Berent Schwineköper (8 November 1912 – 8 March 1993) was a German

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

and

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 race; as well as the stu ...

. Born in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

Prussian Saxony The Province of Saxony (german: link=no, Provinz Sachsen), also known as Prussian Saxony () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1944. Its capital was Magdeburg. It was formed by the merge ...

, Schwineköper was the son of an

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is a mostly archaic term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses '' materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons, and patients. The modern chemist (British English) or pharmacist (British and North Ameri ...

. At the universities of

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

, Schwineköper studied history, German studies, art history, and historical auxiliary sciences. His main advisors were

Alfons Dopsch Alfons Dopsch (14 June 1868 in Lobositz, Bohemia – 1 September 1953 in Vienna) was an Austrian social and economic historian who specialised in the history of medieval Europe. He studied at Institut fur Osterreichische Geschichtsforschung and wa ...

, Heinrich von Srbik,

Hermann Heimpel Hermann or Herrmann may refer to: * Hermann (name), list of people with this name * Arminius, chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe in the 1st century, known as Hermann in the German language * Éditions Hermann, French publisher * Hermann, Miss ...

, and especially

Percy Ernst Schramm Percy Ernst Schramm (14 October 1894 – 21 November 1970) was a German historian who specialized in art history and medieval history. Schramm was a Chair and Professor of History at the University of Göttingen from 1929 to 1963. Early lif ...

, from whom Schwineköper received his doctorate in 1937 with the work ''Der Handschuh im Recht, Ämterwesen, Brauchtum und Volksglauben''. Schwineköper attended the Institut für Archivwissenschaft (institute for archival science) from 1939–41 and then was the archivist at the

Prussian Privy State Archives The Secret State Archives Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (german: Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz or ''GStA PK'') is an agency of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation headquartered in Berlin, Germany. A Federal statutor ...

Berlin-Dahlem Dahlem ( or ) is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in southwestern Berlin. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a part of the former borough of Zehlendorf. It is located between the mansion settlements of Grunewald and L ...

. In 1944 he became archival councillor at the state archive in Magdeburg. From February 1946 to June 1959, Schwineköper was scientific archivist at the provincial archive in Magdeburg. In 1958 he was named an honorary

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

for diplomatics of the Middle Ages and for regional history at the Institut für Archivwissenschaft in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. In June 1959 Schwineköper migrated from

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

to work at the city archive of Freiburg. He began teaching at the University of Freiburg in 1964 and was named an honorary professor in 1972. He was a participant of the

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...

er Arbeitskreis concerning medieval history and an extraordinary member of the historical commission of the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

. He was also a member of the East German historical commission for

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

. Schwineköper died in Freiburg.

External links

Biography
at the

University of Magdeburg The Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg () (''OvGU'') was founded in 1993, making it one of the youngest universities in Germany. The university is located in Magdeburg, the Capital city of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 13.000 students in nine ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwinekoper, Berent 1912 births 1993 deaths 20th-century German historians German archivists Writers from Magdeburg People from the Province of Saxony University of Göttingen alumni University of Vienna alumni University of Freiburg alumni Academic staff of the University of Freiburg German male non-fiction writers