Hermann Georg Fiedler
{{Short description|German scholar}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox academic
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Hermann Georg Fiedler
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Hermann Georg Fiedler.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| alt =
| caption = Portrait photograph of Fiedler, c.1904
| native_name =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1862|04|28}}
| birth_place = Zittau, Kingdom of Saxony
| death_date = {{death date and age|1945|04|10|1862|04|28}}
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| nationality = German
| citizenship = British
| other_names =
| occupation = Academic
| period = 20th century
| known_for = First Taylor Professor of the German Language and Literature
| title = Professor
| boards =
| spouse = Ethel Mary (1870/71–1933, daughter of Charles Harding)
| partner =
| children = Herma (born 1902); Beryl (born 1913, died 2 May 1920)
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| education =
| alma_mater = Leipzig University
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| thesis_year = 1888
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| doctoral_advisor = Friedrich Zarncke
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| discipline = German studies
| sub_discipline = German philology
| workplaces = Queen Margaret College
University of Glasgow
Mason College
University of Birmingham
University of Oxford
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| notable_students =
| main_interests = German language and literature
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}}
Hermann Georg Fiedler (28 April 1862 – 10 April 1945)https://www.findmypast.co.uk, accessed 20 March 2021.(Subscription required, either individually or through an institution, e.g. a municipal library in Britain.) was a German scholar, who became Taylor Professor of the German Language and Literature at the University of Oxford (1907–37).{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101062275/ |title=Hermann Georg Fiedler |accessdate=2015-02-04 |encyclopedia=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press }} He was previously lecturer in German at Mason College (which later became Birmingham University).
Biography
H.G. Fiedler was born in 1862 in Zittau, Kingdom of Saxony.{{cite web| url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb486-fiedlerdiary | title=Main Incidents in the married Life of Hermann Georg Fiedler and Ethel Mary Fiedler | first=Ethel Mary | last=Fiedler | publisher=Jisc | work=Archives Hub | location=UK | accessdate=3 January 2016 }} In July 1888, he received a doctorate from the University of Leipzig in German philology and literature under Friedrich Zarncke. In October 1888, Zarncke helped in Fiedler becoming a lecturer in German at Queen Margaret College and the University of Glasgow until 1890.{{cite web| url=http://www.internationalstory.gla.ac.uk/person/?id=WH24547 | title=Hermann Georg Fiedler | work=International Story | publisher=University of Glasgow | location=UK | accessdate=3 January 2016 }}
File:Mason Science College.png]]
In October 1890, Fiedler was then appointed Professor of German at Mason College. Fiedler was instrumental in the setting up of University of Birmingham.{{cite web|url=http://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=Catalog&id=XUB/MISC/HGF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241227174118/https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=Catalog&id=XUB/MISC/HGF |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 December 2024 |title=Papers relating to Hermann Georg Fiedler |date=1888–1914 |accessdate=4 January 2016 |publisher=University of Birmingham |location=UK |work=Cadbury Research Library Special Collections }} He was a member of the initial committee of nine set up in 1894 by Robert Heath.{{OGL-attribution|inline=yes}} {{cite web |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=150-fh&cid=0#0 | title=Hermann Georg Fiedler | accessdate=2010-08-04 | quote=Hermann Georg Fiedler (1862–1945) was lecturer in German at Mason College, Birmingham (a predecessor college of the University of Birmingham), with a doctorate from Leipzig. ... | publisher=The National Archives | location=UK }}
In July 1907, Fiedler was appointed the first Taylor Professor of the German Language and Literature at the University of Oxford{{cite web| url=http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb486-mss.octavog.27-61;mss.fol.g.11-21 | title=Papers of Hermann Georg Fiedler (19th century–1945) | publisher=Archives Hub | location=University of Oxford, Taylor Institution Library, UK | date=1945 | first=Hermann Georg | last=Fiedler | accessdate=4 January 2016 | ref=GB 486 MSS. Octavo G. 27-61; MSS. Fol. G. 11-21 }} and a Fellow of The Queen's College. In 1911, he became a British citizen and he was a tutor to the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) between 1912 and 1914. However, in 1915, during World War I, he felt obliged to offer his resignation, but this was not accepted. He continued to run the German department at Oxford University during World War I.
