Edmund Kurt Heller

Edmund Kurt Heller (born May 4, 1884 in Saalfeld ; † June 7, 1954 ) was Professor of German Studies in Mexico and the USA.

Youth and education

Edmund Kurt Heller was born as the eldest of four children of the high school teacher Ernst Heller and his wife Helene von Nesse-Heller. After attending school in his hometown, he went to the University of Leipzig . There he joined the Arminia fraternity in 1902 like his father . He passed his state examination in Jena in 1906 .

Professional background

After two years of teaching at grammar schools in Gotha and Jena , he received his doctorate. phil. In 1918 he became a professor at the German School in Mexico City . Here he spent six years until troubled political affairs made a longer stay impossible. In 1926 he took up a professorship at the University of California .

Focus of work

Heller's scientific interests were in equal parts medieval literature, especially Middle High German Arthurian legends and the practical side of language teaching. He wrote reviews of more than 350 German grammar books and essays. He was Associate Editor of the Deutsche Monatshefte , a member of the Medieval Academy, the Modern Language Association, and the American Association of Teachers of German .

1952–54 he lectured German at the University of San Francisco. In 1954 he was editor of the Free Press California , a German-language newspaper in America, for several months .

Web links

• Biography on the website of the University of California (English)