Friedrich Neumann (2 March 1889 – 12 December 1978) was a German philologist who specialized in

Germanic studies Germanic philology is the philological study of the Germanic languages, particularly from a comparative or historical perspective. The beginnings of research into the Germanic languages began in the 16th century, with the discovery of literary tex ...

Biography

Friedrich Neumann was born

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2 ...

, Germany on 2 March 1889. From 1907 to 1913, Neumann studied

classical philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

German literature German literature () comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a l ...

and philosophy at the universities of

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approx ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

and

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 ...

. He received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

at Göttingen in 1914. Neumann volunteered for service in the German Army during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and served on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

. Neumann completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...

in philology at Göttingen in 1921. He subsequently served as a professor at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

. Since 1927, Neumann was Professor of German Philology at the University of Göttingen. Among his students were , and Gottfried Höfer. At Göttingen, Neumann served as

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

from 1933 to 1938, and Vice Rector from 1938 to 1945. He was a member of the

Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Göttingen Academy of Sciences (german: Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen)Note that the German ''Wissenschaft'' has a wider meaning than the English "Science", and includes Social sciences and Humanities. is the second oldest of the se ...

from 1943 to 1945. A member of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

, Neumann was fired from the University of Göttingen and expelled from the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1945. He was subsequently rehabilitated, and retired from the University with a pension in 1954. Neumann was awarded the

Brothers Grimm Prize of the University of Marburg Brothers Grimm Prize of the University of Marburg is a literary prize of Hesse. Winners * 1943 Karl Helm * 1950 Georg Baeseke * 1952 Erik Rooth * 1954 Hermann Teuchert * 1957 Gesenius G. Kloeke * 1959 Luis Hammerich * 1961 Emil Öhmann * 196 ...

in 1971. He died in Göttingen on 12 December 1978.

Sources

* 1889 births 1978 deaths German Army personnel of World War I German philologists Germanic studies scholars Germanists Writers from Kassel University of Göttingen alumni Academic staff of the University of Göttingen Academic staff of Leipzig University 20th-century philologists {{Germany-linguist-stub

Biography

See also

Sources