Droysen, Johann Gustav |
| HISTORIAN, POLITICIAN (GERMANY) |
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BORN 6 Jul 1808, Treptow (now: Trzebiatów) - DIED 19 Aug 1884, Berlin BIRTH NAME Droysen, Johann Gustav Bernhard GRAVE LOCATION Berlin: Alter Friedhof der Zwölf-Apostel-Gemeinde, Kolonnenstraße 24/25, Schöneberg (EO-LM-40* (former grave of honour)) |
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Johann Gustav Droysen was born in Berlin as the son of the military chaplain Johann Christoph Droysen (1773-1816). His mother Anna Dorothee Friederike Casten (d.1827) was the daughter of an ironmonger. After attending school in Stettin, he studied philosophy and philology in Berlin. His teachers were G.W.F. Hegel, A. Boeckh and K. Lachmann. From 1827 to 1829 he was the private tutor of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. He taught at the Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster in Berlin from 1829 to 1833. In 1833 he published "Geschichte Alexanders des Großen". After two years as a private lecturer, he became extraordinary professor in Berlin and from 1840 professor in Kiel. There he wrote "Geschichte des Hellenismus" but he never finished this work. In 1836 he married Marie Mendheim (1820-1847). They had four children, and their son Gustav Droysen (1838-1909) became a historian. Droysen was also politically active. In 1848 he represented the Provisional Government in Kiel at the Bundestag in Frankfurt am Main. In May 1848 he joined the National Assembly as a right-wing liberal politician. After the death of his first wife, he married Emma Michaelis (1829-1881) in 1849. Her father was the gynecologist Gustav Adolph Michaelis (1798-1848). Their son Hans Droysen (1851-1918) became a historian as well. Droysen supported the separation of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark, and this led to move to the University of Jena in 1851. In 1855 he published the first part of "Geschichte der preußischen Politik". The firth and last part of this work was published in four volumes between 1874 and 1886. In 1859 he returned to the University of Berlin. He received the Verdunpreis in 1874. He died in 1884 in Berlin. Related persons • was pupil of Boeckh, August • was teacher of Geibel, Emanuel • was teacher of Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix |
| Images |
 The grave of Johann Gustav Droysen at the Alter Friedhof der Zwölf-Apostel-Gemeinde, Berlin. Picture by Androom (24 Aug 2017) |
Sources • Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909 • Johann Gustav Droysen - Wikipedia (DE) |
