Cäsar Albano Kletke

Cäsar Albano Kletke (28 November 1805 – 5 April 1893) was a German teacher and philosopher.

Life Cäsar Albano Kletke was the son of the merchant Carl Heinrich Kletke and his wife Josefa Schiller. After attending the Gymnasium "Augustum" in Görlitz, he went on to attend the Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium at age 13, which was run by Johann Kaspar Friedrich Manso. He showed exceeding talent for Mathematics and graduated in 1823 while being awarded for his achievements.

Kletke subsequently studied at the University of Wrocław. While his major was Mathematics, he also studied Philology under Franz Passow and Philosophy under Henrik Steffens, who was a natural scientist. During this time, he developed personal connections to them as well as to Johann Theodor Mosewius, the founder of the sing academy of Wrocław. At only 21, Kletke passed the test to become a teacher for Mathematics, Physics, German, Philosophy as well as some additional secondary subjects. Only at 71 did he finally retire. Cäsar Albano Kletke died at the age of 88.

Accomplishments In 1828 Kletke became a teacher at the Gymnasium in Oleśnica. He was only 24 when he became a teacher at the historic Elisabet-Gymnasium in Wrocław in 1829. From 1833 onward he also served as a private lecturer at the University of Breslau. Kletke earned his habilitation in applied mathematics and also gave many lectures at the “Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture”. The development of industry and commerce, along with the expansion of the administrative apparatus, also transformed Silesia, which had previously been more agriculturally oriented at the beginning of the 19th century. Therefore, schools that had existed in Wrocław up to that point were no longer able to meet these new requirements.

After overcoming many difficulties, the Breslau City Council elected Cäsar Albano Kletke as the first principal of the new “Bürgerschule am Zwinger” in 1836. Thanks to Kletke's successful establishment of this new type of school Realschule, he became well known not only in his home town but also abroad as the school's prominent representative and additionally inspired other countries and their school systems. In 1840 Adam Johann von Krusenstern, who was a circumnavigator, Russian vice admiral, and director of the Seekadett Corps in Saint Petersburg and then the Russian capital, visited the school to gain educational insights.

In 1871, Pjotr Georgiewski, state councillor of the Russian Ministry of Education, came to Breslau. Following Kletkes suggestion, he opened Realschulen in Russia. The Prussian Ministry of Education assigned him through a memorandum in 1845 the organization of the "Bürger- und Realschulen", which earned him prestige above the regional level. In appreciation of his work he was given the title of "Direktor" (a title describing the headmaster) in 1846.

Kletke supported an educational system that focused more on practical subjects like technical drawing and chemistry. He saw greater importance in German compared to foreign languages for formal education. Cäsar Albano Kletke was the brother of historian Karl Kletke and a cousin of Hermann Kletke (1813–1886), a writer and chief editor of the "Vossische Zeitung" in Berlin.

Publications C. A. Kletke: Jahresberichte der Realschule am Zwinger zu Breslau. 1867/1868. C. A. Kletke: Entwickelung des Keplerschen Problems: „Aus der mittleren Anomalie eines in einer elliptischen Bahn sich bewegenden Weltkörpers die wahre Anomalie desselben zu finden“. Breslau 1852. C. A. Kletke: Die geschichtsphilosophische Weltanschauung von Braniß. Breslau 1849.

Literature

Caesar Albano Kletke (Hrsg.: Robert Ludwig): Lebensgeschichte eines schlesischen Schulmannes. In: Städtisches Realgymnasium am Zwinger in Breslau. Bericht über das Schuljahr 1904/1905. Breslau 1905, S. 3–17 (Digitalisat) E. Maetschke: C. A. Kletke. In: Schlesier des 19. Jahrhunderts. Band 1, Breslau 1922 G. Dittrich: Realgymnasium am Zwinger, auf der Grundlage der Festschrift zum 100-jährigen Bestehen. 1990