Friedrich Hermann Julius Axel von Harnack (September 12, 1895 – June 17, 1974) was a German

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

, historian and

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

. He was the cousin of Arvid and

Falk Harnack Falk Harnack (2 March 1913 – 3 September 1991) was a German director and screenwriter. During Germany's Nazi era, he was also active with the German resistance to Nazism, German Resistance and toward the end of World War II, the partisans in Gr ...

and worked to get Arvid and his wife, Mildred Harnack released from Nazi detention after they were arrested in connection with the Red Orchestra. He was the first in the family to be told of Arvid and Mildred's arrest, which had been kept secret by the Nazis. In 1947, he published a memoir of the trial that convicted Arvid and Mildred Harnack of

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

and sentenced them to death.Axel von Harnack
"Arvid and Mildred Harnack: Recollections of Their Trial 1942–1943
(PDF)

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

(January 31, 1947). Retrieved February 18, 2012

References

Sources

* '' Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels. Adelige Häuser B.'' Band XV, C. A. Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1984, p. 213 (Band 83 der Gesamtreihe, ). * Alexandra Habermann, Rainer Klemmt, Frauke Siefkes: ''Lexikon deutscher wissenschaftlicher Bibliothekare 1925–1980''. Klostermann, Frankfurt 1985, , pp. 111–112.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harnack, Axel von 20th-century German librarians German philologists 1895 births 1974 deaths German male non-fiction writers 20th-century German historians 20th-century German philologists