Theodor Hirsch 1806-1881
Born in Altschottland, near Danzig, Hirsch became a believer through the influence of Schleiermacher, a professor of history. His studies at Berlin university included theology, together with history and geography .
He became professor at the Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium; and in 1833 proceeded to Danzig, where he taught history for thirty-two years. At Danzig, his home town, he focused on the local history of the city, and in 1850 was made responsible for re-arrangement and supervision of the municipal archives. In 1865 he served as professor of History in Greifsfeld. He is recorded to have been a very quiet and humble man despite his erudition and status.
His principal work is “Danzig’s Handels- und Gewerbegeschichte Unter der Herrschaft des Deutschen Ordens,” Leipsic, 1858. He also edited, with Strehlke and Töppen, the “Scriptores Rerum Prussicarum,” 5 vols., ib. 1861-74.
In 1865 Hirsch became assistant professor of history at the University of Greifswald and director of the Royal University Library. In 1880 he published the sixth volume of the “Urkunden und Aktenstücke zur Geschichte des Grossen Kurfürsten.”
Sources
Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 1897;
Allg. Deutsche Biographie, xiii. 506;
De le Roi, Juden-Mission, part i., p. 207.S.
Jewish Encyclopedia 1906
Bernstein, A. Jewish Witnesses for Christ. Keren Ahvah Meschichit, Jerusalem. New edition, 1999