Eduard Heyck


Eduard Heyck was a German cultural historian, editor, writer and poet.

Family

Eduard Karl Heinrich Berthold Heyck was born at Doberan,, the son of the retired garden center owner Eduard Heyck. He was a son-in-law of the writer and poet Wilhelm Jensen and the father of Hans Heyck and Prof. Dr. med. Hartwig Heyck. His first wife, Maina Heyck-Jensen, was a painter and occasional writer. Eduard Heyck studied comparative philology, history and art history at Leipzig, Jena and Heidelberg. After a PhD. thesis judged "summa cum laude" entitled "Genua und seine Marine im Zeitalter der Kreuzzüge" Heyck was appointed "Dozent", i.e. lecturer at Freiburg university. In 1892 he returned to Heidelberg University as extraordinary professor for history; from the summer of 1896 until spring of 1898 he was Director of Archives at the Fürstlich-Fürstenberg Library and Archives in Donaueschingen. Starting in 1898 he lived as an independent scholar in Munich and Berlin; in 1909 he moved to Ermatingen, where he died in 1941. Eduard Heyck was twice married and was the father of three sons ond one daughter.

Career

Heyck was a many-talented historian, editor, writer and poet. As a young lecturer he was awarded a contract by the Baden Historical Commission to write "Die Geschichte der Herzoge von Zähringen". This work is even now considered a basic text and is still being reprinted. Other well-known books by Heyck are a three-volume "Deutsche Geschichte" and "Die Allgemeine Zeitung 1798–1898 ", a newspaper history. Among the many other short and long works by Heyck are "Briefe einer Heidelberger Burschenschaft 1914/1918" and "Höhenfeuer. Ein deutsches Lesebuch". As independent scholar Heyck gave many speeches throughout Germany, took part in 1898 in the Palestine Expedition of Emperor William II, and in 1900 he travelled to Brazil on a lecture tour which was sponsored by the German embassador, Count Arco.
Eduard Heyck was an enthusiastic student corps member. From 1893 until his death, i.e., for almost fifty years, he was the editor of the "Allgemeines Deutsches Kommersbuch". During his editorship 450,000 copies of the book were printed.
Heyck is probably best known as the first editor and sometime author of the "Monographien zur Weltgeschichte", first published in 1897 by Velhagen and Klasing, which he edited for almost forty years. He also contributed several volumes to the "Künstler Monographien" by the same publisher. During his long life Heyck published dozens of articles on historical, cultural and artistic topics. He was also active as a bibliophile. From 1898 to 1900 he was chairman of the "Gesellschaft der Bibliophilen", which had been founded by Fedor von Zobeltitz, and belonged for several more years to the executive. For his 75th birthday Heyck received the "Goethe-Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft" from Adolf Hitler. He died, aged 79, at Ermatingen, Switzerland.

Works by Eduard Heyck

As author

1933 – Die Blutreinheit der Germanen

As Editor