Mohammed Rassem

Mohammed Hassan Rassem (born April 27, 1922 in Munich ; † May 4, 2000 in Salzburg ) was a German sociologist . He was Mircea Eliades' first translator into German. Together with Friedrich Tenbruck, he played a key role in the re-establishment of the cultural sociology section of the German Society for Sociology in the mid-1980s .

life and work

Rassem's father, Hassan Bey Rassem, came from the Ottoman aristocracy and studied at the Technical University of Munich . Here he met Rassem's mother, Elisabeth Huber. After his parents' marriage failed, Mohammed Rassem returned to Munich with his mother. After graduating from high school in 1940, he also studied at the Technical University of Munich, but looked for a “master” at the Munich faculty of philosophy and found him in the medievalist Otto Höfler , whom Rassem also referred to as his “spiritual father”. Under Höfler's influence, Rassem dealt with the origins of religion and cultures among different peoples and " races ". After Höfler lost his teaching license as an active National Socialist in 1945 , Rassem completed his studies in ethnology and folklore in 1950 on Höfler's recommendation with Karl Meuli and Hans Georg Wackernagel in Basel . His doctorate on the subject of "The folklore and statism" dealt with the connection between the origins of folklore and statistics . Rassem later took up this topic together with his assistant and successor Justin Stagl in his studies on statistics and the description of the state in modern times .

Between 1950 and 1954 Rassem initially worked as a publisher and for Bavarian Broadcasting . He also took care of the translation and editing of the book The Religions and Saints by Mircea Eliade. In 1954 he was invited by Hans Sedlmayr to help him as an assistant in the expansion of the Art History Institute. Here he completed his habilitation in 1959 on "Society and Fine Arts". During this time he also made friends with the rector of the Munich School of Politics , Helmut Kuhn , whom he described as his last teacher.

In 1964 Rassem was appointed full professor for sociology and cultural studies in Saarbrücken . In 1968 he moved to Salzburg , where he founded “cultural sociology” as a subject in 1988.

Rassem belongs to the conservative spectrum. In the 1950s he belonged to a "round table" of admirers of Carl Schmitt with Winfried Martini , Armin Mohler and Caspar von Schrenck-Notzing . Since his student days, Rassem also felt close to the group of students of Othmar Spann and wrote for the magazine Antaios published by Eliade and Ernst Jünger . In addition, he made contributions to manuals such as Basic Historical Concepts .

Fonts (selection)

• Folk Studies and Statism. Akad. Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, Graz 1951. Second edition increased by one appendix. Mäander, Mittenwald 1979. ISBN 3-88219-085-X
• The cultural forces of the Orient and the future of the West. In: Orient and Occident in the past and present. 1960, pp. 141-152.
• Society and fine arts. A study to restore the problem. De Gruyter, Berlin 1960.
• Work or art. In: Festschrift for Hans Sedlmayr. 1962, pp. 56-67.
• Speech for Hans Sedlmayr's 70th birthday. 1967.
• (Ed.): Revolution instead of reform? The student in college and society. Echter-Verl, Würzburg 1968.
• and Ferdinand Wagner (ed.): Salzburg social science studies. Stifterbibliothek, Salzburg, Munich (1969-).
• Introduction to the comparative morphology of universities. In: Student and College in the 19th Century. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1975, ISBN 3-525-31818-9 , pp. 11-26.
• and Justin Stagl: On the history of statistics and the description of the state in modern times. Floor plan for a working group. In: Journal of Politics. 24, No. 1 1977, pp. 81-86.
• Foundation and performance. Essais on cultural sociology. Meander, Mittenwald 1979, ISBN 3-88219-085-X .
• and Justin Stagl: Statistics and description of the state in modern times, mainly in the 16th-18th centuries Century. Report on an interdisciplinary symposium in Wolfenbüttel, 25.-27. September 1978. Schöningh, Paderborn;, Munich ;, Vienna ;, Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-506-76961-8 .
• Aspects of cultural sociology. Reimer, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-496-00185-2 .
• An autobiographical fragment. In: aspects of cultural sociology. Reimer, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-496-00185-2 , pp. 419-427.
• with Justin Stagl: aspects of cultural sociology. Essays on sociology, philosophy, anthropology and the history of culture on the occasion of Mohammed Rassem's 60th birthday. Reimer, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-496-00185-2 .
• In the shadow of the apocalypse. The German situation. Verl. Styria, Graz a. a. 1984, ISBN 3-222-11507-9 .
• Culture types, cultural characters. Reimer, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-496-00866-0 .
• On the cultural significance of the nobility and court holding. Culture types, cultural characters. Reimer, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-496-00866-0 , pp. 161-174.
• (Ed.): History of State Description. Selected source texts; 1456-1813. Akad. Verl, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-05-002236-1 .
• Immigration and Cultural Change. Statement at e. Symposium in Vienna. In: Zeitschrift für Politik, 41 (1994), no. 3, pp. 239–245.
• Enrique H. Prat de La Riba and Mohammed Rassem: Art and Ethos. Problems of interpretation in modern art. Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-631-47190-4 .
• Civilized Adam's Children. Thirty cultural and sociological essays. Böhlau, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-205-98145-6 .

literature

• Ch. Thienen: Obituary for Mohammed Rassem. In: Zeitschrift für Ganzheitsforschung NF 45 (2001), pp. 109–112.

Web links

• Literature by and about Mohammed Rassem in the catalog of the German National Library