Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Rußwurm (also known as Carl Friedrich Wilhelm or just von Rußwurm; 25 November 1812 in
Ratzeburg
Ratzeburg (; Low German: ''Ratzborg'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the district Herzogtum Lau ...
, Germany – 17 February 1883 in Reval (
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
),
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
) was a German-Estonian pedagogue, ethnologist and historian.
Life and work
Rußwurm came from a family of theologians and educators. His father, Johann Georg Rußwurm (1781–1848) was the rector of the cathedral school at and later a pastor in
Selmsdorf
Selmsdorf is a municipality in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany located east of Lübeck.
It is also close to the cities of Wismar and Schwerin
Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Su ...
, and his uncle was also a pastor. His younger brother, (1814–1890), later became the
provost of Ratzeburg.
After attending the cathedral school his father taught, he studied theology in
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
and
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 ...
. In 1831, he became a member of the
Burschenschaft
A Burschenschaft (; sometimes abbreviated in the German ''Burschenschaft'' jargon; plural: ) is one of the traditional (student associations) of Germany, Austria, and Chile (the latter due to German cultural influence).
Burschenschaften were fo ...
''Populonia Bonn'' and in 1832 a member of the ''Kränzchenverein Berlin''.
[Helge Dvorak: ''Biographisches Lexikon der Deutschen Burschenschaft.''] In 1835, he went to
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
as a private tutor. In 1839, he was appointed inspector of the Knights and Domschule at Reval (now
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
). In 1841, he moved to the health resort town of Hapsal (now
Haapsalu
Haapsalu () is a seaside resort town located on the west coast of Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Lääne County, and on 1 January 2020 it had a population of 9,375.
Description
Haapsalu has been well known for centuries for its w ...
), where he initially worked as a teacher and later as an inspector of the local county school. After his retirement in 1868, he worked on scientific works and returned to Reval, where he was appointed an archivist of the Estonian chancery. He dealt mainly with Estonian cultural history and ethnography and the genealogy of
Baltic German
Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...
families. In Hapsal, his most important work was ''Eibofolke'' or ''The Swedes On the Coast of Esthland and Runö ''(Runö now being modern
Ruhnu
Ruhnu ( sv, Runö; german: Runö; lv, Roņu sala) is an Estonian island in the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea. It is administratively part of Saare County but is geographically closer to the Latvian mainland. At , it has currently fewer than 100 ...
), where he received the prestigious
Demidov
The House of Demidov (russian: Деми́довы) also Demidoff, was a prominent Russian Empire, Russian noble family during the 18th and 19th centuries. Originating in the city of Tula, Russia, Tula in the 17th century, the Demidovs found suc ...
Prize.
Works
* ''Nordische Sagen. Der deutschen Jugend erzählt und mit einem wissenschaftlichen Anhange versehen.'' Leipzig: Fleischer 1842
*
Eibofolke oder die Schweden an der Küste Esthlands und auf Runö eine ethnographische Untersuchung mit Urkunden, Topographie und Geschichte, Erser Theil'', Reval 1855
* ''Eibofolke oder die Schweden an der Küste Esthlands und auf Runö, eine ethnographische Untersuchung mit Urkunden, Tabellen und lithographirten Beilagen, Zweiter Theil'', Reval 185
E-Text* ''Geschichte Alt-Pernau's.'' Reval 1880
* ''Nachrichten über das Geschlecht Ungern-Sternberg.'' Reval 1872–1875
* ''Nachrichten über das adeliche und freiherrliche Geschlecht Stael von Holstein esthländischer Linie.''
* ''Genealogia Lutherorum rediviva oder die Familie Luther in Esthland und Rußland.'' (posthum) Reval 1883.
Further reading
*
* Helge Dvorak: ''Biographisches Lexikon der Deutschen Burschenschaft.'' Band I Politiker, Teilband 5: R–S. Heidelberg 2002, S. 149–150.
External links
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russworm, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm
1812 births
1883 deaths
19th-century German educators
19th-century German historians
19th-century German writers
19th-century German male writers
German ethnologists
German genealogists
People from Ratzeburg