Carl Anton Joseph Maria Dominikus Baumstark (4 August 1872 in

Konstanz Konstanz ( , , , ), traditionally known as Constance in English, is a college town, university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the Baden-Württemberg state of south Germany. The city ho ...

– 31 May 1948 in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

) was a German Orientalist,

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 ...

and

liturgist Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

. His main area of study was Oriental liturgical history, its development and its influence on literature, culture and art. His grandfather, Anton Baumstark (1800–1876), was a noted

.NDB/ADB Deutsche Biographie
Baumstark, Carl Anton Joseph Maria Dominikus (biography) He studied classical and Oriental philology, obtaining his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

for both subjects in 1898 at

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. In 1899, he relocated to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, where in 1901, he became an editor of the academic journal ''

Oriens Christianus ''Oriens Christianus'' (English: "Christian East") is an academic journal established in 1901 by Otto Harrassowitz with Asian and oriental studies as the major focus. It was edited by Anton Baumstark (1872-1948). The current editors-in-chief ...

''. Later on, he worked for 15 years as an instructor at a Roman Catholic secondary school in Sasbach,

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

.''On the Historical Development of the Liturgy''
by Anton Baumstark In 1921 he became an honorary professor in

, then served as a professor of

Semitic studies Semitic studies, or Semitology, is the academic field dedicated to the studies of Semitic languages and literatures and the history of the Semitic-speaking peoples. A person may be called a ''Semiticist'' or a ''Semitist'', both terms being equi ...

and comparative liturgal science at

Nijmegen Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...

(from 1923), followed by a professorship of Arabic and

Islamic studies Islamic studies is the academic study of Islam, which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidiscipli ...

at the

University of Utrecht Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of 39,769 students, a ...

(from 1926). From 1930 to 1935, he was a professor of Oriental studies at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...

. He joined the Nazi party in 1932, but was sent into emeritate in 1935, apparently after being accused of

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

. He began doubting his Nazi affiliation in 1943, and in 1944 supported the cause of

Kilian Kirchhoff Padre Kilian Kirchhoff OFM (given name: Josef Kirchhoff; born 18 December 1892 in Rönkhausen; executed 24 April 1944 in Brandenburg-Görden Prison) was a Catholic priest, translator and dissident. He was executed by the Third Reich for critic ...

, who had been sentenced to death; Baumstark unsuccessfully asked for mercy.Ekkehard Ellinger: ''Deutsche Orientalistik zur Zeit des Nationalsozialismus 1933–1945''. Edingen-Neckarhausen: Deux-Mondes-Verlag, 2006, pp. 35-61.

Selected works

* ''Comparative liturgy'', revised by Bernard Botte; English edition by F.L. Cross. Westminster, Md.: Newman Press, 1958. * ''On the historical development of the liturgy'' (''Vom geschichtlichen Werden der Liturgie'', 1923); intr., transl. by Fritz West; foreword by Robert F. Taft. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press 2011. * ''Lucubrationes Syro-Graecae'', 1894 – Syriac-Greco lucubrations. * ''Syrisch-arabische Biographieen des Aristoteles. Syrische Kommentare zur Eisagoge des Porphyrios'', Leipzig: Teubner, 1900. * ''Die christlichen literaturen des Orients'', 1911 – Christian literature of the Orient. * ''Geschichte der syrischen Literatur: mit Ausschluss der christlich-palästinensischen Texte'', 1922 – History of Syriac literature: with the exclusion of the Christian-Palestinian texts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baumstark, Carl Anton 1872 births 1948 deaths People from Konstanz German male non-fiction writers German orientalists German philologists Liturgists Nazi Party members Academic staff of Radboud University Nijmegen Academic staff of the University of Bonn Academic staff of the University of Münster Academic staff of Utrecht University