Joseph Friedrich Abert (11 June 1879 – 25 October 1959, Würzburg) was a German historian and archivist.

Life

Abert was born in 1879 in Würzburg. His uncle was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castle. C ...

, Friedrich Philipp von Abert. In 1898 he passed his final exams, and studied history in Würzburg and Munich. In 1904 he received a Ph.D. in history. His thesis was published in 1905 as ''Die Wahlkapitulationen der Würzburger Bischöfe bis zum Ende des XVII. Jahrhunderts, 1225-1698''.Open Library
''Die Wahlkapitulationen...'' (Würzburg University Press, 1905)
/ref> His career as an archivist began as an intern at the General State Archives in Munich in 1904. From 1908 to 1910 he was employed by the Archive of the noble family of Schönborn. Abert served as a lieutenant in World War I. As a member of the Freikorps " Franz Xaver Ritter von Epp" he was involved in the suppression of the Bavarian Soviet Republic. From 1919 to 1926 he was head of the archives of the city of Würzburg and appointed afterwards Head of the State Archives in Würzburg. In 1928 he became an honorary professor. Joseph Friedrich Abert lived together with Albrecht Becker (1906-2002) a production designer, photographer, and actor. During the Nazi era, they were arrested for violating

Section 175 Paragraph 175 (known formally a§175 StGB also known as Section 175 in English language, English) was a provision of the Strafgesetzbuch, German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It Criminalization of homosexuality, made homosex ...

, the legal ban on homosexuality and imprisoned. Abert lost his membership in the SA and Nazi Party and the privileges as a public servant. Later, he lived for a while in Rome, where he worked at the

German Historical Institute The German Historical Institutes (GHI), german: Deutsche Historische Institute, (''DHI'') are six independent academic research institutes of the Max Weber Foundation dedicated to the study of historical relations between Germany Germany, ...

of the Repertorium Germanicum. In 1945 he returned to Würzburg, where he died on 25 October 1959. In the exhibition of the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

in London on the Holocaust the fate of Joseph Friedrich Abert and Albrecht Becker is shown as an example of Nazi-persecution of homosexuals.

Works

*''Die Wahlkapitulationen der Würzburger Bischöfe bis zum Ende des XVII. Jahrhunderts, 1225-1698'' (Würzburg University Press, 1905) *''Vom Mäzenatentum der Schönborn'' (Würzburg: Freunde Mainfränkischer Kunst und Geschichte, 1950) *''Aus Würzburgs Biedermeierzeit'' (Würzburg: Freunde Mainfränkischer Kunst und Geschichte, 1950) *See also: World Cat
"Most widely held works by Josef Friedrich Abert"
accessed January 6, 2010

Literature

Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller is 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 ...

: ''Mann für Mann'', 2001, Suhrkamp Verlag.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abert, Joseph 1879 births 1959 deaths 20th-century Freikorps personnel German gay writers German expatriates in Italy 20th-century German historians German librarians German male non-fiction writers German military officers German prisoners and detainees LGBT historians LGBT academics German Army personnel of World War I People convicted under Germany's Paragraph 175 People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Writers from Würzburg Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany Sturmabteilung personnel LGBT people in the Nazi Party