Wilhelm Ax

Wilhelm Ax (born July 6, 1890 in Hamburg ; † February 24, 1954 there ) was a German classical philologist and grammar school teacher.

Life

Wilhelm Ax studied classical philology and history in Freiburg , Berlin and Göttingen , where he received his doctorate on July 22, 1914 . The linguist Jacob Wackernagel and the Latinist Friedrich Leo shaped him the most .

In October 1914, before graduation, he signed up as a substitute recruit for the First World War and trained as an officer. On March 20, he was promoted to lieutenant in the reserve in the replacement battalion of the infantry regiment "Hamburg" (2nd Hanseatic) No. 76 . From 1916 Ax was on the western front . He has received several awards for his commitment. At the same time he continued his studies and passed the teaching examination during a home leave in 1916. He spent the winter of 1917/18 severely wounded in the hospital ; at that time he had his dissertation appear in print. On November 4, 1918, Ax fell into British captivity and was interned with other officers near Sheffield . From January 1919 until his release on October 30th, he gave an Abitur preparatory course in Latin.

After the seminar year in Heiligenstadt , Ax worked from 1920 as a teacher at the Hamburg Johanneum . In addition to teaching, he wrote translations of various writings by Plutarch , especially from the Moralia and the biographies. He worked closely with the Latinist Otto Plasberg (professor at the University of Hamburg ). After Plasbergs Death (1924) Ax gave his book Cicero in his works and letters newly released (1926) and completed his edition of Cicero -Schrift De Natura Deorum from (1933). At Plasberg's suggestion, Ax also edited De divinatione , de fato and Timaeus .

During the National Socialist era , Ax kept his distance from the prevailing ideology and did not join any National Socialist organization. His critical attitude earned him measures from the ministry in 1937 and 1938; in addition, he was transferred several times because of "lack of political reliability".

In 1945 Ax was appointed headmaster of the Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Hamburg , where he worked until his death. In 1953 the University of Hamburg appointed him honorary professor for the language of Roman law .

Fonts (selection)

• De hiatu qui in fragmentis priscae poesis Romanae invenitur . Goettingen 1917
• Cicero / De natura deorum . Leipzig 1933. Reprints Leipzig 1961, 1968, 2008 ( Scripta quae manserunt omnia , Fasciculus 45)
• Plutarch / Greek hero lives: Themistocles, Pericles, Alkibiades, Alexander, Pyrrhos . Leipzig 1933. Second edition Leipzig 1937. Sixth edition, Stuttgart 1953
• Plutarch / Roman hero lives: Fabius Maximus, Cato the Elder, The Grachen, Marius, Sulla, Pompeius, Caesar . Leipzig 1934. Second edition, Stuttgart 1938. Fifth edition, Stuttgart 1953. Sixth reviewed and enlarged edition (reprint), Stuttgart 1959, last edition: VMA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1996, ISBN 3-928127-30-6 .
• Plutarch / Heroes and Fates . Leipzig 1935
• Cicero De divinatione, de fato, Timaeus . Leipzig 1938. Reprints Leipzig 1965, 1969 ( Scripta quae manserunt omnia , Fasciculus 46)
• Moralia / Plutarch . Leipzig 1942 (with the introduction by Max Pohlenz ). New edition Leipzig 1950
• Cicero. Man and politician. Selection from his letters (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 201). Kröner, Stuttgart 1953, DNB 450790649 .

literature

• Franz Bömer (Ed.): Wilhelm-Gymnasium Hamburg 1881–1956. Hamburg 1956 (with portrait).
• Uwe Schmidt: Hamburg schools in the Third Reich. Volume 2: Appendix . Hamburg 2008, pp. 373-340, 720.

Web links

• Literature by Wilhelm Ax in the catalog of the German National Library
• Wilhelm Ax's personnel sheet in the personnel file of the BIL expert body in the archive database of the Library for Research on Educational History (BBF)