13 - The Historical World of Erich Angermann

Summary

The pride expressed in John F. Kennedy's confession “Ich bin ein Berliner!” (I am a Berliner!) could have colored Erich Angermann's own admission “Ich bin ein Sachse!” (I am a Saxon!). Yet everyone who knew him would have noted the thick irony, whereas all others would have classified this as a blatant and shameless lie. For who could have been more Bavarian, who was in a greater hurry to get out of Cologne and back to Munich after the end of the term, who had his dentist in Munich, who bought all his clothes and most of his shoes there, and who refused to admit that Kölsch, the local Cologne brew, was drinkable - Erich Angermann. But who was Erich Angermann?

There are various approaches to this question. We could turn to his wife, and she would probably answer, with a pensive smile: “Well, he was many things, but first of all he was a very lovable person.” His students would admit to the first part of the sentence but would then add: He was a fine academic teacher, easily accessible, but as a supervisor of doctoral dissertations something of a “precisionist.” Had Angermann been listening in, he would have agreed with this description but added that the term precisionist in its historical meaning carried connotations - a word he was rather fond of - that probably fit him less well. And soon he would have engaged us in a discussion about the meaning of the term in early modern religious history in England, North America, and Germany.