Hans-Thorald Michaelis (born 24 April 1925 in Hanover, died 18 December 2004 in Aachen) was a German historian, germanist and genealogist.
Hans-Thorald Michaelis (born 24 April 1925 in Hanover, died 18 December 2004 in Aachen) was a German historian, germanist and genealogist.
After his studies in history, germanistics, philosophy and Protestant religion in Frankfurt am Main, Mainz, Göttingen and Marburg he started a career as a grammar school teacher. In 1963 he awarded his doctor in philosophy with the theme: “Die Grafschaft Büdingen im Feld der Auseinandersetzungen um die religiöse und politische Einheit des Reiches 1517−1555“ (The County Büdingen in the field of conflicts on religious and political unity of the realm 1515−1555). [1]
Between 1966 and 1971 he was in charge of the constitution and direction of the evening grammar school in Wiesbaden. In these politically turbulent times he very early campaigned for this new German “second-chance or adult education” and for the democratisation in school and along with this the student council.
Since 1965 until 1973 contemporaneous with the above mentioned function he got involved as an active member in the Wiesbaden Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and he published a work on the history of the 100-year-existence of the party in their festschrift. In 1977 after his activities in the SPD, Michaelis was cofounder of a local political party “Freie Wählergemeinschaft” (FWG) (free voters union) of Wiesbaden and also member in the “Frankfurt round table ”, a political, economic and liberal club for discussions with very important persons (VIPs).
In context with his long-time work in the Protestant church he campaigned also for the ecumenism of church very soon and took part in 1968 on the 4th plenum of the ecumenical World Council of Churches in Uppsala. In 1976 he joined the club: “Brüderlicher Kreis” (brother circle), a Christian religious open community with Protestant imprint, which has its origin in the confraternity of Baltic States, founded 1926.
After his retirement in 1982 he was engaged in the constitution and management of the archive from the “Deutscher Schützenbund” (German Shooting Sport Federation) in Wiesbaden, which is the head organisation for German Schützenverein. During this time he wrote more than ten papers about the historical background of the German Schützenverein and organised several expositions.
Since his early days Michaelis was interested in genealogy. On the basis of already available information and documents regarding several branches of his family he travelled to different regions of Germany and overseas in order to complete these data. Thus it was possible to generate a databank with more than 10,000 persons of the corresponding families Michaelis, von Boehmer, Von Görschen and Weitbrecht. In context with these searches he published more than 50 essays and papers including their historic circumstances and backgrounds. On the basis of these researches he could prove that all descendants in direct line of his grand-grandmother Mary Barbara Rennie (1836−1920) from the Rennie-Clan of Kilsyth, are also direct descendants from the pilgrims father William Bradford (1590−1657). Therewith the mentioned persons are eligible for membership in the traditional and renowned the Mayflower society based in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Joachim Heinrich Campe was a German writer, linguist, educator and publisher. He was a major representative of philanthropinism and the German Enlightenment.
A Schützenverein is a local voluntary association found in German-speaking countries revolving around shooting as a sport, often target shooting to Olympic rules or with historic weapons. Although originating as a town militia, a Schützenverein has no military aspects and in many cases often has a more social than sporting purpose.
Kaub is a town in Germany, state Rhineland-Palatinate, district Rhein-Lahn-Kreis. It is part of the municipality (Verbandsgemeinde) Loreley. It is located on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. 50 km west from Wiesbaden. It is connected to Wiesbaden and Koblenz by railway. Population 1100. It has a Roman Catholic and an Evangelical church, and a statue of General Blücher. Historically, trade mainly consisted of the wines of the district.
Justus Henning Böhmer was an outstanding German jurist, ecclesiastical jurist, Professor of the University of Halle and also Geheimer Rat, count palatine and chancellor of the Duchy of Magdeburg.
Klaus Gustav Heinrich von Beyme was a German political scientist who was Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg.
Reimar Oltmanns is a well-known journalist and author in Germany.
Herrnhaag was a communal spiritual centre for the Moravian Unity, an early form of Protestantism. It and Marienborn, a nearby sister community, are located in the Wetterau, an area of Hesse, north of Frankfurt am Main in Germany.
Erich Kern, was a far-right Austrian journalist, war-time propagandist, and a post-war Nazi activist. He became a writer of revisionist books that sought to glorify the activities of the German soldiers during the Second World War.
Wenzel Jaksch was a Sudeten German Social Democrat politician and the president of the Federation of Expellees in 1964 to 1966.
Hellmut Diwald was a German historian and Professor of Medieval and Modern History at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg from 1965 to 1985.
The Unionskirche is the active Protestant parish church of Idstein, a town in the Rheingau-Taunus district in the German state of Hesse. Idstein was a residence of the counts of Nassau. The church building in the center of the historic Altstadt dates back to the 14th century when it was built as a collegiate church. It became Lutheran during the Reformation. Its interior was adapted in the 17th century to become a Lutheran "Predigt- und Hofkirche". The most prominent decoration in the church is the series of 38 paintings by the Flemish painter Michael Angelo Immenraedt, an exponent of Flemish Baroque painting, and others. They follow a program of Biblical scenes.
Hermann Lindrath was a German politician (CDU). From 1957 to 1960 he was Federal Minister of Public Holdings, one of the few federal ministers who died in office.
Anna of Isenburg-Büdingen was a German noblewoman. She was a daughter of Count Louis II of Isenburg-Büdingen and Countess Maria of Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein.
Philip III of Falkenstein, Lord of Falkenstein, Münzenberg and Lich, Hesse was a member of the Lich line of the Falkenstein dynasty, son of Werner I of Falkenstein, Lord of Münzenberg and Falkenstein, who founded the Lich line, and his wife Mechtild of Diez.
Karin Flaake is a German sociologist and professor (retired) at the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg. Her publications on the adolescence of young women and men are part of the literature of socio-psychologically oriented gender research. Another focus of her work is on the chances of changing gender relations in families.
Willi Birkelbach was a West German politician (SPD). He was a member of the West German Bundestag between 1949 and 1964. Between 1952 and 1964 he also served as an increasingly prominent Member of the European Parliament.
Klaus von See was a German philologist who specialized in Germanic studies.
Wolfgang Golther was a German philologist who specialized in Germanic studies. A professor at the University of Rostock, Golther was a prominent authority on Medieval German literature and Germanic religion.
Kurt Köster also spelled Koetser, was a German librarian and historian.
The Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft in Leipzig was an important German academic publisher, which was founded in 1906.
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