Perspectivia

Fischer_Johann_Ernst

Surname

Фишер; Fischer

Name

Эрнст; Johann Ernst

Languages taught

German

Confession

Lutheran

Place of birth, country

Duchy of Wuerttemberg

Place of birth, town (province)

Esslingen

Date of birth

1713-06-22

Family relations

father: Georg Abraham (grammar-school teacher), mother: Maria Euph., née Boekler

Education

Fischer registered as a pupil of the Academy School in St Petersburg on October 1, 1733. Later, he became a student at the University of the Academy of Sciences, in St Petersburg.

Career in Russia

Fischer was appointed teacher at the Academy School on April 7, 1741. In August 1742, he is documented as teacher of the upper German class (“prima”). Presumably in 1743, he was dismissed, possibly due to an insufficient knowledge of Russian.

Institutions in which the teacher has taught in Russia

Academy School (at the Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg)

Pupils

In the first half of the 18th century, the Academy School and the Noble Cadet Corps were the most important schools in Russia. The Academy School’s pupil registers, published by Sukhomlinov, list about 820 pupils attending the Academy School during this period. At least two-thirds of these pupils learned German.

Social status of teacher’s pupils

nobility; merchants; clergy; soldiers; servants

In principle, there were two different categories of students, attending the Academy School: those in receipt of a government scholarship and independent (self-funding) pupils. Schwanwitz’ report (1736) lists 78 independent pupils, among them 54 nobles and 24 non-nobles. 57 pupils received a scholarship, among them 42 children whose fathers served in the admiralty or in the army and who were sent to the Academy School, especially to learn German. Thus, the family background of the pupils was largely diversified from a wide spectrum of professions: from the higher nobility, army officers and civil servants such as staff members of the Academy’s chancellery or the Collegia, to merchants, craftsmen, soldiers, farmers and even ordinary servants.

Place of work in Russia, city (province)

St Petersburg

Dates of existence of the school / pedagogical activity

1741-04-07-1743 (?)

Subjects and aspects of subjects taught by the teacher

German

Fischer was teacher in the upper German class (“prima”).

Textbooks and other didactical literature used by the teacher

  • · [Martin Schwanwitz], Немецкая грамматика, из разных авторов собрана и российской юности в пользу издана от учителя немецкого языка при Санкт-Петербургской гимназии, St Petersburg : Типогр.  АН, 1730.
  • · [Ehrenreich Weissmann], Немецко-патинский и русский лексикон купно с первыми началами рускаго языка к общей полъзе при Имп. Академии науке, печатию издан, St Petersburg : Типогр. АН, 1731.
  • · [Joachim Lange], Школьные разговоры, St Petersburg: Типогр. АН, 1738.
  • · Азбука на немецком языке (probably: St Petersburg, 1714).
  • · Немецкий календарь.
  • These books were used at the Academy School at the time.

Sources

  • Сухомлинов М.И., Материалы для истории Академии наук, St Petersburg, 1886, vol. 2, p. 425; 1886, vol. 3, p. 582; 1887, vol. 4, pp. 490, 626, 738; 1889, vol. 5, pp. 5, 76, 310f., 703f.; Erik-Amburger-Datenbank. Ausländer im vorrevolutionären Russland [http://dokumente.ios-regensburg.de/amburger/index.php?id=53361&mode=1]; Koch Kristine, Deutsch als Fremdsprache im Russland des 18. Jahrhunderts. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Fremdsprachenlernens in Europa und zu den deutsch-russischen Beziehungen, Berlin, New York, 2002, S. 179f.

Author of the article

Kristine Dahmen