Wolfram von Soden
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Wolfram Theodor Hermann Freiherr von Soden (19 June 1908 in Berlin – 6 October 1996 in Münster) was a German scholar of Assyriology during the Nazi era and the Second World War.[1]
Life and work
[edit]Born in Berlin, Wolfram von Soden studied ancient Semitic languages with Benno Landsberger at Leipzig, receiving his doctorate in 1931 at the age of 23. His dissertation was titled Der hymnisch-epische Dialekt des Akkadischen (The Hymnic-Epic Dialect of Akkadian). In 1936, he was appointed Professor of Assyriology and Arabic studies at the University of Goettingen. After Benno Landsberger was forced to leave Germany due to the racial policy of Nazi Germany, von Soden joined the Sturmabteilung in 1934 and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in 1937.[2]
From 1939 to 1945, von Soden served in the military, primarily as a translator. In 1940, this work prevented him from accepting a professorship in Ancient Near Eastern studies at the Friedrich Wilhelm University. Von Soden published works that have been interpreted as supporting the Nazi cultural and racial policy.
Following the Second World War, von Soden's Nazi Party membership initially prevented him from resuming his teaching career. However, with a recommendation from Benno Landsberger, he was appointed to an academic position at the University of Vienna in 1954. In 1961, he accepted a professorship at Münster, where he directed the Oriental Seminar until his retirement in 1976. After his death in 1996, his library was bequeathed to the newly revived Institute for Near Eastern Studies at the University of Leipzig, where he had earned his doctorate.
Scholarship
[edit] |
After the Second World War, von Soden specialized in ancient Semitic languages, contributing to the field. As a member of the "History of Religions" (Religionsgeschichte) school at the University of Goettingen, he argued against the interpretation that the Babylonians regarded their creator god, Marduk, as a "dying and rising god," suggesting that texts supporting this view were polemical works created by the Assyrians to criticize the chief god of their rival state.[citation needed]
Von Soden's philological works, particularly the Akkadisches Handwörterbuch (AHW), developed with assistance from Rykle Borger, provided a foundation for the philological contributions later compiled in the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary. His Grundriss Akkadischer Grammatik (GAG) and the AHW are considered important texts in Assyriology.
Scholarly Controversy
[edit]Von Soden's work has been alleged to support Nazi ideology. His early works, especially Der Aufstieg des Assyrreiches als geschichtliches Problem (1937), have been interpreted as promoting "racist concepts of Aryan superiority" over Semitic culture.[3]
For example, in Leistung und Grenze sumerischer und babylonischer Wissenschaft (1936), the 1965 edition (page 122) concludes: “that science in the strict sense of the word could only take shape under the special conditions given by the Indo-European Greeks and Indians." The 1936 edition (page 556) concludes: “that science in the strict sense of the word is something that could only be created by the Indo-Europeans determined by the Nordic race."[4]
His Einführung in die Altorientalistik (1985) discusses the skin color of ancient Near Eastern inhabitants, mentioning "the presumably always light-skinned inhabitants of the Near East during the Copper Age" (p. 14).
Works (partial)
[edit]- Das akkadische Syllabar (1948, rev. 1967, 1976, 1991, ISBN 88-7653-257-9)
- Grundriss der akkadischen Grammatik (1952, ISBN 88-7653-258-7)
- Das Gilgamesch-Epos (1958, with Albert Schott; ISBN 3-15-007235-2)
- Akkadisches Handwörterbuch (1965–1981, 3 vols; ISBN 3-447-01471-7)
- Das akkadisch-hethitische Vokabular KBo I 44+KBo XIII 1 (1968, with Heinrich Otten)
- Einführung in die Altorientalistik (1985; ISBN 0-8028-0142-0); translated (by Donald G. Schley) into English as The Ancient Orient: An Introduction to the Study of the Ancient Near East. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994.
References
[edit]- ^ E. Steinweis, Alan (2022). The Betrayal of the Humanities The University During the Third Reich. Indiana University Press. p. 317. ISBN 978-0-253-06081-5.
- ^ Jakob Flygare, "Assyriology in Nazi Germany: the Case of Wolfram von Soden." In 'Perspectives on the History of Ancient Near Eastern Studies.' 2020, p. 44-60".
- ^ Gary Beckman, "von Soden, Wolfram (1908-1996). In 'The Encyclopedia of Ancient History' 2018, pp.1.
- ^ Jakob Flygare, "Assyriology in Nazi Germany: the Case of Wolfram von Soden." In 'Perspectives on the History of Ancient Near Eastern Studies.' 2020, p. 44-60".
- Rykle Borger, "Wolfram von Soden". In: Archiv für Orientforschung 44/45, 1997/98, pp. 588–594.
- Gary Beckman, "von Soden, Wolfram (1908–1996). In 'The Encyclopedia of Ancient History' 2018, pp.1.
- Jakob Flygare, "Assyriology in Nazi Germany: the Case of Wolfram von Soden." In 'Perspectives on the History of Ancient Near Eastern Studies.' 2020, p. 44-60. ISBN 978-1-57506-836-7
