WILLI DROST: THE LAST DIRECTOR OF THESTADTMUSEUM (CITY MUSEUM) IN GDAŃSK

Muzealnictwo

卷:60

Iwona Kramer-Galińska¹ 

[1] Hamburg – Gdańsk;

关键词: Free City of Gdańsk;    City Museum in Gdańsk;    Stadt- und Provinzialmuseum;    Willi Drost (1892–1964);    National Socialism;    war losses;   

DOI  :  10.5604/01.3001.0013.2855

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

As much as the history of the Free City of Danzig(1920–1939) has been dedicated numerous academic studies,the activity of its institutions and people, particularly Gdańskresidents of German nationality who played a significant rolein the city’s political, cultural, scientific, educational, andspiritual life until 1945 has been hardly investigated. One ofsuch individuals is Willi Drost born in Gdańsk in 1892. Followinghis studies and academic work in Leipzig, Marburg, Cologne,and Konigsberg, in 1930 he returned to Gdańsk, where hewas offered the position of a custodian and later conservatorof monuments of the Free City of Gdańsk; furthermore, as of1938 he was appointed Director of the City Museum, whichhe remained uninterruptedly until 1945. Beginning from1930, he was also professor of art history at the TechnischerHochschule, engineering university, as well as curator ofMuseum Collections for the whole region of Gdańsk – WesternPrussia. His scholarly activity yielded numerous publications inart theory, North European modern painting, and Gdańsk art.Furthermore, Drost takes credit for the inventory of Gdańskhistoric churches conducted from 1934 onwards. Resortingto the preserved materials, in 1957–1964, Drost publisheda 5-volume series titled Art Monuments of the City of Gdańsk(Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Danzig).During WW II, together with Prof. Erich Volmar, hesupervised the action of protecting and evacuating artworks from the City Museum, Town Hall’s Red Room, ArtusManor, Uphagen’s House, as well as from churches and otherhistoric facilities. Directly following the end of WW II, Droststayed on in Gdańsk, helping Polish art historians to recoverart works hidden in the city and its vicinity. Having left forGermany in the spring of 1946, he was professor at Hamburgand Tubingen universities. Until his last days he continuedto promote the cultural heritage of Gdańsk. In recognitionof his merits, Drost was honoured with numerous awardsin Germany, while in 1992, on the 100th anniversary of hisBirthday, a plaque commemorating him was unveiled in frontof the building of the former City Museum (Stadtmuseum),today housing the National Museum in Gdańsk. The paper’sgoal is to popularize Drost’s endeavours as a museologist, andto recall all he did for Gdańsk.

【 授权许可】

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