Willem Wolpers-Brakensiek

Willem Wolpers-Brakensiek (May 22, 1876 in Pröllermoor - January 21, 1937 in Wolgast) was a German Catholic historian.

Life

Willem Wolpers-Brakensiek was the only son of the tiler H.A. Wolpers of Pröllermoor, Prussia. He was raised by his aunt Ida Brakensiek whose surname Willem later attached to his own. Due to the financial difficulties of his family, Willem went to school for only few years, but was an attentive server at St Plechelmus Church at Prölle. At the age of 14, he became an apprentice to his uncle, the painter Geertien Brakensiek.

In 1895 he met the famous German historian Georg von Below, then professor at University of Münster (Westphalia) and was “deeply impressed” by his scholarly appearance. Below encouraged Wolpers-Brakensiek’s talent and supported him by finding him a job at Münster University. In the following years, Wolpers-Brakensiek did research on the influence of the guilds on the constitution of (Westphalian) cities in the 13th and 14th century.

When in 1897 von Below was appointed professor of history in Marburg, Wolpers-Brakensiek returned to his job as a painter in rural Prölle. In 1900 he married Hendrike Harmsen.

Wolpers-Brakensiek did not participate in World War I because of an eye complaint.He published some articles on local catholic traditions in the 1920s. According to his memoirs, he strongly disapproved of Hitler’s rise to power.

Willem Wolpers-Brakensiek died after a car accident during his winter holidays on 21 January 1937 in the Pomeranian town of Wolgast.

Works

Willem Wolpers-Brakensiek, Die Zünfte und ihr Einfluß auf die Stadtverfassung im Bistum Münster im Zeitraume des 13. und 14. Jahrhunderts, unpublished, 1896.

Willem Wolpers-Brakensiek, Zunftleben im mittelalterlichen Westfalen, unpublished, 1897.

Willem Wolpers-Brakensiek, Die Kirche Sanctus Plechelmus, 1925

Willem Wolpers-Brakensiek, Meditationen zu „Menschen, die ihr wart verloren“ (GL 850), Gemeindebote St. Plechelmus, Christmas 1926.

Willem Wolpers-Brakensiek, Memoirs, 2 vols., unpublished, 1933-1935.

Katholisches Prölle (Catholic Prölle), Handreichung, 1903.

Literature

Georg von Below, Zur Entstehung der Deutschen Stadtverfassung, in: Historische Zeitschrift 58 (1887) und 59 (1888).

Von Below, in: Archiv für Weltwirtschaft 19, S. 358f.

Von Below, Das ältere deutsche Städtewesen (1898)

Minnie von Below: Georg von Below: Ein Lebensbild für seine Freunde, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1930