Friedrich Focke

Friedrich Focke (born February 28, 1890 in Lengerich ; † March 11, 1970 in Hechingen ) was a German classical philologist who was professor of Greek studies at the University of Tübingen from 1925 to 1946.

Life

Friedrich Focke studied classical philology at the University of Münster , where he in 1911 Wilhelm Kroll with the dissertation Quaestiones Plutarcheae de vitarum parallelarum textus historia ( "the historical tradition of the parallel biographies of investigations Plutarch ") doctorate was. After serving in the First World War , he was employed as a senior assistant at the University of Göttingen in 1919 , where he achieved his habilitation . In 1920 he married Barbara von Dassel (1890–1946). In 1923 he went to the University of Breslau as a private lecturer , and in 1925 he moved to the University of Tübingen , where he received an extraordinary professorship as the successor to Friedrich Pfister . From 1927 he published the Tübingen Contributions to Classical Studies . On January 25, 1933 he was appointed personal professor of Greek studies .

On May 1, 1933, Focke joined the NSDAP , according to his own account, because he saw the solution to the economic and state crisis in the combination of nationalism and socialism. From 1935 to 1937 he was rector of the University of Tübingen. During his rectorate, among other things, the senate meetings of the university were abolished in 1937. Overall, Focke resisted the influence of the party on university issues. He came into conflict with the Gauleitung and the Minister Rust , which ultimately led to his dismissal as rector. Focke resolutely opposed the arbitrary interpretation of Germanic or allegedly Germanic tradition in his scientific work. From October 21, 1937, Focke received the salary of a full professor; In 1939 he was appointed full professor. From 1939 to 1941 he served as a lieutenant, later a first lieutenant in World War II .

After the end of the war, Focke was removed from office in June 1946 due to his exposed position under the National Socialists and was banned from teaching. In the subsequent denazification process , he was classified as a “fellow traveler” in 1948 and retired in 1949. From 1952 he received the status of emeritus with corresponding salaries. Wolfgang Schadewaldt received his chair in 1950 , who took Tübingen philology to new heights during the 1950s and 1960s.

Focke dealt with different epochs of Greek literature. His most important writings include The Origin of Wisdom of Solomon: A Contribution to the History of Jewish Hellenism (Göttingen 1913), Herodotus as a historian (Stuttgart 1927), Demosthenesstudien (Stuttgart 1929) and The Odyssey (Stuttgart 1943).

literature

• Uwe Dietrich Adam: University and National Socialism. The University of Tübingen in the Third Reich (= Contubernium 23). Mohr, Tübingen 1977, ISBN 3-16-939602-1 .
• Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Who was what before and after 1945 (= Fischer 16048. The time of National Socialism ). 2nd Edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 .
• Günther Wille : Friedrich Focke in memory. In: Attempto. No. 35/36, 1970, ISSN  0519-3699 , pp. 94-95.

Web links

• Literature by and about Friedrich Focke in the catalog of the German National Library
• Friedrich Focke denazification files as digital reproduction ( files 1 and 2 ) in the online offer of the Sigmaringen State Archives

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich , Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 157.
2. ↑ Adam (1977) p. 170.