Waltraud Hunke

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Waltraud Hunke (* 28. April 1915 in Kiel , † 2004 ) was a German Germanic and Skandinavian medievalist , bookseller , publisher and patron .

Waltraud Hunke was a daughter of the publisher Heinrich Hunke (1879–1953) and his wife Hildegard Lau (born September 19, 1879 in Schöneberg; † February 20, 1944 in Bad Hersfeld ). The mother was a daughter of the engineer Thies Peter Lau (1844-1933) and his wife Walewska Berta Anna, née Artelt (1856-1943). Hunke had two sisters, including Sigrid Hunke .

Like her sister Sigrid, Hunke joined the NSDAP in 1937 and was active in the Germanic Science Mission during the Nazi era, looking for volunteers for the Waffen SS . She received a scholarship from the SS-Ahnenerbe and from 1941 worked as a research assistant at a research center for German studies in the Ahnenerbe and published in their journal Germanien . She followed her teacher Otto Höfler to the University of Munich , where she received her doctorate in 1941 with a dissertation, The Troy Castles and Their Significance . From 1941 she was assistant to the historian Ernst Anrich and to the professor of German and Scandinavian studies Siegfried Gutenbrunner at the University of Strasbourg .

After the end of the war she was the owner of the Mühlau university bookstore and the publishing house of the same name in Kiel . She used her economic success to support the University of Kiel . Above all for the Institute for Literary Studies she earned special services. With the scholarship foundation named after her, she supported female students in biology. She was a member of the Kiel section of the University Society and one of the initiators in setting up the alumni association. In 2001 the longstanding sponsor was awarded the university medal, which was only awarded for the ninth time.

When she died in 2004, Hunke bequeathed her house and the surrounding property to the university, which the university sold for 250,000 euros. As a thank you for the donation, the new building for the university's international guest house was to bear the bookseller's name. After the National Socialist past of Hunkes became known, the university waived the naming due to "doubts about the personality of the potential namesake" and returned Hunkes' legacy.

Publications

  • The Troy castles and their meaning . Dissertation. Munich 1941.
  • Goethe Society Kiel 1947–1987 . Goethe Society, Kiel 1987.
  • with Oswald Hauser , Wolfgang J. Müller: Das Haus Glücksburg and Europe . Mühlau, Kiel 1988, ISBN 3-87559-058-9 .
  • with Thiel J. Martensen: 100 years of the Walter G. Mühlau university bookstore. A chronicle. Mühlau, Kiel 2002, ISBN 3-87559-089-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Schmidt-Sibeth: Hunke, Heinrich . In: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , p. 154.
personal data
SURNAME Hunke, Waltraud
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German specialist in German and Scandinavian studies
DATE OF BIRTH April 28, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiel
DATE OF DEATH 2004