Prof. Dr. Alexander Haindorf
The lecture is named after Alexander Haindorf (1784-1862), who was influential for the Jewish community, but also for Münster's city history. Haindorf, who saw himself as enlightened and steeped in European humanism, can be described as an early representative of liberal Judaism. He sought a mutual rapprochement of Jewish and Christian culture and described this process as "amalgamation" in contrast to the one-sided adaptation to the Christian majority society demanded by radical reformers. He wanted to realise a mutual togetherness. In 1825 he founded the "Association for the Promotion of Crafts among the Jews and for the Establishment of a School in which Poor and Orphaned Children are to be Taught and Future Jewish School Teachers are to be Educated". Jewish craft training and thus the opening of new professions aimed at counteracting prejudices and stereotypes against Jewish business people. Jewish teacher training was intended to improve the qualifications of Jewish educators and to be integrated into the Prussian education system together with the Jewish primary schools. Haindorf's pedagogical concept emphasised the equality of pupils, regardless of social status, gender and religion. This was considered progressive at the time and followed the humanist ideal of universal education. As a physician, private lecturer and educator, he enjoyed a high level of recognition and was one of the Jews accepted even by the Christian majority society. He was a founding member of the "Westfälischer Kunstverein" (1831) and belonged to the "Verein der Kunstfreunde im Preußischen Staat" and the "Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen". From 1816 until his death, he assembled an exquisite collection of about 400 Old German and Dutch works of art. The collection became an important foundation of the Münster State Museum (today the LWL Museum of Art and Culture). His library is now housed in the University and State Library (ULB).
