Göttingen, Prussia/Germany in the 1910s

Work

University and service town

The university was a major employer and social engine: 2,215 students were enrolled in winter 1910/11², and the students’ fathers point to the town’s world of merchants, teachers, pastors, physicians, lawyers, craftsmen, farmers, and officials². Scientific and academic work sat beside shops, transport, administration, and wartime supply work.

Faith

Pastors still mattered

The student body still drew strongly from Protestant educated families: among sampled students, pastors and teachers were common fathers’ occupations². The war was also read through pulpit language; in August 1914 a Weende pastor wrote approvingly of the departing 82nd Regiment⁵.

Law & power

Prussian town, imperial war

Göttingen was in the Prussian Province of Hanover within the German Empire until the revolution. In November 1918, local authority briefly widened when a Soldiers’ and People’s Council was elected⁵, yet Mayor Georg Calsow’s city administration continued almost undisturbed⁵.

In the air

War enters the university

Göttingen’s scholars were not outside politics: 46 student corporations and associations shaped university life³, and wartime loyalties entered academic debate. In 1914, local enthusiasm accompanied the regiment’s departure⁵, while university professors joined national wartime declarations.

What people feared

Hunger, influenza, prisoners

The danger most civilians met was not battle in the streets but shortage: food, heating material, and electricity were rationed⁹. By 1917, official food rations were scarcely 1,000 calories⁸, and a prisoner-of-war camp below the Lohberg held up to 10,000 prisoners at times⁷.

Home & table

Queues and ration cards

Households lived around cards, fuel, and substitutes: food could not legally be issued without ration cards⁹. A wartime recollection says rations fell from about 1,350 calories in 1916 to scarcely 1,000 from 1917⁸, while local accounts mention queues for milk and marked supplies.

Money

Fees in marks

For university families, cash costs were precise: a new Göttingen student paid 18 Mark to matriculate, and a transfer student paid 12 Mark². For ordinary workers, local wages, rents, and bread prices for the decade were not found in this quick online search.

Roads & news

Railway, papers, soldiers

News and strangers came easily by rail because Göttingen had been on the railway since 1854⁵. A modern tramway was planned, with three lines totaling 8.4 kilometres⁶, but war stopped it before passengers could ride.

Year by year

1. 1910Otto Wallach received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work associated with Göttingen’s scientific reputation. here
2. 1910Göttingen counted 37,594 inhabitants at the 1 December census. here¹
3. 1910The winter semester opened with 2,215 students at Georg-August-Universität, including 146 foreign students. here²
4. 1914The city resolved to build an electric tramway, but the First World War stopped construction before service began. here⁶
5. 1914War began in August, and Göttingen civilians watched the 82nd Regiment depart amid local patriotic enthusiasm. here⁵
6. 1914A prisoner-of-war camp was established below the Lohberg and eventually held thousands of prisoners. here⁷
7. 1917The Hunger Winter and continuing blockade made urban food supply across Germany severe, and Göttingen rations were down to roughly 1,000 calories by this period. the country⁸
8. 1918The German Empire collapsed in the November Revolution, and Göttingen elected a Soldiers’ and People’s Council on 9 November. the country⁵

What the sources say

• Göttingen had 37,594 inhabitants at the census of 1 December 1910, 39,387 in 1916, 36,162 in 1917, and 41,246 in 1919. from the sources¹
• In the 1910s Göttingen belonged to the Prussian Province of Hanover and was governed within the German Empire until the November Revolution of 1918. inferred
• The Georg-August-Universität enrolled 2,215 students in the winter semester 1910/11. from the sources²
• Among the 672 Göttingen students in 1910/11 for whom fathers’ occupations were studied, common backgrounds included merchants, teachers, pastors, physicians, lawyers, craftsmen, farmers, and officials. from the sources²
• A new student in 1910/11 paid an 18 Mark matriculation fee at Göttingen, while a student transferring from another recognized university paid 12 Mark. from the sources²
• Göttingen had 146 foreign students in the winter semester 1910/11. from the sources²
• Student corporations and associations were prominent in Göttingen: 46 were registered in 1910/11, and 765 of 2,215 students belonged to one. from the sources³
• There were 193 women students at Göttingen in 1910/11, and 49 of them belonged to a student association. from the sources³
• From winter semester 1908/09 through summer semester 1914, Göttingen matriculated 9,800 men and 721 women. from the sources⁴
• Göttingen’s railway station had opened with the Alfeld–Göttingen railway on 31 July 1854, making the railway a long-established route for people, letters, goods, and news by the 1910s. from the sources⁵
• Göttingen planned an electric tramway in the 1910s: a 1914 scheme called for three lines totaling 8.4 kilometres, but the First World War interrupted construction before service began. from the sources⁶
• From August 1914 a prisoner-of-war camp was set up in the Ebertal below the Lohberg, and at times it held up to 10,000 prisoners. from the sources⁷
• At the beginning of the war in August 1914, local enthusiasm was strong enough that a Weende pastor described the departing 82nd Regiment as cheerful and heartening. from the sources⁵
• By the later war years, Göttingen civilians faced rationing of food, heating material, and electricity, and food could not legally be issued without ration cards. inferred⁹
• A Göttingen wartime account says food rations contained only about 1,350 calories in 1916 and scarcely 1,000 calories from 1917. inferred⁸
• On 9 November 1918 a large public meeting in the Bürgerpark elected a Soldiers’ and People’s Council and passed a resolution; the next day a red flag was raised on the town hall. from the sources⁵
• After the revolution, Göttingen’s city administration under Mayor Georg Calsow was able to continue work almost undisturbed. from the sources⁵
• The Göttingen Volkswehr formed in November 1918 to support order and ration enforcement; its payroll of 20 November listed 93 names, and by mid-December it had grown to 140 men. inferred⁹
• No single online source found in this quick search gives ordinary Göttingen household rents, bread prices, or weekly wages specifically for the 1910s. not known
• No detailed online street-by-street description of ordinary Göttingen housing interiors in the 1910s was found in this quick search. not known

Sources

1. Einwohnerentwicklung von Göttingen. Wikipedia / figures attributed to Stadt Göttingen
2. Wintersemester 1910/11. Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
3. Wintersemester 1910/11: student associations section. Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
4. Frauen(studium) Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts. Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
5. Stationen der Stadtgeschichte. Stadtarchiv Göttingen
6. Göttinger Verkehrsbetriebe. Wikipedia
7. Göttingen. DeWiki
8. Kriegsende. Rainer Driever, exhibition on Göttingen November Revolution
9. Volkswehr. Rainer Driever, exhibition on Göttingen November Revolution

Göttingen in other decades