The Student: Berlin. Breslau.

  • Reference
    • GB 133 SIM/2
  • Dates of Creation
    • "Michaelmas 1824 to Michaelmas 1827"
  • Physical Description
    • 231 pieces. Condition: many pieces are abraded on edges.

Scope and Content

The second volume relates to Heinrich Simon's time as a student at the universities of Berlin and, from April 1826, Breslau, and contains material referring to university, several personal accounts and correspondence. Some of the material is listed below as miscellaneous matter. Documents recording the years Simon spent at university include several printed papers, e.g. matriculation certifications, statutes, laws, receipts for fees paid to lecturers and lecture timetables, in addition to notes and exercises. Most of the official papers are printed in Latin.

Berlin, Michaelmas 1824 to Easter 1826.

Matriculation certificate from the Law Faculty, dated 21 Oct 1824 (9); certification of Heinrich Simon's matriculation number, 1826 (10); a matriculation charter, dated 20 Oct 1824, signed by Vice-Chancellor Karl Asmund Rudolph (11); section six of the statutes of Berlin University concerning students (13); a short treatise by the Vice-Chancellor and Senate on the importance of extending the studies towards the classical and pure scientific subjects and against the mere learning of practical skills, dated 19 Jan 1818 (14); a publication of the Department for Public Teaching at the Ministry of Religious, Teaching and Medical Affairs concerning the fees which had to be paid by students to university lecturers, dated 4 Oct 1818 (15); an excerpt from no. 563 of the legal digest for the Royal Prussian States containing the decision about unauthorized Verbindungen (students' duelling societies), signed 20 Oct 1824 by Simon (16); regulations of the Ministry of Religious, Teaching and Medical Affairs concerning the lending of books from the Royal Library, dated 24 Nov 1821 (17); an edict banning secret Verbindungen, which could disturb general security, and stating the penalties for membership, dated 20 Oct 1798 (18); an excerpt from the regulations of the Royal Library concerning its usage by students of the Royal University of Berlin (19). Also included are lecture timetables written in Latin, containing remarks made by Heinrich Simon for the following semesters: winter 1824/25 (12), summer 1825 (67) and winter 1825/26 (109). Piece 67 includes on page 15 a handwritten note (67a), and piece 110 is the German version of piece 109. In addition there are lecture attendance tickets (12a-e), notes about the French Revolution (47), translations of Sallust's Catiline Conspiracy (74) and The Institutes of Justinian (92), and lecture notes (108).

Breslau, Easter 1826 to Summer 1827.

Card "for the student August Heinrich Simon" (177); a matriculation charter, dated 8 Apr 1826 (178); a matriculation certificate from the Law Faculty, dated 8 Apr 1826 (179); statutes for the students of the Royal Prussian University of Breslau, dated 1824 (180); receipts of lecturers' fees paid by Heinrich Simon in the semesters summer 1826 (181, 182), winter 1826/27 (183, 184) and summer 1827 (185); lecture timetables for the semesters summer 1826 (186), winter 1826/27 (198) and summer 1827 (221); booklets with notes concerning different areas of the law (211, 213); and further notes (199, 220). In addition, there is Heinrich Simon's draft application for the first law examination, dated Breslau 10 Aug 1827 (230), and his curriculum vitae which was submitted with it (231).

The volume contains a considerable amount of personal accounts such as income and expenditure books (5, 191, 191a-c); notes, some several pages long (4, 44-46, 49, 91, 190, 204); thoughts about staying in Berlin or Breslau (172); pages with diary entries for 1825 Jan (40), Feb (53, 54), Mar (58), Apr (59), May (62), Jun (70), Jul (81); calendar pages for 1826 with manuscript entries and, on the back of each page, a printed treatise on a certain field of law, Jan (149), Feb (1826), Mar (165), Apr (176), Jun (188), Jul (187), Aug (189), Sep (194), Oct (195), Nov (200), Dec (202); and pages with diary entries for 1827 Jan (205), Feb (209), Mar (210), Apr (212), May (219), probably Jun (222), Jul (224), Aug (228).

