DITTRICH, FRANZ. — Historian, born 26 January 1839 at Thegsten (Ermland), died 21 February 1915 at Frauenburg. He studied philosophy and theology at the Hosianum Gymnasium in Braunsberg and, after being ordained priest in 1863, continued his studies in Munich under Döllinger and Phillips. As a university professor of history and canon law, he devoted himself especially to the period of the Reformation and to local Ermland history. He was also a deputy to the Prussian Diet.
A contributor to the *Historisches Jahrbuch* and, from 1898, editor of the *Zeitschrift für die Geschichte und Altertumskunde Ermlands*, he studied with great passion the figure of Cardinal G. Contarini (*Regesten und Briefe des Kardinals Gasparo Contarini*, Braunsberg 1881; *Gasparo Contarini*, ibid. 1885). He also wrote a book on the *Kulturkampf* in Ermland (*Der Kulturkampf im Ermlande*, ibid. 1913).