Knutzen (Matthias), b. Oldensworth, in Holstein, 1645. He early lost his parents, and was brought to an uncle at Königsberg, where he studied philosophy. He took to the adventurous life of a wandering scholar and propagated his principles in many places. In 1674 he preached Atheism publicly at Jena, in Germany, and had followers who were called “Gewissener,” from their acknowledging no other authority but conscience. It is said there were seven hundred in Jena alone. What became of him and them is unknown. A letter dated from Rome gives his principles. He denied the existence of either God or Devil, deemed churches and priests useless, and held that there is no life beyond the present, for which conscience is a sufficient guide, taking the place of the Bible, which contains great contradictions. He also wrote two dialogues.
Koerbagh (Adriaan), Dutch martyr, b. Amsterdam, 1632 or 1633. He became a doctor of law and medicine. In 1668 he published A Flower Garden of all Loveliness, a dictionary of definitions in which he gave bold explanations. The work was rigidly suppressed, and the writer fled to Culemborg. There he translated a book De Trinitate, and began a work entitled A Light Shining in Dark Places, to illuminate the chief things of theology and religion by Vrederijk Waarmond, inquisitor of truth. Betrayed for a sum of money, Koerbagh was tried for blasphemy, heavily fined and sentenced to be imprisoned for ten years, to be followed by ten years banishment. He died in prison, Oct. 1669.
Kolb (Georg Friedrich), German statistician and author, b. Spires 14 Sept. 1808, author of an able History of Culture, 1869–70. Died at Munich 15 May, 1884.
Koornhert (Theodore). See [Coornhert (Dirk Volkertszoon.)]
Korn (Selig), learned German Orientalist of Jewish birth, b. Prague, 26 April, 1804. A convert to Freethought, under the name of “F. Nork,” he wrote many works on mythology which may still be consulted with profit. A list is given in Fuerst’s Bibliotheca Judaica. We mention Christmas and Easter Explained by Oriental Sun Worship, Leipsic, ’36; Brahmins and Rabbins, Weissen, ’36; The Prophet Elijah as a Sun Myth, ’37; The Gods of the Syrians, ’42; Biblical Mythology of the Old and New Testament, 2 vols. Stuttgart, ’42–’43. Died at Teplitz, Bohemia, 16 Oct. 1850.
Krause (Ernst H. Ludwig), German scientific writer, b. Zielenzig 22 Nov. 1839. He studied science and contributed to the Vossische Zeitung and Gartenlaube. In ’63 he published, under the pen-name of “Carus Sterne,” a work on The Natural History of Ghosts, and in ’76 a work on Growth and Decay, a history of evolution. In ’77 he established with Hæckel, Dr. Otto Caspari, and Professor Gustav Jaeger, the monthly magazine Kosmos, devoted to the spread of Darwinism. This he conducted till ’82. In Kosmos appeared the germ of his little book on Erasmus Darwin, ’79, to which Charles Darwin wrote a preliminary notice. As “Carus Sterne” he has also written essays entitled Prattle from Paradise, The Crown of Creation, ’84, and an illustrated work in parts on Ancient and Modern Ideas of the World, ’87, etc.
Krekel (Arnold), American judge, b. Langenfield, Prussia 14 March, 1815. Went with parents to America in ’32 and settled in Missouri. In ’42 he was elected Justice of the Peace and afterwards county attorney. In ’52 he was elected to the Missouri State Legislature. He served in the civil war being elected colonel, was president of the constitutional convention of ’65 and signed the ordinance of emancipation by which the slaves of Missouri were set free. He was appointed judge by President Lincoln 9 March, ’65. A pronounced Agnostic, when he realized he was about to die he requested his wife not to wear mourning, saying that death was as natural as birth. Died at Kansas 14 July, 1888.
Krekel (Mattie H. Hulett), b. of freethinking parents, Elkhart Indiana 13 April, 1840. Educated at Rockford, Illinois, in her 16th year became a teacher. Married Judge Krekel, after whose death, she devoted her services to the Freethought platform.
Kropotkin (Petr Aleksyeevich) Prince, Russian anarchist, b. Moscow 9 Dec 1842. After studying at the Royal College of Pages he went to Siberia for five years to pursue geological researches. In ’71 he went to Belgium and Switzerland and joined the International. Arrested in Russia, he was condemned to three years imprisonment, escaped ’76 and came to England. In ’79 he founded at Geneva, Le Révolté was expelled. Accused in France in ’83 of complicity in the outrage at Lyons, he was condemned to five years imprisonment, but was released in ’86, since which he has lived in England. A brother who translated Herbert Spencer’s “Biology” into Russian, died in Siberia in the autumn of 1886.
Laas (Ernst) German writer, b. Furstenwalde, 16 June, 1837. He has written three volumes on Idealism and Positivism, 1879–’84, and also on Kant’s Place in the History of the Conflict between Faith and Science, Berlin, 1882. He was professor of philosophy at Strassburg, where he died 25 July, 1885.