Erwin Bielefeld

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Erwin Bielefeld (born December 17, 1907 in Leipzig , † November 28, 1975 in Munich ) was a German classical archaeologist .

Life

Erwin Bielefeld was the son of the publisher and printer's owner Walter Bielefeld and his wife Therese, b. Mug. From 1928 he studied at the University of Leipzig , at times also at the University of Bonn , majoring in Classical Archeology, with the minor subjects Ancient History , Art History , Near Eastern Archeology and Classical Philology . His most important academic teachers were Franz Studniczka , Bernhard Schweitzer and, in Munich, Ernst Buschor . Although he, like his mother, belonged to the Evangelical Reformed Church, he was asked to leave the university in 1934 as a “half-Jew” because he was “intolerable” for the university. He then had to interrupt his studies, but continued his studies privately. From 1937 until the end of the war, four of his works appeared as private prints. In 1944 he was taken to a work camp of the Todt Organization in France. The experiences, experiences and influences there had an impact for the rest of his life, albeit latently.

Only at the age of 40 years Bielefeld was at the University of Bonn in Ernst Langlotz on Amazonomachia. Doctorate contributions to the history of motif migration in ancient art . In the same year he became a freelancer at the German Academy of Sciences and worked on the antique ceramics of the Lindenau Museum in Altenburg . This work was accepted as a habilitation at the University of Rostock in 1951 (Greek and Etruscan vases in the possession of the State Lindenau Museum in Altenburg) . In 1959/60 it appeared in a revised form in three volumes as volumes 17 to 19 of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum Germany . In addition, he published several works on ancient vase painting, its relationship to monumental painting and sculpture, and its relationship to ancient literature. After completing his habilitation, Bielefeld moved to the University of Greifswald . First he was a lecturer there, until 1959 he was promoted to professorship. Bielefeld has been a corresponding member since 1956 and a full member since 1959 of the German Archaeological Institute . It was his most productive creative period in which more than 30 essays and reviews were written.

In 1958, a politically motivated publication ban was pronounced against Bielefeld. In addition, the general working conditions in Greifswald worsened, which is why he and his family moved to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1959. There, Ernst Homann-Wedeking in particular tried to keep him busy. Through him, Bielefeld quickly found a connection to the archaeological seminar in Munich. At first he became a research assistant, after his qualification in 1960 he became an adjunct professor. Due to his age, he was no longer eligible for a chair. After all, after Hohmann-Wedeking's retirement in 1974, he was still provisional head of the institute until his own death. Another 30 publications were produced in Munich, including five contributions to the Antike Plastik delivery company and around 70 reviews and book advertisements. Gisela Zahlhaas was one of his academic students in Munich .

Bielefeld's scientific career was interrupted twice, in 1934 and 1958, because of the political situation in Germany, which prevented him from pursuing the career that a man of his stature would otherwise have achieved. His interests were very broad, ranging from ceramics and vase painting to monumental painting as well as jewelry and applied arts to sculpture and the aftermath of antiquity. Since 1950 he has reported in the Fasti archaeologici on the newly published archaeological literature in the GDR and all of Berlin, and since 1961 on all of Germany. Bielefeld was not the man to write a large monograph or overall presentation, he was more concerned with individual objects. Starting from them his further studies began in which he tried to clarify more specific questions. The good knowledge of European museums, private collections and the art trade helped him in his research.

Hans Möbius particularly impressed Erwin Bielefeld with his "passionate devotion to our common science, ready for every victim, which also allowed him to survive his difficult fate without bitterness."

Fonts

  • Amazonomachia. Contributions to the history of motif migration in ancient art , Niemeyer, Halle 1951 (Hallische Monographien, No. 21)
  • Greek and Etruscan clay pots in the State Lindenau Museum , State Lindenau Museum, Altenburg 1953

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berthold Fellmann: Erwin Bielefeld 1907–1975. In: Reinhard Lullies / Wolfgang Schiering (eds.) Archaeological portraits. Portraits and short biographies of classical archaeologists in the German language. Zabern, Mainz 1988, pp. 303-304, here: p. 304.
personal data
SURNAME Bielefeld, Erwin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German classical archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH December 17, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH November 28, 1975
Place of death Munich