The Historiography of the Transylvanian Saxons: Ferdinand Baumann (1840 – 1911)
The Historiography of the Transylvanian Saxons:
Ferdinand Baumann (1840 – 1911)
Ferdinand Baumann was teacher at and Head Teacher of the Evangelical Gymnasium in Sebeş (Alba county) between 1867 and 1909. Against a background of major political, social and administrative chances that occurred in the 19th century Transylvania and that decisively influenced the subsequent evolution of the German ethnic minority, F. Baumann published 11 articles and studies relating in particular to the history of Sebeş. We focused our attention on three of them which together manage to reconstruct, with a fairly large amount of accuracy, the history of the town from its beginnings up to the middle of the 16th century: Geschichte der „terra Siculorum terrae Sebus“ des Andreanischen Freibriefes oder des adeligen Gutes Gieβübel bei Mühlbach, Zur Geschichte von Mühlbach and Zur Geschichte von Mühlbach 1526 – 1571. From the point of view of the themes approached, Ferdinand Baumann remains a historian of local importance. His desire was to write as complete a history of the town as possible. From this perspective, he subscribes to a historiographic genre that appeared in the 18th century and reached its peak in the 19th century: the monograph devoted to a locality. As for his writings, due to his conspicuous interest in the Middle Ages, they can be considered as pertaining to the Romantic historiography. In terms of the discourse, we can notice that Baumann successfully followed the trends in the Saxon historiography of the second half of the 19th century. He felt that he had to take action against the tragedies experienced by the Saxon nation at that time also by means of his writings.
Keywords: Historiography, town, Sebeş, Saxons, Evangelical Gymnasium, Head Teacher, Teacher
1. Direcţia Judeţeană Alba a Arhivelor Naţionale, Fond
Gimnaziul German Sebeş/Direction of the National
Archieves, Alba County, Sebes.
Press
1. Programm des vierklassigen evangelischen Gymnasiums A. B.
und der damit verbundenen Elementar – Volksschule in Mühlbach,
Hermannstadt, Mühlbach/The programm of the protestant
elementary school A.B. in Sebes, Sibiu, Sebes.
Specialized literature
1. BAUMANN, Ferdinand, „Geschichte der terra
Siculorum terrae Sebus des Andreanischen Freibriefes oder
des adeligen Gutes Gieβübel bei Mühlbach”, în Programm
des vierklassigen evangelischen Gymnasiums A. B. und der damit
verbundenen Elementar – Volksschule in Mühlbach/The history of
terra Siculorum terrae Sebus (de acum PUM), 1874.
2. BAUMANN, Ferdinand, Die Schenkung der Stadt und
des Stuhles Mühlbach an die Brüder Johann und Andreas
Pongratz/The gifting of Sebes to the Johann and Andreas Pongratz
brothers, în PUM, 1876.
3. BAUMANN, Ferdinand, Zur Geschichte von
Mühlbach/About the history of Sebes, în PUM, 1882.
4. BAUMANN, Ferdinand, Zur Geschichte von Mühlbach
1526 – 1571/About the history of Sebes, în PUM, 1889.
5. DÖRNER, Anton E., Colonizări din Baden–Durlach la
Sebeş (mijlocul veacului al XVIII-lea)/The colonisation from
Baden–Durlach to Sebes, în Dann hier ist beser zu leben als in dem
Schwabenland: vom deutschen Südwesten in das Banat und nach
Siebenbürgen; Katalog zur gleichnamigen Ausstellung des Hauses der
Heimat des Landes Baden – Württemberg, Stuttgart, 2002.
6. GIURA, Lucian, Pe urmele lui Stephan Ludwig Roth/On
the steps of Stephan Ludwig Roth, Sibiu, 1999.
7. GÖLLNER, Carl, Die Auflösung der sächsischen
Nationsuniversität (1876) Vorgeschichte und Folgen/The
dissolution of the German University of Nations (1876), în
Gruppenautonomie in Siebenbürgen. 500 Jahre siebenbürgisch –
sächsische Nationsuniversität, Böhlau, 1990.
8. HITCHINS, Keith, Afirmarea naţiunii: mişcarea
naţională românească din Transilvania, 1860-1914/The assertion
of a nation: the Romanian national movement in Transylvania,
1860 – 1914, Bucureşti, 2000.
9. KÖNIG, Walter, Teze privind revoluţia educaţională la
saşii ardeleni/Theses about the educational revolution of the
Germans in Transylvania, în Transilvania şi saşii ardeleni in
istoriografie. Din publicaţiile Asociaţiei de Studii Transilvane
Heidelberg, Sibiu, 2001.
10. MÖCKEL, Andreas, Istoriografie şi conştiinţă istorică la
saşii ardeleni/Historiography and historical consciousness at the
Germans in Transylvania, în Transilvania şi saşii ardeleni in
istoriografie. Din publicaţiile Asociaţiei de Studii Transilvane
Heidelberg, Sibiu, 2001.
11. STREITFELD, Theobald, Durlachisch – Hanauisches
aus Mühlbach/Durlachisch – Hanauisches from Sebes, Bucureşti,
1984.
12. TEODOR, Pompiliu, Introducere in istoria istoriografiei
din România/Introduction in the history of historiography in
Romania, Cluj–Napoca, 2002.
13. WOLF, I., Problematica românească în istoriografia
săsească (1790 – 1848)/The Romanian problem in the German
historiography (1790 – 1848), în Acta Musei Napocensis, XVI,
1976.
