Inspirational Quotes by Ernst Moritz Arndt (German Writer)

Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769–1860,) known as Father Arndt, was a German nationalist historian, writer, and poet. He expressed the national awakening in his country against Napoleonic dominance over Germany and was later a founder of German nationalism and the 19th-century movement for German unification.

Born the son of a former serf in the then Swedish island of Rügen, now in Germany, Arndt was educated at Stralsund, Greifswald, and Jena with the ministry’s intention, but in 1805, alter traveling extensively in Europe, became professor of history at Greifswald.

Arndt’s Versuch einer Geschichte der Leibeigenschaft in Pommern und Rügen (1803) led to the abolition of serfdom, and in his Geist der Zeit (1806; Spirit of the Times, 1808) he attacked Napoleon I so boldly that after the Battle of Jena (1806) he had to take refuge in Stockholm (1806–09.) “Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland?” and others of his patriotic songs helped to rouse the spirit of Germany.

In 1818, Arndt became a professor of history at the new University of Bonn. Aiming progressively at constitutional reforms, he was suspended in 1819 for participation in the ‘demagogic movements’ and was not restored until 1840. He was elected a member of the German national assembly in 1848 but retired from it in 1849.

Arndt’s works comprise an account of the Shetland and Orkney Islands (1826,) many political addresses, some volumes of reminiscences, two volumes of Letters (1878–92,) and poems.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Ernst Moritz Arndt