Gustav Heckmann

Gustav Heckmann
Gustav Heckmann Peter Heckmann
Born	12 April 1898 Voerde, Germany
Died	8 June 1996 Hanover, Germany
Alma mater	Göttingen
Occupation	Teacher Philosopher Political activist
Political party	SPD
Spouse(s)	Charlotte Sonntag (1945)
Children	y

Gustav Heckmann (22 April 1898 - 8 June 1996) was a German philosopher and teacher. He is particularly associated with philosophical extrapolations from the format, pioneered by his mentor and friend Leonard Nelson, with which Heckmann continued to work after Nelson died.

In 1932 he was an instigator of the so-called Urgent Call for Unity ("Dringender Appell für die Einheit"), a public appeal, signed by 32 high profile intellectuals, urging the principal left wing parties to unite ahead of the first 1932 General election in order to block Nazi success. The Appeal failed in its objective, but it marked out its instigators as prominent opponents of the Nazi party: Heckmann went into exile in 1933. Twelve years later, on returning to Germany, in 1945 he became, for a few years, an influential member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Gustav Heckmann was born into a traditional "church and emperor" family at Voerde, a town in the industrial Rhineland region, at the extreme western edge of Germany. After successful completion of his schooling he volunteered for military service, serving in the war initially as a paramedic and later as a soldier.

War ended in 1918 and Heckmann moved on to study Mathematics, Physics and Philosophy at Marburg, Berlin and Göttingen. It was at Göttingen that he received his doctorate in 1924. This work was supervised by Max Born. In 1925 he passed the state exam necessary for a teaching position. While still a student one of his teachers was the philosopher Leonard Nelson, and he now applied for a teaching post at the with which Nelson was closely involved. At this stage, however, Nelson rejected his application, recommending that he instead obtain teaching experience in the public schools sector. Two years later, after complying with Nelson's non-negotiable condition that he cut all ties with the church, which had led to protracted wrangling with his parents, Heckmann was accepted as a teacher at the in 1927. Nelson himself died unexpectedly at the end of October, and Heckmann served a rigorous apprenticeship under the supervision of Minna Specht who had worked closely with Nelson, and who headed up the academy between 1927 and its closure.

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