Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Heinrich Gräfe

GRÄFE, Heinrich (1802-1868), educationist, was born at Buttstädt in Weimar, 3d May 1802, studied mathematics and theology at Jena, and in 1823 obtained a curacy in the stadtkirche of Weimar. Thence he was transferred to Jena as rector of the town school in 1825; in 1840 he was also appointed extraordinary professor of the science of education (Pädagogik) in that university; and in 1842 he became head of the bürgerschule in Cassel. After reorganizing the schools of the town, he became director of the new realschule in 1843; and, devoting himself with great zeal and energy to the interests of educational reform in electoral Hesse, he became in 1849 a member of the school commission, and also entered the house of representatives, where he attached himself to the democratic party and made himself somewhat formidable as an agitator. In 1852 for having been implicated in the September riots and in the movement against the unpopular minister Hassenpflug (who had dissolved the school commission) he was condemned to three years imprisonment, a sentence which was afterwards reduced to one of twelve months. On his release he withdrew to Geneva, where he engaged in educational work till 1855, when he was appointed director of the school of industry at Bremen. He died in that city 21st July 1868.

Besides being the author of many text-books and occasional papers on educational subjects, he wrote Das Rechtsverhältniss der Volksschule von innen u. aussen (1829); Die Schulreform (1834); Schule u. Unterricht (1839); Allgemeine Pädagogik (1845); Die Deutsche Volkschule (1847). Along with Naumann, he also edited the Archiv für das praktische Volkschulwesen (1828-35).