Wolfgang Gesemann

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wolfgang Gesemann (born July 28, 1925 in Allenstein in Warmia ; † August 17, 2014 in Munich ) was a German Slavic scholar , Balkanologist , literary scholar and university professor.

Live and act

The father Gerhard Gesemann , married to Kristel Gradowski, was a German Slavist, folklorist, literary scholar and university professor. Wolfgang Gesemann spent his youth and school days in Prague , where he came into contact with the local Czech population. With the establishment of the "German Scientific Institute" in Belgrade in 1941 , where his father had taken over the management, he came into contact with the culture of the Serbs. After graduating from high school in Prague, he was called up for military service in 1943. After his release from French captivity in 1948, he continued his studies at the University of Munich (LMU) from 1952 , with the subjects of Slavic Philology , English and Philosophy as well as Romance Studies and Sociology. The lecturers in the main subject Slavic Philology were Paul Diels , Erwin Koschmieder , Alois Schmaus and Wilhelm Lettenbauer , in English studies Wolfgang Clemen and in philosophy Alois Dempf .

The dissertation from the field of Bulgarian Literature Epic Studies. The novel at Ivan Vazov had Erwin Koschmieder as Doktorvater care; In February 1956 it was accepted by the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Munich and published in book form in 1966 in the book series Slavistic Contributions (Verlag Otto Sagner ) founded and edited by Alois Schmaus . With this scientific work on the Bulgarian national writer Ivan Vazov, Wolfgang Gesemann also became well known in Bulgaria at an early stage. After graduating as Dr. phil. he worked at the Eastern European Institute in Munich (OEI), then at the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government (BPA) and finally at the Institute for Slavic Studies at the University of Mainz (JGU).

In 1970 he wrote the habilitation thesis The Discovery of the Lower Social Classes through Russian Literature. On the dialectic of a literary motif from Kantemir to Belinsky . In 1972 it was published as Volume 39 of the publications of the Eastern European Institute in Munich , edited by the leading East and Southeast European historian Georg Stadtmüller . In 1970 Wolfgang Gesemann u. a. based on this work, the license to teach the subject of Slavic Philology . In the following two years he worked as a private lecturer at the University of Munich. After a visiting professorship at the University of Salzburg , Wolfgang Gesemann taught and researched from 1972 to 1987 as a professor for Slavic literatures at the University of Saarland .

Together with the Saarbrücken theologian Gert Hummel and the Bulgarian student Rumjana Zlatanova , he began the cooperation with the University of Sofia , which through numerous joint projects went far beyond the field of Bulgarian studies in the rapidly growing German-Bulgarian cultural relations and the institution as a result of the new Eastern Treaties of a lector for Bulgarian at Saarland University found a visible expression. Wolfgang Gesemann's services to the development of Bulgarian studies in Germany were recognized in 1996 by the award of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Sofia, and from July 2008 he was elected a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences .

After his retirement in 1987, Wolfgang Gesemann continued to work for the promotion of German-Bulgarian cultural relations. When in 1994 the aim was to establish a scientifically oriented association with a German-Bulgarian society in return for the dismantling of East and Southeast European studies in Germany , which was supposed to intensify German-Bulgarian relations, Wolfgang Gesemann was one of them the first to actively support this plan as founding members. Following his suggestion, the "German-Bulgarian Society for the Promotion of Relations between Germany and Bulgaria" was founded on May 31, 1996 in the Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation . In addition, a “Bulgaria Yearbook” supervised by the company was re-edited and the “Bulgarian Library” was relocated, which was founded by the Leipzig Romanist and Balkanologist Gustav Weigand during the First World War - a series that included her new series has now increased to the impressive number of 20 volumes. Wolfgang Gesemann has accompanied both newly established scientific editions as co-editor from the beginning.

Fonts (selection)

  • Epic Studies. The novel by Ivan Vazov . Dissertation (February 23, 1956). Faculty of Philosophy University of Munich 1956.
  • The novel art of Ivan Vazov. Epic Studies (= Slavic Studies . Volume 16). Verlag Otto Sagner, Munich 1966.
  • The discovery of the lower classes through Russian literature. On the dialectic of a literary motif from Kantemir to Belinsky . (also habilitation thesis Philological Faculty, University of Munich 1970). Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 1972, ISBN 3-447-01467-9 .
  • as editor: Serta Slavica in memoriam Aloisii Schmaus. Commemorative publication for Alois Schmaus . Rudolf Trofenik Publishing House , Munich 1971.
  • Basic features of Russian censorship in the 18th century . In: Book and publishing in the 18th and 19th centuries . Berlin 1977, pp. 60-75.
  • as editor: Germanoslavica, "Tales from Ambush". Five novels from the Balkans and one from Prague from the estate of Gerhard Gesemann (= Symbolae Slavicae . Volume 7). Verlag P. Lang, Cirencester / Frankfurt am Main / Bern 1979, ISBN 3-8204-6381-X .
  • Bulgaria. International relations in history, culture and art. Symposium from 19.-24. May 1982 in Ellwangen (= Bulgarian Collection . Volume 4 / Southeast European Studies . Volume 35). Verlag Hieronymus, Neuried 1984, ISBN 3-88893-030-8 .
  • as editor: Twenty-one contributions to the II. International Bulgarian Congress in Sofia 1986. Meždunaroden Kongres po Bălgaristika 1986 (= Bulgarian Collection . Volume 6). Verlag Hieronymus, Neuried 1986; ISBN 3-88893-049-9 .
  • Festschrift for Wolfgang Gesemann , ed. by Hans-Bernd Harder, Gert Hummel and Helmut Schaller, 3 volumes. Verlag Hieronymus, Neuried 1986:
    • Contributions to Bulgarian Studies (= Festschrift for Wolfgang Gesemann . Volume 1). 1986, ISBN 3-88893-051-0 .
    • Contributions to Slavic literary studies (= Festschrift for Wolfgang Gesemann . Volume 2). 1986, ISBN 3-88893-052-9 .
    • Contributions to Slavic linguistics and cultural history . (= Festschrift for Wolfgang Gesemann . Volume 3). 1986, ISBN 3-88893-053-7 .
  • with Kyrill Haralampieff and Helmut Schaller: Bulgarian Symposium Marburg . Verlag Hieronymus, Neuried 1990, ISBN 978-3888930850 .
  • as an editor with Georgi Markov: German-Bulgarian cultural relations 1878–1918 . Nemsko-bǎlgarski kulturni otnošenija 1878–1918. Universitetsko izdatelstvo "Kliment Ochridski", Sofia / Saarland University, Saarbrücken 1993 (German and Bulgarian).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gesemann, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Slavist, Balkanologist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH July 28, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Olsztyn , Warmia
DATE OF DEATH 17th August 2014
Place of death Saarbrücken