Karl Kurt Klein

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Karl Kurt Klein (born May 6, 1897 in Weißkirch , Transylvania , Austria-Hungary ; † January 10, 1971 in Innsbruck , Austria ) was a German journalist , theologian , German scholar and historian .

Life

Karl Kurt Klein belonged to the ethnic group of the Transylvanian Saxons . He was born on May 6, 1897 as the second oldest of four children of the Protestant pastor Friedrich Michael Klein (1851–1913) in Weisskirch, Transylvania. His mother, Hermine Klein b. Csallner (1872–1961), also came from a pastor's family. The journalist Fritz Klein was one of his brothers . He attended the Brukenthal Lyceum in Sibiu . After studying theology and linguistics in Debrecen , Marburg an der Lahn and Klausenburg , he first worked as a teacher and journalist in Herrmannstadt. In 1923 he took a position as a Protestant pastor in Iași ( German: Jassy), in 1932 he became a professor at the university there and director of the university library. In 1939 he received the chair for German language and literature at the University of Cluj-Napoca. After he had to leave Transylvania in the Second World War (1944) , he was given a teaching position at the University of Innsbruck in 1946 . In 1956, he was appointed full professor of German studies at the same location, and he held this position until his retirement in 1963. He was chairman of the Innsbruck Institute for German Philology and Ehrenaldermann of the academic guild Greif .

Klein was an unusually versatile scientist who, in addition to works on literary history, left behind many old German, linguistic and dialectological treatises. He made significant contributions to the history of the German minority in Romania . He dealt in particular with the Transylvanian-Saxon settlement history and linguistic research. In 1935 he presented a grammar of the German language. His work on Oswald von Wolkenstein and Arbeo von Freising , the author of the oldest German book, was groundbreaking and brought completely new insights .

His grandson is the science author Stefan Klein .

literature

Works (selection)

  • Contributions to the history of Protestantism in Moldova , Bucharest 1924
  • Adolf Meschendörfer's drama ... , Sibiu 1924
  • German poetry in Transylvania at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries 20th century , Verlag Gustav Fischer, Jena 1925
  • Martin Opitzen's relations with Romanians , 1927
  • Romanian-German literary relations , Heidelberg 1929
  • Splitter on the history of origin research ... , Iași 1931
  • Un germanist român - profesorul Traian Bratu - extras din Revista germaniștilor români, anul VI, no. 2/1937
  • Limba germană pentru clasa a Va secundară și Limba germană pentru clasa a VI-a secundară (în colaborare cu profesorul Traian Bratu), Cartea Românească, Bucharest 1935
  • Transylvanian-German Language Atlas , Marburg 1961
  • Transsylvanica , Munich 1963
  • The songs of Oswald von Wolkenstein. Edited by Karl Kurt Klein and Notburga Wolf. 3rd revised and expanded edition Tübingen 1987, ISBN 3-484-20155-X

Biographical and secondary literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Klein, Karl Kurt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist, theologian, Germanist and historian
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Weißkirch , Transylvania , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 1971
Place of death Innsbruck , Austria