Werner Kappler

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Werner Kappler (born December 28, 1902 in Düren , † September 1944 near Aachen ) was a German classical philologist .

Life

Werner Kappler studied classical philology, theology , archeology , ancient history and Semitic studies at the universities of Heidelberg , Berlin and Göttingen . In 1928 he received his doctorate with Max Pohlenz and Alfred Rahlfs with a study of the Maccabees . The writings of the Old and New Testaments have been the focus of his research since then.

After completing his studies, Kappler worked on the Athanasius edition of the Church Fathers Commission of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . During his stay in Berlin he took part in the Saturday Graeca with Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff . In August 1931, because of his qualifications, he was appointed second head of the Septuagint company at the Göttingen Academy . In 1934 he rose to be the first director to succeed Alfred Rahlfs .

In the summer semester of 1936 Kappler submitted his edition of the first book of Maccabees as a habilitation thesis to the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Göttingen. After the habilitation colloquium in June, he attended the obligatory NSDDB lecturer camp at Schloss Tännich until August 1936 .

Kappler was promoted to Dr. phil. habil. appointed. However, he did not receive the venia legendi , which was possible under the higher education law of the time. Kappler then tried to get the license to teach at a later date. At the faculty meeting at the end of October 1936, the German studies specialist Friedrich Neumann and the ethnologist and dean Hans Plischke , two declared National Socialists , spoke out against granting the license to teach. They found Kappler's area of ​​research (Old Testament) too limited and recommended that the ministry give him a limited teaching position instead of the license to teach . From the beginning of 1937, Kappler was granted an annual remuneration of his teaching position of 2500 marks.

Kappler continued to strive for the venia legendi . in the winter semester of 1937/1938 he represented the chair of his teacher Pohlenz, for which he received a one-off payment. In April 1938 a supplementary colloquium took place, as a result of which the dean Walther Hinz and the rector Otto Sommer applied for authorization to teach Kappler. On November 28, 1938, the ministry granted the application.

Kappler only taught for one year as a university lecturer "for Classical Philology, especially Greco-Roman Historiography and Hellenistic Philosophy" when the Second World War broke out in September 1939 . He was drafted into military service. He was on leave from December 1940 to September 1941 and was able to continue teaching in Göttingen. In September 1944 he died in a work accident on the Western Front.

The edition of the Maccabees started by Kappler at the Göttingen Academy of Sciences was completed in the 1950s by Robert Hanhart .

literature

  • Kürschner's German Scholars Calendar . 6th edition (1940/41), col. 684
  • Kürschner's German Scholars Calendar . 7th edition (1950), col. 2413 (list of the dead)
  • Cornelia Wegeler: "... let's say from the international scholarly republic": Classical studies and National Socialism. The Göttingen Institute for Classical Studies 1921–1962 . Vienna 1996. ISBN 3-205-05212-9 , pp. 236-237

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Solmsen : Wilamowitz in His Last Ten Years . In: Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies , Volume 20 (1979), p. 92
personal data
SURNAME Kappler, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German classical philologist
DATE OF BIRTH December 28, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Düren
DATE OF DEATH September 1944
Place of death near Aachen