Hugo Hermann Fürchtegott Treffner (17 July 1845 – 13 March 1912) was the founder and first director of the

Hugo Treffner Gymnasium Hugo Treffner Gymnasium ( et, Hugo Treffneri Gümnaasium; abbreviated as HTG) is a secondary school in Tartu, Estonia with special emphasis on science education. Founded by Hugo Treffner, it was the only large secondary school in 19th-century Est ...

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

, and an important figure in the

Estonian national awakening The Estonian Age of Awakening ( et, Ärkamisaeg) is a period in history where Estonians came to acknowledge themselves as a nation deserving the right to govern themselves. This period is considered to begin in the 1850s with greater rights bein ...

Biography

Hugo Treffner was born in a family of local parish clerk in

Kanepi Kanepi is a small borough (') in Kanepi Parish, Põlva County in southeastern Estonia. Hugo Treffner (1845–1912), educator, founder of the Hugo Treffner Gymnasium was born in Kanepi as a son of a family of local parish clerk. Gallery Fi ...

village. From 1868 to 1880 he studied

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

and

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

in the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

. While studying he also worked as a private teacher. In 1883, Treffner received the permission to open his own school - a

progymnasium ''Gymnasium'' (and variations of the word) is a term in various European languages for a secondary school that prepares students for higher education at a university. It is comparable to the US English term '' preparatory high school''. Bef ...

with three classes. He was director of Treffner Gymnasium for the rest of his life while he also worked as religion teacher in other schools. He died after several health problems in 1912 and is buried in the

Raadi Cemetery The Raadi cemetery, ( et, Raadi kalmistu) is the oldest and largest burial ground in Tartu, Estonia, dating back to 1773. Many prominent historical figures are buried there. It is also the largest Baltic German cemetery in Estonia after the des ...

in Tartu. Treffner was described by his contemporaries as a skilled politician who managed to get along with the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

authorities very well for the benefits to his school. Treffner actively took part in national movement, where he sided himself with

Carl Robert Jakobson Carl Robert Jakobson ( – ) was an Estonian writer, politician and teacher active in the Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire. He was one of the most important persons of the Estonian national awakening in the second half of the 19th century ...

. He was a founding member of

Estonian Students' Society The Estonian Students' Society ( et, Eesti Üliõpilaste Selts; commonly used acronym: EÜS) is the largest and oldest all-male academical student society in Estonia, and is similar to the Baltic German student organizations known as corporat ...

and the

Society of Estonian Literati The Society of Estonian Literati ( et, Eesti Kirjameeste Selts - EKmS) was an influential association of Estonian intellectuals based in Tartu between the years 1871 and 1893.Toivo U. Raun, ''Estonia and the Estonians'', Hoover Press, 2001, , p75 ...

as well as editor in various newspapers (

Postimees ''Postimees'' () is an Estonian daily newspaper established on 5 June 1857, by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. In 1891, it became the first daily newspaper in Estonia. Its current editor-in-chief is Priit Hõbemägi. The paper has approximately 250 ...

among them). Hugo Treffner inspired

A. H. Tammsaare Anton Hansen (18 (O.S.)/30 January 1878 – 1 March 1940), better known by his pseudonym A. H. Tammsaare and its variants, was an Estonian writer whose pentalogy '' Truth and Justice'' (''Tõde ja õigus''; 1926–1933) is considered one of ...

to create the character of "mister Maurus" in his second book of '' Truth and Justice''. A statue of Hugo Treffner is situated at the bank of river

Emajõgi Emajõgi (; meaning ''"Mother River"'') is a river in Estonia which flows from Lake Võrtsjärv through Tartu County into Lake Peipsi, crossing the city of Tartu for 10 km. It has a length of 100 km. The Emajõgi is sometimes called t ...

in Tartu.

Sources

Ülo Kaevats Ülo Kaevats (29 September 1947 – 30 January 2015) was an Estonian statesman, academic and philosopher. In 1972, he graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry of the University of Tartu with a qualification from a physicist and a rese ...

et al. 1996. ''Eesti Entsüklopeedia 9''. Tallinn: Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus,

External links

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Hugo Treffner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Treffner, Hugo 1845 births 1912 deaths People from Kanepi Parish People from the Governorate of Livonia Estonian schoolteachers University of Tartu alumni Burials at Raadi cemetery