Piece 124 is a travel diary written during a journey made on foot from Berlin to Göttingen and Kassel in September and the beginning of October 1825, containing 104 pages and 5 additional pages on travel expenses. This journey is also well recorded by other documents such as: a letter of recommendation for Heinrich Simon from Josef Max & Company in Breslau to Eduard Anton in Halle (106), and another one to Michael Kaskel in Dresden (107); Heinrich Simon's passport for leaving Prussia, issued 30 Aug 1825 (123); a dried bunch of flowers collected in the Harz Mountains on 1 Oct 1825 (112); several theatre programmes, e.g. from Magdeburg and Leipzig (125-127, 129-133); a bill for meals, dated Dresden 22 Sep 1825; an accommodation and meal bill from Kassel, dated 4 Oct 1825; the business card of the owner of the hotel in Kassel (136); Heinrich Simon's post-coach ticket from Heiligenstadt to Magdeburg on 7 Oct 1825 (135); and a version of the travel diary written by Simon for his parents, brother and sisters containing 34 pages (134). The journey is also reflected in letters written by Heinrich Simon to his family from different places (111-113, 115), which are listed below in the correspondence section. Piece 112 includes a pressed meadow flower. Piece 139 is entitled "On the 20th birthday in the morning" by Heinrich Simon, piece 223 "Thoughts of a son at the 25th wedding anniversary of his parents 2 Jun 1827".

The miscellaneous material comprises: a note from Heinrich Simon's mother (1); a list of clothes belonging to Heinrich Simon, dated Breslau 8 Oct 1824 (2); a handwritten copy from the Hamburger Correspondent from 12 Nov 1824 (24); a bill dated Berlin 1 Jul 18[..] (85); a poem by Carl Curtius from Berlin University, written on his journey from Prague to Berlin, and on the back several notes by different hands, in which Adelberd von Chamisso is mentioned (137); lyrics dated 29 Oct [presumably 1825] (138); a poem "Der Bursche" (The Lad) by J. L. Nerschau (140); a puzzle (144); a pencil note without signature and address asking the recipient to buy a present for Julie Simon to thank her for caring for the writer during illness (203); notes in Latin (192, 217); notes in French (219); a humorously imitated bill by Heinrich Simon for Gustav Simon (214); and notes (215, 216).

More than half of the documents fall within the category of correspondence, which involved several people: Heinrich Simon, his parents, his brother and sisters, mainly Julie and also Auguste (e.g. 147), uncle Heinrich Simon and his wife in Berlin, uncle Lüttke, Mr Lewald, fellow students and other friends.

Most of the letters were exchanged between Heinrich Simon and his family (from Heinrich Simon to his parents, brother and sisters 6-8, 22, 23, 26, 31, 39, 48, 50-52, 71, 76-80, 88-90, 97, 98, 101, 102, 104, 116-122, 151, 152, 158, 166, 169, 170, 173 and 207; from his parents, brother and sisters to him 20, 25, 28-30, 35-38, 41-43, 56, 57, 69, 72, 72a-c, 83, 84, 86, 87, 95, 96, 105, 141, 142, 145-148, 150, 157, 171 and 197). Most of the letters are "collective" letters, though some letters written by Heinrich Simon were addressed to only one member of the family, and some letters to him were written by a single person. Piece 8 contains an expenditure list, piece 31 marginal notes by Heinrich Simon, piece 52 a sketch, piece 117 an expenditure list, and piece 118 Heinrich Simon's timetable for university. Piece 104 is recorded as a fragment, while piece 197 is written in the form of a poem.

Some of the letters were exchanged between Heinrich Simon and his uncle Heinrich Simon in Berlin (21, 60, 66, 168, 82, 99, 154, 206, 226, 229). In addition, there are letters from Heinrich Simon to uncle Lüttke in Breslau (27), from Lewald to Heinrich Simon (32), from Herrmann and Heinrich Simon to their uncle and aunt in Berlin (63), from Herrmann Simon to his brother Heinrich Simon in Berlin (167), and from uncle Heinrich Simon to his brothers Herrmann, Heinrich and Gustav Simon (225).

Several letters were written by fellow students and friends such as Seidendörfer (33, 34), including a printed Israelitisch deutscher Liebesbrief (Israelite German love-letter), Prittwitz (65), Dümichen (73, 143), Meyer (155) and others (64, 100). The following are miscellaneous letters: a letter from abbess Maria Barbara Friedrich of Liebenthal to Gustav Simon, sending some medicine (68); a letter to "M H comes de Schwerin" (93); a love-letter to von Jordan in Potsdam (174); a letter from Göring to Simon (175); a letter from widow Bierhahn to Heinrich Simon (193); a letter to Heinrich Simon (196); a letter to Joachim Heinrich Jäck, Royal Librarian in Bamberg (201); a letter to Heinrich Simon (208); and a letter from von Rönne to Simon (227). Some letters are only recorded as fragments or drafts (75, 94, 226a) or the name of the addressee or writer is abbreviated or missing (3, 55, 153). Piece 75 was partly written on the back of another letter or diary note (75a).