Otto Heuer (6 February 1854 – 24 January 1931) was a German literary historian. He served as the director of the

Freies Deutsches Hochstift The Freies Deutsches Hochstift (Free German Foundation) is a literary association based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is the owner of the Goethe House, the place where the playwright and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born and spent his ...

literary association from 1888 until his retirement in 1925.

Biography

Heuer was born on 6 February 1854 to Friedrich Wilhelm and Emilia Heuer. He attended the gymnasium in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

before leaving to study philology and history at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

, after which he moved to

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

. He later moved to

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 1882 before moving to

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

in 1886. On 21 January 1887, Heuer was elected secretary of the Academic Department for History in the

. In the same year Heuer received his PhD in History from

Humboldt University of Berlin 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 o ...

. On 1 April 1888, he became the librarian at the Hochstift; under Heuer this role morphed into that of director. Heuer expanded the Hochstift's collection and curated several exhibitions about Goethe (such as one in 1892 about ''

The Sorrows of Young Werther ''The Sorrows of Young Werther'' (; german: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers) is a 1774 epistolary novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, which appeared as a revised edition in 1787. It was one of the main novels in the ''Sturm ...

''). He also led the construction of a new Goethe Museum in 1897, expanding the Hochstift's museum efforts. Heuer's time as director coincided with the First World War and inflation, which threatened to deplete the Hochstift's finances; he organised a fundraiser to prevent the Hochstift from collapsing. Heuer replaced the Hochstift's yearly report with a yearbook ("Jahrbuch") with academic articles about Goethe and the collection of the Hochstift. Heuer remained as director until his retirement in 1925, upon which he was succeeded by

Ernst Beutler Ernst Beutler (12 April 1885 — 8 November 1960) was a German literary historian and Goethe researcher who served as the director of the Freies Deutsches Hochstift literary society between 1925 and 1960. Biography Ernst Beutler was born in ...

. After retiring, Heuer lived in

Bad Homburg Bad Homburg vor der Höhe () is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's offic ...

until his death on 24 January 1931.

Selected works

* ''Goethe und seine Vaterstadt'', Sonderabdruck aus der Festschrift zu Goethes 150. Geburtstagsfeier, dargebracht vom Freien Deutschen Hochstift, 1899. * ''Goethes Geburtshaus und sein Umbau durch den Herrn Rat im Jahre 1755''. Frankfurt am Main 1910. * ''Die Königsleutnantsbilder im Frankfurter Goethemuseum. Zur Erinnerung an das 25-jährige Bestehen des Frankfurter Goethemuseums''. Frankfurt am Main 1922.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heuer, Otto 1854 births 1931 deaths Directors of the Freies Deutsches Hochstift Goethe scholars