Heinz Mode

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Heinz Adolf Mode (born August 15, 1913 in Berlin ; † June 6, 1992 in Halle ) was a German art historian , orientalist and indologist . His publications on the art of India made him known. From 1948 to 1978 he was Professor of Oriental Archeology at the University of Halle-Wittenberg .

Life

He was born as the son of the pharmacist Hugo Mode and his wife Erna, geb. Kassel, born in Berlin in 1913. There he attended elementary school and grammar school, where he passed his Abitur in 1931. In the following year he began studying art history , indology , classical archeology and ethnology at the University of Berlin . Since his family was of Jewish faith, Heinz Mode had to emigrate in 1933 and continued his studies in Colombo , Ceylon (Sri Lanka). During a study trip through India he met Rabindranath Thakur in Shantiniketan , studied the Indian languages and increasingly turned to Indology. In 1935 he was expelled from the British colonial authorities and went to Switzerland. From 1935 he studied archeology and oriental studies in Basel , where he received his doctorate in 1939 with a study on sculptures from the island of Ceylon and in 1944 he completed his habilitation with a paper on early Indian cultures.

During the Second World War , Heinz Mode was temporarily interned in Swiss labor camps . He was a member of the KPD and from 1944 to 1945 belonged to the Free Germany Movement (BFD), whose magazine of the same name he worked on. As head of the Basel region of the BFD Switzerland, he took part in the 2nd state conference in May 1945 and was elected to the BFD state committee. In 1944 he was also the editor of the émigré newspaper Über die Grenzen . In May 1945 he returned to Germany and initially lived in Munich . There he worked in the cultural department of the Bavarian regional association of the KPD. Until 1948 he worked as secretary of the Bavarian Artists' Association in Munich .

From 1948 to 1962, Heinz Mode taught oriental archeology as a professor at the University of Halle-Wittenberg . He was temporarily SED secretary at the university and was interested in improving the cultural and political reputation of the GDR. From September 1950 he came under increasing criticism in connection with the Noel Field affair and was expelled from the SED the following year for “forming factions in the party”. In 1956, however, he was rehabilitated within the party and re-admitted to the SED. In the 1950s he first worked as an unofficial employee or later as a social employee security of the Ministry for State Security . His work is recorded for the periods 1950 to 1965, 1968/69 and from 1980 to 1985.

In 1962 Heinz Mode became professor with a chair for oriental archeology at the University of Halle. He was also director of the Oriental and Classical Studies section. He was one of the few scientists in the country who did research on Buddhism . In 1966 he initiated the working group for Buddhist research in the GDR in Halle , became head of the Buddhist Center of the GDR and published the yearbook Buddhist yearly there from 1966–1970 . In the same year he became a member of the executive committee of the German-South Asian Society of the GDR .

Heinz Mode became known for his extensive work on the art of India and early India. Part of his work can be seen as the GDR's contribution to the elucidation of the so-called Indus cultures . During the GDR era, his works were edited for a larger audience. His book on Indian folk art has also been translated into English. He also worked as a textbook author with a focus on the history of primitive society and antiquity , as well as an author of popular scientific and fictional works.

In 1978 Heinz Mode retired and was awarded the GDR National Prize. He was also bearer of the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze (1973) and the Star of Friendship of Nations (1988).

Heinz Mode frequently traveled to the Indian subcontinent . He was married to Charlotte Wendt.

Publications (selection)

  • Early Indian cultures and their relationship to the West. Schwabe, Basel 1944.
  • Early India. Cotta, Stuttgart 1959.
  • The Buddhist sculpture on Ceylon. Seemann VEB, Leipzig 1963.
  • Bengali fairy tales. Edited with Arun Ray, Insel-Verlag, Leipzig 1967.
  • Buddhist yearly , Yearbook of the Buddhist Center Halle, Halle 1966–1970.
  • The woman in Indian art. Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 1970.
  • Mythical animals and demons in art. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-17-001670-9 .
  • Art in South and Southeast Asia. Verlag der Kunst, Dresden 1979.
  • 30 years of independent Sri Lanka. Dept. of science journalism at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle 1979.
  • India's contribution to world culture. Dept. of science journalism at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle 1979.
  • Indian folk art. Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 1984.
  • Ancient Indian sculptures from Mathurā. Müller and Kiepenheuer, Hanau / Main 1986, ISBN 3-7833-8621-7 .

literature

  • Bernd-Rainer Bart, Dieter Hoffmann:  Mode, Heinz . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  • Mode, Heinz Adolf In: Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss : Politics, economy, public life. Walter de Gruyter 1980, ISBN 3110970287 , p. 504.
  • Thilo Götze Rainbow: Buddhism in the GDR. A search for clues. In: Journal of the SED-State Research Association (ZdF) at the Free University of Berlin, issue no. 31/2012, Halle / Saale 2012, pp. 133–147.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thilo Götze Regenbogen: Buddhism in the GDR. A search for clues. In: Journal of the SED-State Research Association (ZdF) at the Free University of Berlin, issue no. 31/2012, Halle / Saale 2012, pp. 133–147
personal data
SURNAME Mode, Heinz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mode, Heinz Adolf (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German art historian
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH June 6, 1992
Place of death Halle (Saale)