Hermann Gundert (philologist)

Hermann Gundert (born April 30, 1909 in Tokyo ; † October 10, 1974 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a German classical philologist who worked as a professor at the University of Freiburg (1949–1974). He is particularly known as a Plato researcher.

Life

Hermann Gundert came from a traditional family of Württemberg Protestantism. His father was the East Asian scholar Wilhelm Gundert (1880–1971), who had been a missionary in Japan since 1906. Hermann Gundert attended the Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium in Stuttgart and passed the matriculation examination in 1927. He then studied classical philology, philosophy and history at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg , the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen . The time in Heidelberg, where he joined Otto Regenbogen , was particularly formative for him . With him he was in 1932 with the dissertation Pindarand his poetry doctorate. Gundert then worked as a research assistant in Heidelberg. He achieved his habilitation in 1939 with the work of Plato's Theia Moira I. The divine in the historical world .

At the Second World War Gundert took as an officer (last Lieutenant ) in part and was stationed in France, where he also participated in university courses. In 1942 he accepted a call from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg to the chair of Classical Philology, which had been vacant since Eduard Fraenkel's forced retirement in 1934. Gundert was appointed associate professor and chair holder with effect from September 1, 1942, but was initially unable to take up the position. Gundert was not released until July 8, 1944 and reported as indispensable (uk) to the planning office of the Reich Research Council.

After the war, Gundert was dismissed from his teaching post for the time being because he had been a member of the NSDAP and the SA since 1939 (retroactively since 1934) . Gundert himself stated to the military government that although he had reluctantly joined the NSDAP as a student, he had seen the dangers of this movement and had never emerged politically. He joined the SA “as a compensation for a purely intellectual occupation and a withdrawn way of life” , but did not take part in any terrorist actions. His rank as troop leader was an automatic adjustment to his Wehrmacht rank. Gundert's declaration was accepted by the military government commission and he was reintegrated into teaching at the end of 1945. On April 26, 1949 he was appointed professor and full professor of Greek studies in Freiburg. Gundert worked here for a quarter of a century until his retirement on September 30, 1974. A few days later, on October 10, he died after a brief, serious illness.

Especially during his time in Freiburg, Gundert devoted himself to Greek philosophy and especially to Plato . A list of his writings can be found in the Festschrift, which was published by his students Klaus Döring and Wolfgang Kullmann on his 65th birthday ( Studia Platonica , Amsterdam 1974, p. 303ff.). His little writings on Plato appeared after his death in an anthology with the title Platonstudien (Amsterdam 1977, edited by Klaus Döring and Felix Preisshofen ).

literature

• Wolfgang Kullmann : Hermann Gundert † . In: Gnomon Volume 48 (1976), pp. 95-97.
• Jürgen Malitz : Classical Philology . In: Eckhard Wirbelauer (ed.), The Freiburg Philosophical Faculty 1920–1960. Members - Structures - Networks , Freiburg / Munich 2006, pp. 303–364.

Web links

• Literature by and about Hermann Gundert in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Malitz (2006) 348.