Walter Donat (Japanologist)

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Walter Donat (born October 22, 1898 in Rathenow ; † November 12, 1970 in Erlangen ) was a German Japanologist .

Life

Donat studied German and Oriental languages ​​in Berlin and received his doctorate in 1925 with a thesis on the landscape in the work of Ludwig Tieck . In the same year he went to Hiroshima University as a German teacher . In 1933 he joined the NSDAP , was head of the district headquarters and in 1935 cultural warden of the NSDAP regional group in Japan. In 1936 he completed his habilitation at the University of Hamburg and advanced to the position of German director of the Japanese-German cultural institute in Tokyo. Since 1937 he also taught German language and literature at the University of Tokyo . After a stay in Germany in 1941, he was unable to return to his position in Tokyo due to the war. In 1943 he became head of the East Asia Institute at Berlin University. After the war he concentrated his publishing activities on translations. Among other things, he translated works by the Japanese Nobel Prize laureate Yasunari Kawabata and by Yukio Mishima ( Der Tempelbrand ).

Donat was a major figure in the cultural-political relations between the Japanese Empire and the Third Reich . He promoted National Socialism in Japan as well as national conservative and nationalist contemporary German literature and tried to strengthen the position of German studies at Japanese universities. As a speaker in Germany, he represented a heroic perspective on Japanese culture as well as the Japanese claim to leadership in East Asia and the Pacific region.

The philosopher Karl Löwith , who was on the run from National Socialism and taught at Tōhoku University in Sendai since 1936 , devoted a critical description to him in his autobiography Mein Leben in Deutschland before and after 1933 .

Fonts (selection)

  • The landscape near Tieck and its historical requirements . Frankfurt am Main 1925.
  • Individuality and bondage in contemporary German poetry . Tokyo 1928.
  • Contribution to the understanding of the national movement in Germany . Japanese-German Culture Institute, Tokyo 1934 (together with Fritz Korsch).
  • The hero concept in the literature of earlier Japanese history . German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia, Tokyo / Harrassowitz, Leipzig, 1938.
  • The Empire and Japan. Collected contributions (= publications of the German Institute for International Studies, 8). Junker and Dünnhaupt, Berlin 1943.

literature

  • Annette Hack: The Japanese-German Cultural Institute in Tôkyô at the time of National Socialism. From Wilhelm Gundert to Walter Donat. In: Nachrichten der Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens (NOAG) 1995, pp. 77-100.
  • Annette Hack: 1888–1945. In: Günther Haasch (Ed.): The German-Japanese Societies from 1888 to 1996. Ed. Colloquium, Berlin 1996, ISBN 978-3-89166-192-5 , pp. 1-440.
  • Gerhard Krebs , Bernd Martin (ed.): Formation and fall of the Berlin – Tôkyô axis (= monographs from the German Institute for Japanese Studies, 8). Iudicium-Verlag, Munich 1994, ISBN 978-3-89129-488-8 .
  • Karl Löwith: My life in Germany before and after 1933. A report. New edition by Metzler, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-476-02181-6 , p. 178f.
  • Maria Keipert (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 1: Johannes Hürter : A – F. Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2000, ISBN 3-506-71840-1 , pp. 453f.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Donat, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Japanologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 22, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Rathenow
DATE OF DEATH November 12, 1970
Place of death gain