Heinrich Balthasar Wagnitz – Wikipedia

Posted on by

Heinrich Balthasar Wagnitz

Heinrich Balthasar Wagnitz (Born September 8, 1755 in Halle (Saale), † February 28, 1838 ibid) was a German theologian and prison preacher. He is considered one of the most important reformers of German prison law.

Wagnitz came in 1755 as the son of a merchant in Halle A./S. to the world. As the only child of his parents, he grew up well -protected. The early Christian education in the parents’ house laid the foundation for his further life. At the age of 17, he started studying theology at the (Pietist) Friedrichs-Universität Halle. His scientific tendency and later thinking were shaped by the enlightening approach of his teachers.

In 1775 Wagnitz left the university to take up a house teacher for two years. In June 1777 he was chosen as the fourth preacher of the market church of our dear women. In this function he had to do few official businesses. This gave him space to pursue his scientific interests. He excluded attractive offers from a professorship of theology in Kiel or a field preacher position at an infantry regiment.

The year 1784 was of particular importance for Wagnitz both professionally and privately. In addition to his office as a preacher of the Marienkirche, he also became a preacher at the breeding and work house in Halle. He kept this job until the institution was lifted in 1817. Also in 1784 he married Louise Hirsekorn. For 38 years, the spouses led a childless but apparently happy relationship. Both campaigned for impossible children and students, which are mainly from the fund of the Hallic Patriotic Wochenblatt were supported, whose editor he was over for many years.

His greatest creativity began with his office as a preacher at the prison. For 20 years he dealt with the “moral improvement” of the prisoners that moved him. Inspired by John Howard’s efforts to improve the prisons in England, Wagnitz devoted himself to the general improvement of the breeding houses in Germany. [first] At his runs, a wide range of changes were carried out in the establishment of the breeding and work house in Halle, which was already one of the best in Germany at the end of the 18th century. Wagnitz has supplemented his diverse practical work through lively writing activity. In three large works, he dealt intensively with the questions of the enforcement of imprisonment, the expedient setting up of the breeding houses, an appropriate treatment of the prisoners and their “moral improvement”. With these writings, he contributed significantly to the fact that the public was interested in the unpopular topic of prison for the first time. Wagnitz massively criticized the incorrect furnishings of the breeding houses. He put together a list of defects due to his own or evaluation of observations of others, which concern the building, the economic system, the origin, selection and training of civil servants and care, employment and “moral improvement” of the prisoners. [2] The civil servant question always remained a core problem.

The reports by John Howard and other contemporaries also show that the importance of suitable civil servants had already been clearly recognized around 1780. It is particularly pointed out to the supervisory officers, the sufficient number and the adequate salary. But only Wagnitz took up these claims to the full extent. Fundamental new was his demand for training. He vigorously emphasized the importance of prison staff for the realization of the prison: “Everything depends on these, on their knowledge of the world and people, on the way they deal with their subordinates, on the playing play they give it, on the supervision they lead,” . Wagnitz suggested that the qualified training of the “office” (see also a general enforcement service) suggest: “… for prison administrators, Lazareth fathers and prison attendants, in every province and in the place where there is a prison and hospital, a seminar (to create), in which not only which WOL would be the main thing, its moral character and its intellectual powers, but rather in which you could also be prepared for your future service, as far as preparation is generally possible…. ” [3] .

His suggestions for personnel selection, leadership and, above all, training were particularly pointed and largely. He realized that this was the key point of the grievances in the breeding houses. As long as nothing has been changed in the selection or training of the staff, the defects described would remain. Therefore, he concentrated his proposals for prison reform on two things, the establishment of the prisons and the staff working in it. Wagnitz interests also had an impact on working in public life. As a university teacher, he received scientific, as a superintendent clergy and, as was proven on the occasion of his 50th anniversary at the Marienkirche in Halle in 1827, all usual bourgeois honors. Age weakness and frequent illnesses forced him to leave part of his duties as a preacher at the Marienkirche to his counterparts.

At his own request, Wagnitz was retired on July 1, 1834 after 57 years of service as a preacher and finally as a senior preacher at the Marienkirche in Halle. After that, he successively withdrew from public life. On February 28, 1838, he died at the age of 83.

Hesse’s prison system operates under the name H.B. Wagnitz seminar A service center in the Joseph-Baum-Haus near Wiesbaden.

  • Bernd Moeller, Bruno Jahn (ed.): German biographical encyclopedia of theology and churches. Volume 2, Saur, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-598-11646-9, page 1380.
  • Monika Schidorowitz: H. B. Wagnitz and the reform of the enforcement of the prison sentence at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century. Guardz-publisher, St. Augustin 2000, ISBN 3-89796-053-2.
  • Kerstin Schimanski: The Halle penalty reformer Heinrich Balthasar Wagnitz (1755-1838). Gender -specific aspects of the development of prison. Universitätsverlag Halle-Wittenberg, Halle 2017, ISBN 978-3-86977-154-0.
  • Malte of Spankeren: Wagnitz, Heinrich Balthasar. In: Biographical-bibliographical church lexicon (Bbkl). Volume 34, Bautz, Nordhausen 2013, ISBN 978-3-88309-766-4, col. 1483–1486.
  1. ↑ knast.net ( Memento of the Originals from December 27, 2016 in Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been used automatically and not yet checked. Please check original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. @first @2 Template: Webachiv/Iabot/www.knast.net
  2. ↑ History of the Waldheim correctional facility
  3. ↑ Ralph Christian Amthor: The history of vocational training in social work: looking for professionalization and identity , Verlag Juestle, 2003, ISBN 3-7799-1703-3 [first]
  4. ↑ Repertory of the entire German literature 15 (1838), S. 11