Walther Sohm

Walther Sohm (born April 18, 1909 in Miesenbach ; † November 19, 2001 in Bösendürnbach (near Mühlbach am Manhartsberg )) was a Lower Austrian native and dialect researcher.

Career

Sohm graduated from the Wiener Neustadt teacher training college in 1929 . From 1930 he worked as a teacher in several places in the Waldviertel and Weinviertel . In 1935 he was appointed senior teacher and was subsequently head of the elementary school in Mühlbach am Manhartsberg. In July 1972 he retired as a senior high school supervisor.

Sohm was a leader in the cultural life of the Manhartsberg region for decades . He was an advisory board member and archivist of the Waldviertler Heimatbund and chairman of the Lower Austrian Joseph Misson Association . The devotion to the Austrian dialect poet Joseph Misson determined a large part of his life (according to the posthumous judgment of his daughter). Thanks to his initiative, the house where this poet was born was renovated and transformed into a memorial with extensive documentation and a dialect library.

Sohm published essays on Joseph Misson, but also extensive local history and dialectological studies. Thanks to him, new editions of the dialect poems Missons are to be thanked. In 1986 he was awarded the title of Professor hc in recognition of his services. The work he left behind is looked after by the still existing Misson Association.

Publications (selection)

• Joseph Misson and the Waldviertel. In: Das Waldviertel 18, 1969
• The Misson Birthplace became the Misson Memorial. In: Das Waldviertel 24, 1975.
• The dialect poetry in Lower Austria. Vienna 1980
• Heimatbuch Mühlbach am Manhartsberg. Hohenwarth-Mühlbach 1989.

literature

• Erich Broidl: Walther Sohm - 90 years. In: Das Waldviertel 48, 1999, p. 191.
• Erich Broidl: OSR Prof. Walther Sohm †. In: Our home 73, 2002, p. 46.