Ludwig Adamec
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Ludwig W. Adamec (10 March 1924 – 1 January 2019) was an Austrian scholar on the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
and
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
. He was a
professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...
in the School of Middle East and North African Studies at the
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
.Ludwig W. Adamec
. Department of Near Eastern Studies.
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
.
He wrote and edited numerous books, including the republication of the monumental ''Historical and political gazetteer of Afghanistan'', which had originally been compiled but was unpublished by the government in
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
.


Biography

Born in Vienna in 1924, his father died when Adamec was 5 years old. His mother died when he was 16 years old (in 1940). He did not like the Nazi ideology and described himself as a " swing kid". After numerous escapes from
orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...
s and attempts to cross border to Switzerland, or another non-Nazi country, he was arrested and placed in the
Moringen concentration camp Three concentration camps operated in succession in Moringen, Lower Saxony, from April 1933 to April 1945. ''KZ Moringen'', established in the centre of the town on site of former 19th century workhouses (), originally housed mostly male political i ...
where he stayed until the end of the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.The Dignity of Work
by Ludwig Adamec, from Renate S. Meissner on behalf of the National Fund (Ed.): ''Lives Remembered. Life Stories of Victims of National Socialism''. Vienna, 2010, pages 228-235.
In 1950, he left Austria and after travels across Europe, Asia and Africa. He moved to the US in 1954, where he obtained a doctorate in
Middle Eastern studies Middle Eastern studies, sometimes referred to as Near Eastern studies, West Asian Studies or South Western Asian studies, is a name given to a number of academic programs associated with the study of the history, culture, politics, economies, an ...
. In 1967, he came to the
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
as a scholar in Middle Eastern studies. He taught the history of Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa from about 500 A.D. to present days, and also for some time taught Arabic and Persian languages at the university. In 1975, he established a Near Eastern Center at the university and headed the Center for the subsequent 10 years. In 1986–87 he headed the Afghanistan Branch at
Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...
.Ludwig W. Adamec
- Voice of America experts database
On 1 January 2019, Adamec died in
Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
, at the age of 95.


List of publications

*Ludwig W. Adamec: ''The A to Z of Islam'', 2nd Ed (2009), Orient Paperbacks, *Ludwig W. Adamec: ''Afghanistan, 1900–1923: A Diplomatic History'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967. *Ludwig W. Admec: ''Afghanistan's Foreign Affairs to the Mid-Twentieth Century: Relations with the USSR, Germany, and Britain'', Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1974. *Ludwig W. Adamec and Frank A. Clements: ''Conflict in Afghanistan: An Encyclopedia'', Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2003. *Ludwig W. Adamec: ''Historical and political gazetteer of Afghanistan'', 6 vols.
Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
: Akad. Druck- und Verl.-Anst., 1972–1985. *Ludwig W. Adamec: ''Historical dictionary of Afghan wars, revolutions, and insurgencies'', Lanham:
Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an American independent academic publishing company founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns ...
, 2nd. ed. 2005. *Ludwig W. Adamec: ''Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan'', Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 3rd ed. 2003. *Ludwig W. Adamec: ''Historical Dictionary of Islam'', Scarecrow Press, 2nd ed. 2009.


Articles


Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921
-
Encyclopedia Iranica An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...
, Vol. II, Fasc. 1, pp. 36–37, originally published in 1985, updated in 2011
Egypt: Relations with Afghanistan
-
Encyclopedia Iranica An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...
, Vol. VIII, Fasc. 3, pp. 266–267, originally published in 1998, updated in 2011
Third Anglo-Afghan War
-
Encyclopedia Iranica An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...
, Vol. II, Fasc. 1, pp. 37–41, originally published in 1985, updated in 2011


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamec, Ludwig W. 1924 births 2019 deaths Historians of Afghanistan Middle Eastern studies scholars University of Arizona faculty 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American historians 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Moringen concentration camp survivors Writers from Vienna Austrian emigrants to the United States Voice of America people