Herman Frobenius

author

Herman Frobenius

1841–1916

A 19th-century Prussian military officer, he is remembered today largely through the notable Frobenius family. He was also the father of the ethnologist Leo Frobenius, linking him to a family name that later became well known in German intellectual life.

1 Audiobook

Alfried Krupp: Ein Lebensbild

Alfried Krupp: Ein Lebensbild

by Herman Frobenius

About the author

Born in 1841 and dying in 1916, Herman Theodor Frobenius appears in family and archival records as a German officer. Available sources identify him with the Frobenius family and indicate that he reached the rank of Oberstleutnant, or lieutenant colonel.

Although he is not widely covered in modern reference works, he remains historically interesting because of his place in a remarkable family network. He was the father of Leo Frobenius, the influential German ethnologist, and part of the broader Frobenius family that also included other prominent figures.

Because reliable biographical material on him is limited, only a few details can be confirmed with confidence. Even so, those details place him within the educated military world of late 19th-century Germany and within a family whose name continued to matter long after his lifetime.