HOFFMANN, AUGUST HEINRICH known as HOFFMANN VON FALLERSLEBEN, German poet, philol ogist and historian of literature, was born at Fallersleben, Liine burg, Hanover, on April 2, 1798, the son of the mayor of the town. Educated at the universities of Gottingen and Bonn, he was custo dian of the university library at Breslau (1823-38), extraordinary professor of German language and literature at Breslau (1830), and ordinary professor (1835). He was deprived of his chair by the Prussian authorities in 1842 in consequence of his Unpolitische Lieder (184o-41) . He then became a naturalized citizen of Meck lenburg, and after the revolution of 1848 was enabled to return to Prussia. In 1860 he was appointed librarian to the Duke of Ratibor at the castle of Corvey, where he died on Jan. 19, Fallersleben was among the earliest and most effective of the political poets who prepared the way for the revolutionary move ment of r 848. He composed melodies for many of his songs, which were sung all over Germany. Among the best known is Deutsch land, Deutschland Tuber Alles, written at Heligoland (Aug. 26, 1841).
The best of his poems is his Gedichte (1827; 9th ed., Berlin, 1887) ; but there is great merit also in his Alemannische Lieder (1826; 5th ed., 1843), Soldatenlieder (1851), Soldatenleben (1852), Rheinleben (1865) , and in his Fun f zig Kinderlieder, Fun f zig neue Kinderlieder, and Alte and neue Kinderlieder. As a student of ancient Teutonic literature Hoffmann ranks among the most persevering and cultivated of German scholars. Die deutsche Philologie im Grundriss was at the time of its publication a valuable contribution to philological research, and his Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenliedes bis auf Luther (1832; 3rd ed., 1861), Unsere volkstumlichen Lieder (3rd ed., 1869) and Die deutschen Gesellschaftslieder des 16. and 17. Jahrh. (2nd ed., 1860) are all important works.