Ludwig W. Adamec

Ludwig W. Adamec (born March 10, 1924 in Vienna , Austria ; † January 1, 2019 in Tucson , USA ) was an Austrian-American historian and Afghanistan expert.

Life

Adamec grew up in the Austrian capital. At the age of 5 he became a half-orphan, at the age of 14 he left school and later began an apprenticeship as a tool and mold maker in Vienna. He was hostile to the National Socialists and belonged to the swing youth hostile in Vienna . In 1940 his mother died and he decided to leave Greater Germany in order not to be re-educated in an orphanage. He fled to Switzerland via Passau and Constance, but was caught. After several successful attempts to escape from Viennese orphanages and correctional institutions in the direction of Czechoslovakia and Hungary, he spent seven months in Vienna prison before he received the sentence in the Rossauer Kaserne Gestapo prison for transfer to the Moringen youth protection camp (Lower Saxony). There he was used for heavy physical labor and at the end of the war almost sentenced to death for listening to enemy broadcasters. When the front approached, the camp was evacuated. Adamec was able to flee near Göttingen and returned to Austria.

Adamec left Austria in 1950 and made extensive trips through Europe, Asia and Africa. In 1952 he traveled to Afghanistan for the first time and stayed in Herat and Kabul for two years .

He settled in the USA in 1954, studied Political Science (BA), Journalism (MA) and earned a PhD from UCLA in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. His research interests continued to focus on the history of Afghanistan . In the 1960s and 1970s Adamec traveled regularly to this country. The interest of a Western academic was valued there. Adamec last traveled to Kabul in 2008 at the invitation of the Afghan Foreign Ministry to take part in the international seminar on Mahmud Tarzi .

He published numerous books, including the republication of the Historical and political gazetteer of Afghanistan , which was prepared by the government of British India .

In 1967 he became a lecturer in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson and taught history of the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa since AD ​​500, and also directed language courses in Arabic and Persian . In 1975 he founded the University's Middle East Center and was its director until 1985. 1986-1987 he was the head of the Afghanistan division of the Voice of America radio station . In 2005 he retired.

Most recently Adamec was Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Middle East and North African Studies at the University of Arizona.

Adamec died on January 1, 2019 in Tucson, Arizona, leaving behind his wife, son and two stepchildren.

Publications

• The A to Z of Islam , 2nd. ed. Paperback 2009.
• Afghanistan, 1900-1923: A Diplomatic History , Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.
• Afghanistan's Foreign Affairs to the Mid-Twentieth Century: Relations with the USSR, Germany, and Britain , Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1974.
• Ludwig W. Adamec and Frank A. Clements: Conflict in Afghanistan: An Encyclopedia , Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2003.
• Historical and political gazetteer of Afghanistan , 6 vols. Graz: Academic Printing and Publishing Establishment, 1972–1985.
• Historical dictionary of Afghan wars, revolutions, and insurgencies , Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2nd. ed. 2005.
• Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan , Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 3rd ed. 2003.
• Historical Dictionary of Islam , Scarecrow Press, 2nd ed. 2009.
• The Who's Who of Afghanistan , 1975

items

• Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921 - Encyclopedia Iranica , Vol. II, Fasc. 1, pp. 36–37, first published in 1985, revised in 2011
• Egypt: Relations with Afghanistan - Encyclopedia Iranica , Vol. VIII, Fasc. 3, pp. 266–267, first published in 1998, revised in 2011
• Third Anglo-Afghan War - Encyclopedia Iranica , Vol. II, Fasc. 1, pp. 37–41, first published in 1985, revised in 2011

Individual evidence

1. ^ Dignity Memorial Tucson AZ - Ludwig W Adamec Obituary ; accessed on January 23, 2019
2. ↑ Life story of Ludwig W. Adamec, “Die Würde der Arbeit” in: Renate S. Meissner, on behalf of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism (ed.): Memories. Life stories of victims of National Socialism. Vienna, 2010, pages 234–241, accessed on January 23, 2019
3. ↑ TOLOnews.com: Austrian Historian On Afghanistan Ludwig Adamec Dies (January 3, 2019); accessed on January 23, 2019
4. ↑ Ludwig W. Adamec  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Voice of America experts database  
5. ↑ MENAS grieves the passing Dr. Ludwig W. Adamec, Professor Emeritus . School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies. University of Arizona , accessed January 23, 2019.