Peter Wapnewski

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Hans Peter Wapnewski (born September 7, 1922 in Kiel , † December 21, 2012 in Berlin ) was a German Medieval Germanist . He taught at the universities of Heidelberg , FU Berlin , Karlsruhe and TU Berlin and was founding rector of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin .

Life

Peter Wapnewski was born in Kiel in 1922. From 1933 he attended the local humanistic "State High School" , where he passed the Abitur in March 1941. He then completed the Reich Labor Service and volunteered for the war . Wapnewski completed his recruiting training in Sagan and was transferred to a tank division of Army Group South on the Eastern Front in June 1942 . In the autumn of 1942 he was taken to a Berlin reserve hospital with a serious wound.

The convalescent enrolled at Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in May 1943 and attended lectures and seminars at the philosophical faculty with Eduard Spranger and Nicolai Hartmann , in art history with Wilhelm Pinder and in German studies with Friedrich Ohly and Ulrich Pretzel , his later doctoral supervisor who got him excited about medieval studies. In January 1944, Wapnewski was charged with " decomposition of the armed forces " at the court of the Wehrmacht Commandantur in Berlin . He then studied semester by semester in Freiburg im Breisgau (summer 1944; among others with Martin Heidegger , Friedrich Maurer ) and in Jena (winter 1944/45), where he saw the end of the war. Wapnewski continued his studies in 1946 at the University of Hamburg and received his doctorate in 1949 under Ulrich Pretzel and Hans Pyritz with a work on the translations of Middle High German poetry in the 19th and 20th centuries.

He completed his habilitation in 1954 at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg with a thesis on Wolframs Parzival . As a private lecturer, he represented the Chair for Older German Philology in Tübingen from 1956 to 1958 and took over a visiting professorship at Harvard University in the 1958/59 winter semester . However , he turned down a call to full professor at Harvard, and instead took over the chair of medieval studies in Heidelberg in 1959 . From 1966 he was a professor at the Free University of Berlin . In 1969 he went to the University of Karlsruhe . Since 1982 he has held a professorship at the TU Berlin . From 1980 to 1986 he was the founding rector of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin . In 1990 Peter Wapnewski retired. From 1970 he was a member of the German PEN Center (Federal Republic) , from 1982 of the Medieval Academy of America and from 1986 a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry in Darmstadt .

Grave of Peter Wapnewski in the Heerstrasse cemetery in Berlin-Westend

His main field of work was German literature from the Middle Ages as well as the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition, he published mainly on Richard Wagner as well as on topics of university policy and cultural policy. Wapnewski's “readings” of old texts such as the Nibelungenlied , Parzival or Tristan are unique , in which he not only juxtaposed different versions (usually one that is as original as possible and one that is more understandable today), but also provided historical comments.

In 2003 it became known through the Internationale Germanistenlexikon 1800–1950 published by Christoph König that Wapnewski had been listed in the NSDAP membership file from 1940 . However, there are no indications for the handing over of the membership card, which would be constitutive for membership according to the statutes of the party. In November 2003, Wapnewski stated at the time that his then HJ squad leader presumably had urged him to join the NSDAP in 1938/1939. However, since he never received a membership card, he was not aware of his actual membership.

Peter Wapnewski died on December 21, 2012 at the age of 90 in Berlin. At the memorial service, which took place on January 25, 2013 in the chapel of the state's own cemetery in Heerstraße in Berlin-Westend , no commemorative speeches were given, according to the deceased's request, only literary texts were read out, among others by Nike Wagner , Peter Stoltzenberg and Wolf Lepenies . Then the burial took place in the cemetery. The grave of the conductor and composer Leo Blech and his wife Martha had previously been at the site of the final resting place of Peter Wapnewski (grave location: 20-Wald-1e).

student

Wapnewski's academic students include Helmut Brackert , Dieter Kartschoke , Thomas Cramer and Erika Kartschoke , geb. Schmiedbauer, during his time at the University of Heidelberg, as well as Bernd Thum , Rüdiger Krohn , Horst Wenzel , Edith Wenzel , geb. Hermann, and Jutta Stehling during his time at the University of Karlsruhe and finally Karina Kellermann during his time at the TU Berlin.

Honors

Publications (selection)

Fonts
  • Wolfram's Parzival . Studies on Religiosity and Form (1955)
  • German Literature of the Middle Ages (1960)
  • Hartmann von Aue (1962); 7th edition Stuttgart 1979 (= Metzler Collection , 17)
  • The lyric poetry of Wolfram von Eschenbach (1972)
  • What is minne. Studies in Middle High German Poetry (1975)
  • Richard Wagner . The scene and its master (1978)
  • The sad god. Richard Wagner in his heroes (1978)
  • Impositions. Essays on 20th Century Literature (1979)
  • Tristan , Richard Wagner's hero . Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-8270-0384-9 .
  • Love death and godlessness. To the "Tristan" and the " Ring des Nibelungen ". Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-88680-277-9 .
  • Karlrobert Kreiten - me and us . In: Friedrich Lambart (ed.): Death of a pianist: Karlrobert Kreiten and the Werner Höfer case. Hentrich, Berlin 1988 ISBN 3-926175-48-6 .
  • Do you know how it will be ...? Richard Wagner "The Ring of the Nibelung"; tells, explains and comments. Piper, Munich 1995, later (1988) title Der Ring des Nibelungen , ISBN 3-492-03510-8 .
Autobiography
  • With the other eye. Memoirs 1922–1959. Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-8270-0380-6 .
  • With the other eye. Memories 1959-2000. Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-8270-0657-0 .
    • Completely revised by the author and provided with a new foreword: Period: 1922 to 2000, Berliner Taschenbuch Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-8333-0478-1 .
Audio books
  • The Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach. Read and commented by Peter Wapnewski. 8 audio CDs. The Hör Verlag DHV; Edition: abridged reading. (January 1995); ISBN 3-895-84393-8 .
  • Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Read and commented by Peter Wapnewski. 6 cassette reading. The Hörverlag, 2000, ISBN 978-3895848209 .
  • Nibelungenlied. Read and commented by Peter Wapnewski. 8 CD reading. The Hörverlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3899409161 .
As editor

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The one-eyed king , tagesspiegel.de , December 23, 2012
  2. ↑ a b c Christoph König (Ed.): Internationales Germanistenlexikon 1800–1950. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2003, entry Peter Wapnewski , p. 1984.
  3. ↑ Peter Wapnewski does not deny membership in the NSDAP , DIE ZEIT No. 49, November 27, 2003, quoted by news aktuell press portal, November 26, 2003
  4. ↑ Esteban Engel: National Socialism: Followers and later Enlightenment , stern , November 27, 2003
  5. ↑ Peter von Becker : He pointed to his heart. Peter Wapnewski's funeral ceremony in Berlin. Poetry and music as a last will . In: Der Tagesspiegel . Wednesday January 16, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  6. ^ Bernhard Hartmann: His gravestone was sawed off . In: General-Anzeiger . Tuesday, January 19, 2016. Accessed on November 27, 2019. Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin Burial Sites . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 . P. 484.
  7. ↑ Peter Wapnewski: With the other eye. Memories 1959-2000. Berlin Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-8270-0657-0 , p. 22.
  8. ↑ Short biography on the homepage of the Academy of Arts, awards
personal data
SURNAME Wapnewski, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German old Germanist
DATE OF BIRTH September 7, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiel
DATE OF DEATH December 21, 2012
Place of death Berlin