Reinhold Olesch

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Reinhold Olesch (born September 24, 1910 in Zalenze , Kattowitz district , Upper Silesia ; † June 23, 1990 in Badorf , Brühl near Cologne) was a German Slavic scholar and linguist . Olesch was a full professor of Slavic Philology and director of the Slavic Institute at the University of Cologne .

life and work

Olesch lived in Zalenze for a short time. After the death of his father at the beginning of the First World War , his family moved to St. Annaberg . His mother tongue was Upper Silesian Polish , but his mother also made sure that he had a good command of the German language. First he went to school in Neisse , later he attended the Matthias Gymnasium (today the seat of the Ossolineum ) in Wroclaw , which he graduated from high school in 1930.

He then studied Slavic philology, phonetics, geography and ancient languages ​​(Latin and ancient Greek) in Vienna , where he mainly heard from Prince Nikolai Sergejewitsch Trubetzkoy . In the winter semester of 1931/1932 he studied at the German university in Prague , but then moved to Berlin , where he did his doctorate with the Slavist Max Vasmer in 1935 with a dissertation on Polish dialects in Upper Silesia . The work was printed in 1937 and was reprinted again in 1968. After completing his doctorate, he was given a professorship for Polish at the University of Greifswald , but this was soon fired for political reasons. It was said that his doctoral thesis reinforced Poland's claim to Upper Silesia. His habilitation on the Polish dialect of Annaberg, which he completed before the Second World War , was confiscated and could only be published in two volumes in 1958/1959.

Olesch was never a member of the NSDAP . In addition, as an Upper Silesian and devout Catholic, he was exposed to the harassment of the Nazi regime. In October 1939 he was drafted as a soldier and served as a rifleman in the infantry and intelligence intelligence until the end of World War II. He married in 1939. His family found refuge in Bavaria towards the end of the war. He himself returned to Greifswald in 1946 , where he became professor for Slavic studies in 1947. In 1949 he moved to the University of Leipzig . In 1953 he received a call to the University of Cologne , where he was entrusted with the management of the Slavic Institute. During his more than 20 years of activity, he made the Cologne Institute one of the leading institutions for Slavic Studies in Germany. In 1975 he retired.

He was particularly interested in the "small" Slavic languages and dialects. Olesch also researched the extinct West Slavic languages , such as Dravenopolabic . His scientific merits were honored on the occasion of his 100th birthday (2010) in a commemoration with lectures at the University of Cologne.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhold Olesch: The vocabulary of the Polish dialect from Sankt Annaberg , Berlin 1958
  2. ^ Hans Rothe: Olesch, Reinhold . In: East German Biography (Kulturportal West-Ost)

literature

  • Ernst Eichler :  Olesch, Reinhold. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 519 ( digitized version ).
  • Renate Lachmann, Angelika Lauhus, Theodor Lewandowski, Bodo Zelinsky (eds.): “Tgolí chole Mêstró” memorial for Reinhold Olesch. (= Slavic research , in conjunction with Hans-Bernd Harder and Hans Rothe, edited by Reinhold Olesch †, Volume 60), Böhlau, Cologne and Vienna 1990. (with a detailed "Directory of Reinhold Olesch's Publications")
  • Hans Rothe, Roderich Schmidt, Dieter Stellmacher (eds.): Commemorative publication for Reinhold Olesch. (= Central German Research , Volume 100), Böhlau, Cologne and Vienna 1990.
  • Rüdiger vom Bruch, Rebecca Schaarschmidt (Ed.): The Berlin University in the Nazi era. Volume II: Departments and Faculties. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-08657-9
  • Angelika Lauhus and Bodo Zelinsky (eds.): Slavic research. In memoriam Reinhold Olesch. Böhlau, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-412-12305-6

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Olesch, Reinhold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Slavist and linguist
DATE OF BIRTH September 24, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Zalenze , District of Katowice , Upper Silesia
DATE OF DEATH June 23, 1990
Place of death Badorf , Brühl near Cologne