Heinrich Johannes Hermann Ranke (August 5, 1878 – April 22, 1953) was a German

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end ...

who worked at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

. He was forced to leave during the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

as his wife had Jewish ancestors. He worked during period at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, in the US. Ranke was born in Balgheim (Möttingen) to Leopold Friedrich Ranke and his second wife Julie née von Bever (1850–1924). He grew up and studied in

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

where his father was a Lutheran pastor. He initially studied theology at

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) 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. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

and

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...

from 1897 but on joining the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

in 1899, he studied oriental languages and Egyptology. After a doctorate in 1902 with studies on the Hammurabi dynasty and the formation of semitic names he went to the University of Pennsylvania. He returned to Germany in 1905 and worked at the Egyptian department of the Museum in Berlin with Alan H. Gardiner. He became a teacher of Egyptology at Heidelberg University in 1910 and took part in several expeditions to Egypt for excavations including the one in which the bust of Queen Nefertiti was found. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he served in the 4th Infantry Battalion to protect

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

. In 1932 he taught at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. Ranke married Marie Stein in 1906, who was half Jewish and when Nazi rules were applied in 1937 he resigned and moved to the US where he taught at various universities and held a position as Professor of Egyptology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1938. He was also expelled from the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences in 1939. He returned in 1942 to Europe, spending time in Sweden and moved to Germany in 1945, taking an emeritus position in Egyptology at the University of Heidelberg. He published several books including a translation of James H. Breasted's ''History of Egypt'' in 1911. He died at Freiburg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranke, Hermann 1878 births 1953 deaths Exiles from Nazi Germany German Egyptologists German expatriate academics in the United States Academic staff of Heidelberg University University of Pennsylvania faculty