Nikolaus Poppe
Nikolaus Poppe (also: Nicholas Poppe ; Russian: Николай Николаевич Поппе , Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Poppe ; born July 27, 1897 in Yantai , China; † August 8, 1991 in Seattle , Washington ) was a versatile linguist who focused on Mongolian and the hypothetical Altaic Language family was specialized. Poppe worked in the Soviet Union until 1943 , then in Germany and the USA .
biography
Poppe's father was a consular officer in the Russian diplomatic service and was stationed in China at the time of his birth.
In 1923 Poppe began to teach at Leningrad University . In 1931 he became head of the Department of Mongolian Studies at the Institute for Asian Studies of the Soviet Academy of Sciences . In 1933, at the age of 36, he was elected the academy's youngest candidate.
In 1943 Poppe defected to the Nazis in the Caucasus , helped the Germans to install a Quisling regime in the Karachay region , which immediately confiscated all Jewish assets and soon afterwards murdered the Jewish population. Poppe moved to Berlin and worked there at the Wannsee Institute, which was close to the SS .
After the defeat of Germany, he was wanted by the Soviet authorities for war crimes , worked first for the British and later for the US secret service, arrived in the USA in 1949. There he lived under a false name, prepared studies for the Foreign Office and then taught at the University of Washington until his retirement in 1968 . In the same year he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bonn . Since 1978 he has been a corresponding member of the British Academy .
literature
- Nicholas Poppe: Reminiscences. Ed. Henry Schwartz. Western Washington University Center for East Asian Studies, Bellingham, WA, 1983.
- Walther Heissig and Klaus Sagaster: Thought and Effect. Festschrift for the 90th birthday of Nikolaus Poppe. Asian research . Volume 108, Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1989, ISSN 0571-320X .
- Arista Maria Cirtautas: Nicholas Poppe. A bibliography of publications from 1924-1977. In: Parerga . Volume 4, Institute for Comparative and Foreign Area Studies, University of Washington, Seattle 1977.
- Christopher Simpson: The American Boomerang. Nazi war criminals paid by the USA . Carl Ueberreuter, Vienna 1988.
Web links
- Nikolas Poppe Symposium at the University of Washington (contains biographical material and photos)
- Literature by and about Nikolaus Poppe in the catalog of the German National Library
- List of texts available online by Poppe
Individual evidence
- ^ Deceased Fellows. British Academy, accessed July 19, 2020 .
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Poppe, Nicholas |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Poppe, Nicholas; Poppe, Nikolai Nikolajewitsch; Поппе, Николай Николаевич (Russian) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Russian linguist |
DATE OF BIRTH | July 27, 1897 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Yantai , China |
DATE OF DEATH | August 8, 1991 |
Place of death | Seattle , Washington , United States |