Walter Nestle

Walter Nestle (born October 12, 1902 in Schwäbisch Hall , † June 11, 1945 in Teußenberg near Essingen ) was a German classical philologist .

life and work

Walter Nestle, the son of the grammar school teacher and classical philologist Wilhelm Nestle (1865-1959), grew up in Schöntal and Stuttgart . He studied classical philology at the University of Tübingen (with Wilhelm Schmid ) and at the University of Berlin (with Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff and Werner Jaeger ). Since the winter semester 1920/21 he was a member of the student association AV Igel Tübingen . After his doctorate (1927) he worked in the Württemberg school service, most recently at the high school in Ellwangen. In 1938 he completed his habilitation at the University of Tübingen, and from 1939 he held lectures there as a private lecturer. From the summer semester of 1942 to the summer semester of 1943, he represented the chair for Greek studies at the University of Freiburg . He joined the NSDAP in 1942 , but, in the opinion of his colleague Karl Büchner , kept his distance from National Socialism: "He did not avoid direct discussions, but took a clear position on the issues of the troubled times with openness and a clear sense of the right." A student of Nestle was Walter Jens , who received his doctorate in 1944 .

At the end of 1944, Nestle was offered a position at the University of Frankfurt am Main . He only worked there for a short time: after the end of the war in Europe, he was slain by plundering Russian slave laborers on the Teußenberg estate near Essingen . Nestle was buried in the cemetery in Adelmannsfelden next to his son, who had died as an air force helper in the summer of 1944 . His widow Gertrud later married the Middle Latin philologist Hans Walther .

Nestle occupied himself with Greek poetry, especially with the Homeric epics and the tragedy of Aeschylus . His monographic studies were praised by experts and cited long after his death. His Aeschylus pocket edition (based on Droysen's translation ) saw five new editions.

Fonts (selection)

• The structure of the entrance in the Attic tragedy . Stuttgart 1930 ( Tübingen Contributions to Classical Studies 10; Dissertation). Reprint Hildesheim 1967
• The church in the former imperial city of Wangen im Allgäu . Wangen 1933 Book printer Argenbote Wangen i. A., Reprinted in 2013 by the Old Town and Museum Association Wangen
• Human existence and political education in the tragedy of Aeschylus . Stuttgart 1934 ( Tübingen Contributions to Classical Studies 23; habilitation thesis)
• Aeschylus: Tragedies and Fragments. Translated by Johann Gustav Droysen. Reviewed and introduced by Walter Nestle . Stuttgart 1939 ( Kröner's pocket edition 152)
• Odyssey interpretations . In: Hermes . Volume 77 (1942), pp. 46-77; 113-139

literature

• Karl Büchner: In memoriam Walter Nestle . In: Gymnasium . Volume 56 (1949), pp. 286-288
• Albin Lesky : Walter Nestle † . In: Gnomon . Volume 21 (1949), pp. 180-182
• Walter Jens: Past - Present: Biographical Sketches . Stuttgart 1994, p. 63
• Jürgen Malitz : Classical Philology . In: Eckhard Wirbelauer (ed.): The Freiburg Philosophical Faculty 1920–1960. Members - structures - networks . Freiburg / Munich 2006, pp. 303–364 (on Nestle especially p. 42)

Web links

• Literature by Walter Nestle in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Büchner (1949) 287.