonia (born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany). A dramatist
(and later in life a general) Klinger gave the name to the
Sturm und Drang movement in German literature with his play Der
Wirrwarr, oder Sturm und Drang (1776). His play Die
Zwillinge (1776) is also of historic significance as is
his novel of 1791 Fausts Leben, Taten und Höllenfahrt.
March 9, 1845
Birth of Wilhelm Pfeffer in Grebenstein,
Germany. Pfeffer was a pioneer in the study of osmotic
pressure in plants and in the general physiology of plants.
He was a professor of biology at the universities of Bonn,
Basel, Tübingen and Leipzig. He died in Leipzig on January
31, 1920.
March 9, 1849
Birth of Josef Kohler in Offenburg,
Germany. Kohler, a judge and, later, a professor of law at
the University of Berlin, examined the purpose of law within
the framework of the thought of Hegel. His most significant
book was Lehrbuch der Rechtsphilosophie (1908). He
also wrote a novel and poetry.
March 9, 1888
Death of Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig in
Berlin. Wilhelm had become the first Emperor of the German
Empire in 1871. Wilhelm became the king of Prussia on January
2, 1861. He appointed Otto von Bismarck chancellor in 1862.
He led the victorious Seven Week's War against Austria in
1866 and the war against France in 1870-71. Following the
Franco-Prussian War on January 18, 1871 he became emperor of
the new German Empire.
March 9, 1892
Birth of Josef Weinheber in Vienna,
Austria. Weinheber was a poet whose work came to be
appreciated by the Nazi Party. He committed suicide on April
9, 1945 as the Soviet army reached Vienna.
March 9, 1918
Death of Frank Wedekind in Munich, Germany.
Wedekind was a dramatist in the transition period between
Realism and Expressionism with a foretaste of the Theater of
the Absurd. Noted dramas by Wedekind include Frühlings
Erwachen, Erdgeist, and Die Büchse der Pandora. His
Lulu dramas inspired Alban Berg's opera, Lulu.
March 9, 1942
Death of Robert Bosch in Stuttgart
(inventor of the spark plug and magneto, founder of Bosch
GmbH). For a time Bosch worked with Thomas Edison in the
U.S.A. The Bosch corporation is one of the world's largest
electronic corporations.
March 9, 1956
Death of Paul Kretschmer in Vienna, Austria
born in Berlin, Germany). Kretschmer was a linguist who
demonstrated that the early Indo-European languages were
influenced by non-Indo-European languages. He was s professor
of linguistics at the Universities of Marburg and Vienna.
March 9, 1988
Death of Kurt Georg Kiesinger in Tübingen,
Germany. Kiesinger (CDU) was the chancellor of West Germany
from 1966-1969. His period of office was shared with foreign
minister Willy Brand (SPD) during the "Grand
Coalition". In the next term Willy Brand was elected
chancellor and the coalition with the CDU was ended.
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