Alexander Wilhelm Dietz (born July 30, 1864 in Frankfurt am Main; † January 14, 1934 in Bad Homburg vd H.) was a lawyer and notary as well as an economic and social historian.
Alexander Dietz, a 1920
Dietz earned special merits through his unique work Family register of Frankfurt Jews (1907)[1]also through the five-volume Frankfurt trade history (1910–1925).[2]
Cover page of the family register of Frankfurt Jews from 1907
Alexander Dietz was a descendant of a trading and legal family that had lived in Frankfurt since the middle of the 17th century and had previously been based in Worms, Odenheim, Darmstadt and Marburg.
His father Friedrich Wilhelm Dietz (1833–1897) was a violinist and composer, breaking with the traditional professions of his ancestors. Together with his mother, Emma Suppius (1841–1928), who was also artistically inclined, this family supported the young Alexander so much that he was already able to play Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto by heart at the age of 15.
Nevertheless, at his parents’ request, Alexander Dietz devoted himself to studying law in Marburg, Berlin and Leipzig. In 1886 he received his doctorate in Göttingen. jur. and settled in Frankfurt as a lawyer in 1892.
Since his job did not satisfy him, he devoted himself to music and history. As a merchant’s grandson, he turned to the history of the Frankfurt bourgeoisie. In addition to multi-volume major works, he created numerous publications on the Frankfurt family history, especially about the circle around Goethe. Dietz also occasionally worked for various Frankfurt newspapers (Frankfurter Zeitung, Frankfurt News).[3]
Alexander Dietz was married to Emilie Lejeune (daughter of the merchant Julius Lejeune 1836–1905) and was the father of a son (Herrmann Dietz) and three daughters. In 1929, when he was 65, Dietz decided to visit his son in America and stayed there for a longer period of time. He dedicated his last work ‘Alt-Sachsenhausen’ to him.
- Frankfurt Citizens’ Book. Historical information about 600 well-known Frankfurt families from before 1806. Frankfurt a. M. 1897. UB Frankfurt/M. ULB Düsseldorf
- Family tree of the Frankfurt Jews. Historical information about the Frankfurt Jewish families 1339–1849. Frankfurt a. M. 1907. HAAB Weimar ULB Düsseldorf (Extensions in Vol. 32 (1920) and in the Frankf. Bll. f. Familiengesch., 1, p. 151 ff. (1908))
- Frankfurt trading history:
- Band 1. Frankfurt a. M. 1910 (reprint Glashütten iT 1970). ULB Darmstadt
- Band 2. Frankfurt a. M. 1921 (reprint Glashütten iT 1971). ULB Darmstadt
- Band 3. Frankfurt a. M. 1921 (reprint Glashütten iT 1972). ULB Darmstadt
- Volume 4 Part 1. Frankfurt a. M. 1925 (reprint Glashütten iT 1973). ULB Darmstadt
- Volume 4 Part 2. Frankfurt a. M. 1925 (reprint Glashütten iT 1974). ULB Darmstadt
- “Franz Wirth and the Frankfurt Peace Association. Festschrift to celebrate its 25th anniversary” (1911).
- Arthur Czellitzer: Justice Councilor Dr. Alexander Dietz in memory. In: Communications from Jewish family research. 10th year, 1934, issue 35, p. 589 f. (printed in: Paul Arnsberg: The history of Frankfurt’s Jews since the French Revolution. Band 3. Eduard Roether Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1983, ISBN 3-7929-0130-7, S. 10–11.)
- Dietz, Alexander Wilhelm. In: Wolfgang Klötzer (ed.): Frankfurt biography. Personal history lexicon. First volume. A–L (= publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission. Volume XIX, No. 1). Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-7829-0444-3. , p. 158.
- ↑ H. F. Friederichs: Hessian family customer. Vol. 3, issues 1–12 and 1 register issue, Working Group of Family Studies Societies in Hesse (ed.), 1954–1956, p. 645
- ↑ H. F. Friederichs: Hessian family customer. Vol. 3, issues 1-12 and 1 index booklet, Working Group of Family History Societies in Hesse (ed.), 1954-1956, p. 645. Quote: “A standard work that only brings awareness to the great importance of this trading city since the Middle Ages In 30 years of studies, Justice Councilor D. has processed an unmistakable wealth of people and families with biographical and genealogical data, which of course requires verification, from merchants and craftsmen, the development of trade in general and wealth, the work of merchants in the state and the results are recorded here.”
- ↑ Wolfgang Klötzer (ed.): Frankfurt biography. Personal history lexicon. First volume. A–L (= publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission. Volume XIX, No. 1). Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-7829-0444-3.
