Art stele Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Waetzoldt

In Kampen, he wrote several standard works on German art history: Professor Dr. Wilhelm Waetzoldt, a recognized expert in his field, whose career culminated in 1927 with his appointment as Director General of the Berlin State Museums. He regularly drew creative inspiration from the island of Sylt, which he first visited in the 1920s. In 1934, Wilhelm Waetzoldt purchased a house in Kampen, which is still owned by the family today. "The island, with its special light and its then largely untouched nature, the combination of sea and mudflats, expanse and wind, inspired my grandfather to spend many weeks each year in Kampen and write his scripts," his grandson recounts. In addition to nature, contact with other artists also had a stimulating effect on Waetzoldt: "He associated with, among others, the cellist Max Baldner, the Kammersängerin Emmi Leisner, the painter Edwin Scharff, the publisher Peter Suhrkamp and the art historian Fritz Wichert." After studying art history in Marburg and Berlin, the young Wilhelm Waetzoldt took up his first position as an assistant at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence. He later worked as a librarian at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin before being appointed Professor of Art History at the University of Halle. There he became involved in research and teaching, promoting an interdisciplinary approach to art history. At the outbreak of the First World War, Waetzoldt volunteered for military service, was deployed to the Western Front near France and was seriously wounded twice. After the war, he found a new field of activity as a senior government councilor in the Prussian Ministry of Art and Science. Here he advocated for the merger of the art academies and the schools of applied arts, thereby fostering a close connection between art and craft. In 1927, Wilhelm Waetzoldt took over the position of General Director of the Berlin State Museums. One of the high points of his tenure was the ceremonial opening of the new Berlin Pergamon Museum with its collection of ancient treasures in 1930, attended by numerous high-ranking guests of honor from Germany and abroad. However, the new balance of power led to Waetzoldt being removed from office in 1933. He was accused of refusing to dismiss employees of Jewish descent and of turning too heavily to modern art. In 1934, he was reappointed professor at the University of Halle. Waetzoldt did not live to see the end of the Second World War, dying of heart disease in January 1945. A small footnote in history: The office from which the Nazis had chased Wilhelm Waetzoldt in 1933 found another successor in 1965. It was his son, Stephan Waetzoldt.