Adolf Wahrmund (; 10 June 1827 – 15 May 1913) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

orientalist.

Biography

He was born in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and died in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He studied at

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

and Vienna. From 1853 until 1861, he was at the

Hofbibliothek The Austrian National Library (german: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of Vi ...

in Vienna. From 1871 he taught Arabic at the Orientalischen Akademie in Wien (Oriental Academy of Vienna), and was at the head of that institution from 1885 until 1897. He fathered professor of

Canon Law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

Ludwig Wahrmund Ludwig Wahrmund (; 21 August 1860 – 10 September 1932) was an Austrian professor of Canon Law at the University of Innsbruck. Ludwig was the son of Adolf Wahrmund, a noted anti-semite. However, Ludwig rose to prominence from a lecture he gave on ...

. Adolf Wahrmund was responsible for purchasing the bulk of the collection of the Austrian National Ethnographic Museum, and thus may be considered its founder.

Anti-Semitism

Wahrmund was a passionate

anti-Semite Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. In ' ("The Law of the Nomad and Today's Jewish Dominion," 1887) he systematically compares the Jews to the Arab nomads of the Arabian deserts, on the assumption, then common, that the Jews of Europe (as well as of the rest of the world) were racial relatives of the

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

Semites Semites, Semitic peoples or Semitic cultures is an obsolete term for an ethnic, cultural or racial group.Aryan Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...

" West. Both, he suggests, aim to prosper by raiding and robbing. In one passage, he compares stock market raids by Jewish speculators to raids on desert caravans. The Jews, like the Arabs, aim at world domination, thus facing the beneficial (as Wahrmund sees it) aims of western imperialism. Wahrmund's solution is to deport Europe's Jews to areas set aside only for them. He believes that once they find themselves without others to attack, the Jews will "rip each other apart."

Writings

* ''Die christliche Schule und das Judenthum'' ("The Christian school and the Jews," 1885) * ''Das Gesetz des Nomadenthums'' (1887) * ''Der Kulturkampf zwischen Asien und Europa'' ("The clash of cultures between Asia and Europe," 1887) * ''Das Reich der Zwecke'' ("The realm of the tack," 1895) * ''Handwörterbuch der neuarabischen und deutschen Sprache'', 3 volumes ("Pocket Dictionary of the Arab and German Languages," 1874–1877) * ''Praktisches Handbuch der neupersischen Sprache'' ("Practical Handbook of the Persian Language," 1875) * ''Praktisches Handbuch der osmanisch-türkischen Sprache'' ("Practical Handbook of the Turkish Language," 1884) *Also

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

s and

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

Notes

References

* 1827 births 1913 deaths German emigrants to the Austrian Empire Austrian philologists Austrian academics {{Austria-academic-bio-stub