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JAHN, FRIEDRICH LUDWIG (1778-1852)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 126 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JAHN, See also:FRIEDRICH See also:LUDWIG (1778-1852) , See also:German See also:pedagogue and patriot, commonly called Turnvater (" See also:Father of Gymnastics "), was See also:born in Lanz on the 11th of See also:August 1778. He studied See also:theology and See also:philology from 1796 to 1802 at See also:Halle, See also:Gottingen and Greifswald. After See also:Jena he joined the Prussian See also:army. In 1809 he went to See also:Berlin, where he became a teacher at the Gymnasium zum Grauen as well as at the Plamann School. Brooding upon the humiliation of his native See also:land by See also:Napoleon, he conceived the See also:idea of restoring the See also:spirits of his countrymen by the development of their See also:physical and moral See also:powers through the practice of gymnastics. The first Turnplatz, or open-See also:air gymnasium, was opened by him at Berlin in 1812, and the See also:movement spread rapidly, the See also:young gymnasts being taught to regard themselves as members of a See also:kind of gild for the emancipation of their fatherland. This patriotic spirit was nourished in no small degree by the writings of Jahn. See also:Early in 1813 he took an active See also:part at See also:Breslau in the formation of the famous See also:corps of See also:Lutzow, a See also:battalion of which he commanded, though during the same See also:period he was often employed in See also:secret service. After the See also:war he returned to Berlin, where he was appointed See also:state teacher of gymnastics. As such he was a See also:leader in the formation of the student Burschenschaften (patriotic See also:fraternities) in Jena. A See also:man of democratic nature, rugged, honest, See also:eccentric and outspoken, Jahn often came into collision with the reactionary spirit of the See also:time, and this conflict resulted in 1819 in the closing of the Turnplatz and the See also:arrest of Jahn himself. Kept in semi-confinement at the fortress of See also:Kolberg until 1824, he was then sentenced to imprisonment for two years; but this See also:sentence was reversed in 1825, though he was forbidden to live within ten See also:miles of Berlin.

He therefore took up his See also:

residence at See also:Freyburg on the Unstrut, where he remained until his See also:death, with the exception of a See also:short period in 1828, when he was exiled to Colleda on a See also:charge of See also:sedition. In 184o he was decorated by the Prussian See also:government with the See also:Iron See also:Cross for bravery in the See also:wars against Napoleon. In the See also:spring of 1848 he was elected by the See also:district of See also:Naumburg to the German See also:National See also:Parliament. Jahn died on the 15th of See also:October 1852 in Freyburg, where a See also:monument was erected in his See also:honour in 18J9. Among his See also:works are the following: Bereicherung See also:des hochdeutschen Sprachschatzes (See also:Leipzig,18o6), Deutsches Volksthum (See also:Lubeck, 181o), Runenblatter (See also:Frankfort, 1814), Neue Runenblatter (Naumburg, 1828), Merke zum deutschen Volksthum (See also:Hildburghausen, 1833), and Setbstvertheidigung (Vindication) (Leipzig, 1863). A See also:complete edition of his works appeared at See also:Hof in 1884-1887. See the biographyy by Schultheiss (Berlin, 1894), and Jahn als Erzieher, by Friedrich (See also:Munich, 1895).

End of Article: JAHN, FRIEDRICH LUDWIG (1778-1852)

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