Fritz Wolff

Fritz Wolff
Born(1880-11-11)11 November 1880
Berlin, Germany
Died12 March 1943(1943-03-12) (aged 62)
Auschwitz-Birkenau, occupied Poland
Academic work
Main interests
Shanameh

Fritz Wolff (11 November 1880 – 1943) was a German Iranologist. He is particularly known for his translation of the Avesta and his glossary of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. He was murdered during the Holocaust in the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp.

Upbringing and education

Fritz Wolff was born on 11 November 1880 as the son of the merchant Emanuel Wolff (1850–1901) and his wife Hedwig Wolff (1860–1935). They originally came from near Posen and moved to Berlin. The family was relatively affluent, which allowed Wolff the opportunity to pursue a career as an independent scholar (Privatgelehrter). After graduating from the French Gymnasium in Berlin in 1899, he studied comparative linguistics with a focus on Indo-Iranian languages in Munich, Heidelberg, Berlin, and Giessen under Otto Behaghel, Hermann Osthoff, and Karl Groos. In 1905, he received his doctorate at the University of Giessen under Christian Bartholomae, who would heavily influence his academic path.

Scholarly work

For various reasons, Wolff did not pursue a traditional academic career; he likely feared discrimination due to his Jewish heritage and preferred to conduct his research in seclusion. After completing his studies, he continued to live in university towns such as Münster, Berlin, Tübingen, and Giessen, utilizing their libraries for his research. He also spent two years living in Italy.

His dissertation, Die Infinitive des Indischen und Iranischen, was published in 1907 in the journal Zeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung. In 1910, he published Avesta. Die heiligen Bücher der Parsen. Übersetzt auf der Grundlage von Christian Bartholomaes Altiranischem Wörterbuch, the first critical translation of the Avesta. This book was based on two important earlier works: Geldner's edition of the Avesta, and Bartholomae's Altiranisches Wörterbuch; both having been described as the seminal achievement of the field. Due to this solid text-critical and etymological foundation, Wolff's translation is seen as an important achievement.

In 1934, the Glossar zu Firdosis Schahname was published on the occasion of the millenary celebration of Ferdowsi. This work is often seen as his most important achievement. This glossary of the Shanameh has been described as "an almost exhaustive index, lexicon, and concordance to three standard editions of the national epic, namely, those of Mohl (Paris), Vullers (Leiden), and Turner Macan (Calcutta)."

Personal life

In Giessen, he met his first wife Minna Pfeffer (1884–1943; murdered in Auschwitz), with whom he had two sons and a daughter, the photographer Ursula Wolff-Schneider (1906–1977; married to the architect Karl Schneider). The family lived initially in Berlin, from 1918 in Giessen, and from 1933 back in Berlin. Following their divorce in 1936, Wolff married Margarete Marckwald (1900–1943; murdered in Auschwitz) that same year, with whom he lived in Berlin-Neukölln.

Nazi persecution and murder during the Holocaust

Stolperstein for Fritz Wolff in Jonasstraße 4 in Neukölln

After the Machtergreifung by the Nazis in 1933, Antisemitism rose sharply in Germany. Although he had converted to Lutheranism, this effected him regardless. He had, e.g., immediately difficulties to publish his Glossar zu Firdosis Schahname, which was finished by that time. Through the intervention of fellow Iranologist Hans Heinrich Schaeder, it could still be presented to the Reza Shah Pahlavi of Persia during the millenary celebration of Ferdowsi in 1934. The same year, during the annual meeting of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, was also the last time before his death that his contribution to German Iranology was acknowledged.

Wolff remained in Berlin until spring 1943. At this time, deportations of the remaining Jews of Berlin had resumed. They were carried out at night to avoid protests by local workers. According to his friend Richard Tüngel, he refused to be hidden, when they were warned by a neighbor of the impending deportation. Instead, he stayed with his wife and his Lutheran pastor until the Nazis came. He and his wife were then deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp and most likely murdered shortly thereafter.

Wolff's children emigrated to the United States and thus survived the National Socialist era. In 1950, Hans Heinrich Schaeder published an obituary for Wolff in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. In 2003, a Stolperstein (stumbling stone) in front of Fritz Wolff's former residence in Berlin Neukölln was installed to commemorate his murder.

Selected publications

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Ehlers 2018, "WOLFF, FRITZ, German Iranologist (b. Berlin, 11 November 1880; d. 1943; PLATE I), specializing in Avestan and Šāh-nāma studies and the author of Glossar zu Firdosis Schahname.".
  2. ↑ Bundesarchiv 1986, p. 1615.
  3. ↑ Wolff 1907.
  4. ↑ Wolff 1910.
  5. ↑ Schmitt 2001, "Totally based on this dictionary and faithfully reproducing its content is the translation of Avesta [...] by Bartholomae's pupil Fritz Wolff".
  6. ↑ Geldner 1886.
  7. ↑ Geldner 1889.
  8. ↑ Geldner 1896.
  9. ↑ Bartholomae 1904.
  10. ↑ Hintze 2012, p. 419: "To the present day Avestan Studies largely rely on two monumental works[:] Karl Friedrich Geldner's edition of the Avesta of 1889–1896 and Christian Bartholomae's Altiranisches Wörterbuch of 1904".
  11. ↑ Kellens 1987, "As a rule, Wolff is more reliable than Darmesteter".
  12. ↑ Nicholson 1939.
  13. ↑ Ehlers 2018, "[H]e would have had great difficulties to see his Glossar zu Firdosis Schahname printed and published, of which he had already completed the manuscript".
  14. ↑ Ehlers 2018, "Wolff’s Glossar was selected as the official present of the Reich through the intervention of the Iranologist Hans Heinrich Schaeder".
  15. ↑ Ehlers 2018, "Wolff’s name and his work were officially mentioned a last time in the report on the annual congregation of the members of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft in Bonn (29 August 1934)".
  16. ↑ Schaeder & 1945-49, p. 164: "Bis zum Frühjahr 1943 lebte er in Berlin".
  17. ↑ Schaeder & 1945-49, p. 167: "[Die Deportationen] fanden, seitdem Arbeiter in den Straßen dagegen demonstriert hatten, vorsichtshalber nur noch während der Nachtstunden statt".
  18. ↑ Schaeder & 1945-49, p. 167: "Ich bat Dr. Wolff, mit seiner Gattin zunächst einmal zu mir zuziehen und abzuwarten, wie sich die Dinge weiter entwickeln würden. Er lehnte jedoch fest und ohne zu überlegen ab".
  19. ↑ Schaeder & 1945-49, p. 164: "Wir gingen zusammen zur Tür — es war der evangelische Pfarrer, der kam, um mit ihm zu beten. Beide drängten mich zu gehen. Ich habe ihn nicht wiedergesehen".
  20. ↑ Schaeder & 1945-49, p. 164: "[D]ann traf ihn das gleiche gräßliche Schicksal wie zahllose Leidensgenossen".
  21. ↑ Ehlers 2018, "[H]e was never mentioned again in the ZDMG or any other German scientific publication till 1950, when Schaeder wrote an obituary for Wolff in the ZDMG".
  22. ↑ Maas, Uta. "Dr. Fritz Wolff". www.stolpersteine-berlin.de.

Bibliography