Ernst Samter

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Ernst Samter (born February 7, 1868 in Posen , † August 6, 1926 in Berlin ) was a German classical philologist and historian of religion .

Life

Ernst Samter was the son of City Councilor Maximilian Samter, who in 1851 was the first student of the Jewish religion to receive a doctorate from the University of Bonn to the Doctor utriusque iuris . Samter grew up in a liberal Jewish family in Poznan and Danzig and attended the municipal high school in Danzig. After graduating from school in 1887, he studied philology and history at the University of Berlin . His academic teachers were especially Ernst Curtius , Carl Robert , Otto Hirschfeld and Hermann Diels , who introduced him to Hermann Usener's methodology of religious studies .

After doctorate (1891) and state examination (1892), Samter received the travel grant of the German Archaeological Institute for 1892/1893 . He then worked as a scientific assistant teacher at various grammar schools and secondary schools in Gdansk and Berlin. From 1901 he was a senior teacher at the Sophiengymnasium in Berlin. In 1925 he moved to the Gray Monastery high school . Ernst Samter was married and had two children. His son, Hermann Samter (1909–1943), one of the last employees of the Jüdisches Nachrichtenblatt , was murdered in Auschwitz. His married daughter, Charlotte Blumenfeld, was able to emigrate to Great Britain with her husband in time.

Samter was a co-founder of the Association for Liberal Judaism (1908) and founder of the Berlin Religious Studies Association (1913). In addition to his teaching activities, he published numerous writings on the history of religion. In his dissertation ( Quaestiones Varronianae ) he had already collected Varros' testimonies to the Roman sacred being. His later major works were family celebrations of the Greeks and Romans (Berlin 1901) and birth, marriage and death. Contributions to comparative folklore (Berlin 1911).

Samter traced the Roman and Greek rites largely back to the principle of the reconciliation of the gods. He also represented this point of view in school lessons, for which he wrote the Folklore Handbook in Classical Classes. Part I: Homer (Berlin 1923) wrote. His research results have been criticized in the professional world. Quote:

“Ernst Samter, whom I highly esteemed as a scholar and person, did a lot with the evil spirits. How he came up with it is clear to me from Lidsbarski's very readable book “Auf rauhenwege ”. From the experiences of his youth, he describes the Jewish religion as it existed in Plock, alongside rabbinic theological casuistry, practically childlike fear of demons. The god whose name must not be spoken is far away. Evil spirits lurk everywhere and always, and man is their slave. Apparently Samter had, if not experienced, been in contact with him. "

- Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff : The belief of the Hellenes. Volume 1, Berlin: Weidmann 1931. p. 28 Note 1

literature

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Wikisource: Ernst Samter  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Samter, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German classical philologist and historian of religion
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Poses
DATE OF DEATH August 6, 1926
Place of death Berlin