Osnabrück personalities shape history

Justus Möser was a colourful personality who had a major influence on the development of the city of Osnabrück. The law graduate, who soon made a name for himself beyond Osnabrück as a man of letters, historian and statesman, was once described with a wink by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe as the "Patriarch of Osnabrück".

In 1743, at the age of just 23, Möser was already a "Privy Councillor of Justice" and thus exerted influence on the affairs of the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück. In numerous publications, he dealt with politics, history, theatre and literature and thus made an important contribution to German intellectual history in the Age of Enlightenment.

Today, the son of the city is credited with the fact that today's German legal system is based on his writings, in which he transposed Germanic law into Roman law. Möser devoted himself extensively to folklore and customs. It was therefore not surprising that he dealt extensively with his home town in 1768 by writing the "Osnabrückische Geschichte", a historical work that brought him many laurels. His contributions to the "Wöchentliche Osnabrückische Intelligenzblätter", which he founded in 1756, were also widely read. In it, he dealt with literature and the German language, among other things.

Justus Möser was buried in his home town in 1794. A tombstone in St Mary's Church in Osnabrück commemorates him. A monument honours him in a square near the cathedral. A school here also bears his name.

Since 1944, on the 150th anniversary of Möser's death, the city of Osnabrück has awarded the Justus Möser Medal to people who have rendered outstanding services to Osnabrück or the region in memory of the statesman's achievements. The Justus Möser Documentation Centre, founded in 1988, has taken on the task of tracing the life of this important personality.