Arndt, Ernst Moritz

Arndt, Ernst Moritz

(ĕrnst mō`rĭts ärnt), 1769–1860, German poet and historian. An ardent nationalist and opponent of Napoleon I, he was forced to flee to Sweden and Russia because of his patriotic and martial verse and his book, Geist der Zeit [spirit of the times] (4 vol., 1806–18), which influenced German feelings against the French. He was (1818–20) a professor of history at the Univ. of Bonn but was dismissed because of his liberal ideas and participation in the Burschenschaften, the nationalist students' movement; he was not reinstated until 1840. In 1848, Arndt was elected to the Frankfurt Parliament, the all-German national assembly that attempted to bring about German unification.

Bibliography

See A. G. Pundt, Arndt and the National Awakening in Germany (1935, repr. 1968).

Arndt, Ernst Moritz

 

Born Dec. 26, 1769, in Schoritz on the island of Rügen; died Jan. 29, 1860, in Bonn. German writer.

After graduating from the University of Jena, Arndt became a professor of history. He took part in the struggle against Napoleon (1806). Arndt fled to Russia in 1812 and returned to Germany in 1813. Arndt’s political position was characterized by antifeudal ideas. He was the ideologist of the war of liberation against Napoleon but had a narrowly nationalistic tendency, for which F. Engels criticized him. In 1848, Arndt was elected deputy to the Frankfurt National Assembly, but he went no further than demanding a constitutional monarchy. He is the author of A History of Serfdom in Pomerania and on the Island of Rügen (1803), Songs for Germans (1813), Military Songs (1815), and a collection of articles entitled The Spirit of the Times (vols. 1–4, 1806–18). Arndt’s best verses have held theirplace in German poetry. In 1840 he published an autobiography, Memoirs of My Outer Life.

WORKS

Werke, vols. 1–7. Leipzig, 1892–1902.

REFERENCES

Marx, K., and F. Engels. “Gottfried Kinkel.” Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 7.
Engels, F. “Ernst Moritz Arndt.” In K. Marx and F. Engels, Iz rannikh proizvedenii. Moscow, 1956.
Mering, F. Literaturno-kriticheskie stat’i, vols. 1–2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1934. (See index.)

E. M. ZAKS