Horst Bartel (16 January 1928 – 22 June 1984) was a German

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 ...

and

university professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

. He was involved in most of the core

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

projects undertaken in the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

(1949–1989). His work on the nineteenth-century

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

places him firmly in the mainstream tradition of

Marxist–Leninist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialect ...

historical interpretation.

Life

Horst Bartel was born in

Cottbus Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with exten ...

. His father worked in street construction. By the time Bartel left school, in 1942,

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

had broken out. He started a

teacher training Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they require to perform their t ...

course at Orlau in

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located ...

, but he left the course in 1944 without completing it. In the meantime, in 1943 he joined the

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...

organisation, and during the same year was conscripted for National Labour Service. As Germany's eastern frontier moved west to the accompaniment of industrial scale

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, and religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal, extermination, deportation or population transfer ...

, he appears to have moved west; in 1945 he was captured by the

Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many Multi ...

who held him as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

between May and September 1945, initially at

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. From the late Mid ...

and subsequently at

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

. Between September 1945 and 1946 Bartel worked as a messenger at a hospital in

. In April 1946 he was one of many thousands in what had by now become Germany's

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...

to join the newly formed Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED / ''Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands'') which a few years later would become the ruling party for a new standalone "East German" state. Later the same year he embarked on an accelerated on-the-job teacher-training course. The course included work as a teacher at a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

Peitz Peitz (; Lower Sorbian Picnjo) is a town in the district of Spree-Neiße, in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany. Overview It is situated 13 km northeast of Cottbus. Surrounded by freshwater lakes, it is well known for its fishing industry. ...

, a small town a short distance to the north of Cottbus. In Bartel's case, however, teaching was quickly superseded, still in 1946, by a period of university level study at Berlin's

Humboldt University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of ...

, focusing on

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

and

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

. His student studies continued until 1949. In 1949 Bartel became a teacher, and then a school head, in

Wandlitz Wandlitz is a municipality in the district of Barnim, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 25 km north of Berlin, and 15 km east of Oranienburg. The municipality was established in 2004 by merger of the nine villages ''Basdorf'', ' ...

, just outside Berlin on its north side. Between July and September 1950 he then undertook a training course at the Regional

Party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

Academy in Schmerwitz, before being an appointed, in 1951, Schools Advisor (''Stadtschulrat'') in the important Potsdam District. That same year he started a higher level study course at the Party Central Committee's Social Sciences Institute (''Akademie für Gesellschaftswissenschaften beim ZK der SED'' / IfG). This led him to a doctorate, awarded in February 1956. The subject matter for his doctoral dissertation was the work of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Der Sozialdemokrat'' during the period of the

Anti-Socialist Laws The Anti-Socialist Laws or Socialist Laws (german: Sozialistengesetze; officially , approximately "Law against the public danger of Social Democratic endeavours") were a series of acts of the parliament of the German Empire, the first of which was ...

(1878 - 1890). Between 1956 and 1960 he worked as a lecturer, while at the same time heading up the teaching department at the IfG. In 1960, on the recommendation of Ernst Engelberg, Bartel took over as Director of the Institute. He was also appointed deputy director of the Historical Institute of the (East) German Academy of Sciences, an appointment made despite opposition from the Academy founder and well regarded economist

Jürgen Kuczynski Jürgen Kuczynski (; 17 September 1904, Elberfeld – 6 August 1997, Berlin) was a German economist, journalist, and communist. He also provided intelligence to the Soviet Union during World War II. By 1936, Kuczynski had followed his father an ...

. From 1966 Bartel also served as associate professor with a teaching post and a professorial chair covering the History of the German Labour Movement at the important Party Central Committee's Social Sciences Institute / Academy (IfG/AfG). From 1956 till 1959 Bartel was a member of the editorial collective on the ''Journal for Historical Science'' (''Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft''). He then joined the editorial collective of the academic journal ''Contributions to the History of the German Labour Movement'' (''Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung''), remaining with the journal until his death. Between 1967 and 1973 he was the editor of the ''History Yearbook'' (''Jahrbuch für Geschichte''). A further academic followed in 1969 when he received his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

for a work entitled "A Study of Contributions to the History of the Implementation of Marxism in the German Labour Movement during the final third of the Nineteenth Century" (''"Studie Beiträge zur Geschichte der Durchsetzung des Marxismus in der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung im letzten Drittel des 19. Jahrhunderts"''). It was also in 1969 (again in the teeth of opposition from Kuczynski and others) that he was appointed to succeed Ernst Engelberg as director of the Historical Institute at the German Academy of Sciences, a position he retained until his death in 1984. Horst Bartel provided information to the Ministry for State Security as a ''Gesellschaftlicher Mitarbeiter Sicherheit'' (a professionally high ranking category of informal Stasi collaborator). At the same time he served as deputy chairman of the National History Council. He became a corresponding fellow of the German Academy of Sciences in 1969, progressing to a full fellowship in 1972. From 1975 he chaired the German Democratic Republic section of the German-Soviet Historical Commission. It was in this capacity that in 1977 he undertook an extended study visit to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, and in 1982 he became a foreign member of the

Soviet Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

(as it was then known). Also in 1982 he became an associate professor of the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Evaluation

Horst Bartel was one of an initially small minority of committed communists in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany (from 1949 the German Democratic Republic) at the end of the

who not only worked together on constructing historical seminars and institutes, but together transformed the context of historical study so that it might comply with the precepts of the East German ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED / ''Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands''). , a prolific historian who was also noted as an uncompromising critic of the

and its one party dictatorship, contended that Bartel, along with like-minded colleagues such as

Walter Bartel Walter Bartel (15 September 1904 – 16 January 1992) was a German Communism, communist resistance fighter, historian and university professor. Life Born in Fürstenberg/Havel, Bartel grew up in a working-class family. Wilhelm Bartel, his fath ...

Karl Bittel Karl Bittel (22 June 1892 – 18 April 1969) was a German left-wing historian and journalist. Life Karl Bittel was born in Darmstadt. His father was a bank worker. He attended school at Freiburg in the south-west of Germany, across the Rhine ...

, Rudolf Lindau and

Albert Schreiner Albert Schreiner (7 August 1892 in Aglasterhausen – 4 August 1979 in Berlin) was a German political activist and Marxist historian. Life The son of an SPD functionary, he became an SPD member in 1910, where he belonged to the party's left wing. ...

, lacked necessary academic competence, and that even within party corridors were widely viewed as simple propagandists.

Awards and honours

* 1966

National Prize of East Germany The National Prize of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) (german: Nationalpreis der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik) was an award of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) given out in three different classes for scientific, artistic, ...

1st class for science and technology * 1979

Patriotic Order of Merit The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...

in silver

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bartel, Horst German Marxist historians Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit 1928 births 1984 deaths Historians of Germany Foreign Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences People of the Stasi Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin 20th-century German historians Hitler Youth members Reich Labour Service members German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States German Army personnel of World War II Child soldiers in World War II