In 1926, Fiedler was appointed secretary to the curators of the Taylor Institution in central Oxford.{{cite web| url=http://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/taylorian/tag/hermann-georg-fiedler/ | title=History of the Taylor Institution Library and its Collections | work=Taylor Institution Library: A Bodleian Libraries weblog | publisher=Bodleian Library, University of Oxford |location=UK | accessdate= 4 January 2016 }} He improved the Taylor Institution Library and was in charge of the extension of the Taylor Institution, which was opened in 1932 by the Edward, Prince of Wales. In May 1931, he met the physicist Albert Einstein, a fellow German speaker, during a visit by Einstein to Oxford.{{cite book| first=Josef | last=Eisinger | title=Einstein on the Road | chapter=Berlin and Oxford (1931) | isbn=978-1616144609 | date=2011 | publisher=Prometheus Books }}{{cite book| first=Andrew | last=Robinson | author-link=W. Andrew Robinson | title=Einstein on the Run | pages=176, 181 | isbn=978-0-300-23476-3 | date=2019 | publisher=Yale University Press | location=New Haven and London }} He retired in 1937.
He was an important figure in the English Goethe Society.{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=W. Daniel |date=2021 |title=Willoughby, Blunck, and their Jewish Critics: The English Goethe Society and Anglo-German Relations in the Nazi Period |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09593683.2021.1999620 |journal=Publications of the English Goethe Society |language=en |volume=90 |issue=3 |pages=167–213 |doi=10.1080/09593683.2021.1999620 |issn=0959-3683|url-access=subscription }}
During the first years of Nazi rule in Germany, Fiedler continued to work for understanding between Germany and the United Kingdom. In August 1935, two months after Hitler had concluded the Anglo-German Naval Agreement with the United Kingdom and thus given rise to hopes for peace, Fiedler represented the United Kingdom at the 50th-anniversary celebrations of the Goethe-Gesellschaft (Goethe Society) in Weimar. In his short speech on this occasion, he stressed ties between his native and adopted countries, to enthusiastic applause. As late as 1938, he had "a warm heart for Germany".{{Cite book|title=Der faustische Pakt: Goethe und die Goethe-Gesellschaft im Dritten Reich|last=Wilson|first=W. Daniel|publisher=DTV|year=2018|isbn=978-3-423-28166-9|location=München|pages=99}}
H.G. Fiedler edited a number of books related to German studies during his career,{{cite web| url=https://www.amazon.com/Hermann-Georg-Fiedler/e/B00JIK9NZQ | title=Hermann Georg Fiedler | publisher=Amazon.com | accessdate=3 January 2016 }} particularly an anthology of German verse (Das Oxforder Buch Deutscher Dichtung vom 12ten bis zum 20sten Jahrhundert, with a foreword by Gerhart Hauptmann, Oxford 1911, 2nd edn. 1927, reprinted many times). The selection of poets was conservative, with few of the truly innovative poets of the twentieth century, especially those from Expressionism or with Marxist leanings. Fiedler never published a full-length scholarly monograph, but focused on pedagogy and collecting manuscripts of German authors. These formed the core of an important collection at the Taylor Institution of Oxford University.{{cite web| url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/6d9f587a-12ee-35c3-8a07-da240ff4107a | title=Papers of Hermann Georg Fiedler | work=Archives Hub | publisher=Jisc | accessdate=13 April 2021 }}
Family
In 1899, Hermann Fiedler married his former pupil Ethel Mary (1870/71–1933, a daughter of Charles Harding), who wrote a diary covering their marriage between 1899 and 1922. They had two daughters, Herma (born 1902) and Beryl (born 1913). Beryl died on 2 May 1920, which caused serious depression in Ethel for the rest of her life.
Works
- Das Oxforder Buch Deutscher Dichtung vom 12ten bis zum 20sten Jahrhundert - (1911)
- Beneath the Wheel 1906 by Hermann Hesse (1915, as translator)
- Buch deutscher Dichtung, von Luther bis Liliencron - (1916)
- A First German Course for Science Students - (1921)
- Knulp 1915 by Hermann Hesse (1923, as translator)
- German Short Stories (1928)
- Klingsor's Last Summer 1920 by Hermann Hesse (1930, as translator)
References
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Category:Leipzig University alumni
Category:Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States
Category:Academics of the University of Glasgow
Category:Academics of the University of Birmingham
Category:Fellows of the Queen's College, Oxford
Category:Taylor Professors of the German Language and Literature