Draft of a statement from the University of Hamburg to the higher education authorities on a possible career path for Walter Arthur Berendsohn, February 27, 1956
author: N. N.
source date: February 27, 1956
language: eng
availability: State Archive Hamburg 361-6 IV 3202 Walter Berendsohn

Draft

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To the School Authority, Higher Education Department

Concerning: Restitution Prof. Dr. Walter Arthur Berendsohn.

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In a letter dated January 25,[^1]56, the Higher Education Department refers to an application submitted by Prof. Dr. Berendsohn in 1952 to grant him the legal status of a regular associate professor and the resulting emeritus salary by way of restitution. The application was rejected in 1953 by decision of the Personnel Office. With reference to the 1955 revision of the Federal Law on Restitution in the Civil Service [BWGöD – Bundesgesetz für Wiedergutmachung im öffentlichen Dienst], which was passed in 1955, the Higher Education Department now requests a statement from the Faculty of Arts on the question of whether, without the racist persecution, Prof. Berendsohn would in all probability have become an associate professor.

[^1: 19]

The Faculty of Arts must answer this question unequivocally in the negative. In the opinion of the Faculty, it may be assumed with a probability bordering on certainty that even without the overthrow of 1933 and its consequences, Prof. Berendsohn would not have been able to reach a regular associate (or even a full) professorship. Thus, in the opinion of the Faculty, in the case of Berendsohn the prerequisite is not met that allows applying the optional provisions of the Federal Law on Restitution in the Civil Service, Sec. 21b in the version of December 23,[^2]55.

[^2: 19]

The following should be said in support of this position. Mr. Berendsohn, born in 1884, qualified for teaching at university in Hamburg in 1920 and, after passage of six years, was awarded the title of a non-civil servant associate professor. In 1933, he was 49 years old and in his thirteenth year as a university lecturer, without having been able – under the conditions of free academic competition that still prevailed at the time – to obtain an appointment or even expect any real chance of being appointed. He was one of those lecturers who had not succeeded in getting established. In Hamburg, he had worked as a research assistant, later as a research associate at the German Department, but he had a relationship with all the representatives of the discipline that precluded the notion of being provided with a professorship in Hamburg. Even in the world of German studies outside Hamburg, despite a not inconsiderable number of publications, his achievements were judged negatively almost all the time. His scholarly reputation was particularly tarnished by his struggle, continued for many years in more than ten publications, for recognition of the so-called Altona “Joseph” [“Altonaer Joseph”] -2- as a work of Goethe’s youth: In this context, it became clear that he lacked a sense of academic reasoning. Similarly, his Beowulf studies were also described by the late Hamburg English scholar Emil Wolff as completely unworthy of discussion. His post-war book entitled Die humanistische Front [The Humanist Front] (Volume 1, more not published) was met with scathing criticism at home and abroad. In Stockholm, where Mr. Berendsohn moved after 1933, those in charge were also unable to meet his academic expectations. His activity at the University of Stockholm was limited to guest lectures and remained without positive echo. He was eventually given a position at the Strindberg Archive and he was entrusted with the preparation of the name and subject indexes to Strindberg’s works and letters.

From a financial point of view, Prof. Berendsohn may be considered to have been adequately provided for, since in addition to a Swedish state pension, he has been receiving the salary of an academic employee in pay group II TO.A. by way of restitution from the Hamburg state since the end of the war.

The Faculty of Arts hereby considers its options with regard to any further wishes of Mr. Berendsohn as exhausted. The Faculty has, as the Higher Education Department is aware from the files, already dealt quite often and in detail with Berendsohn’s case since the end of the war. After the impression left by some guest lectures given by Mr. Berendsohn in Hamburg in 1949, the Faculty decided unanimously on May 17,[^3]50 to refrain from inviting him again. This decision was communicated to the Higher Education Department together with the two decisive reasons on which it was based, on May 20,[^4]50. At that time, Mr. Berendsohn’s request was also rejected to print the second volume of his book entitled Die humanistische Front [The Humanist Front] with subsidies from the University of Hamburg. The files also contain the evidence of the polemics that Mr. Berendsohn levelled against the University of Hamburg at that time, both in the press and in letters, which presented the Faculty (not least, the dean at the time, Prof. Wenke) with considerable work.

[^3: 19]

[^4: 19]

Despite these and other unpleasant experiences and notwithstanding the scientific facts mentioned above, the Faculty informed Prof. Berendsohn on December 4,[^5]54 that it considered his venia legendi[^6] to be still intact. In doing so, it expressed its position that this decision, taken despite many reservations, had the sole purpose of making amends for the political injustice inflicted on Mr. Berendsohn in 1933. In a supplementary letter from the dean dated January 1955, Mr. Berendsohn was asked to refrain from the practical exercise of his Hamburg venia. The attitude of the Faculty towards Mr. Berendsohn, expressed therein and still valid today unchanged, is characterized by weighty reservations of both a factual and personal nature. In reference to these circumstances and events, which are only alluded to in general here, the limit of willingness is rendered visible, a limit that the the Faculty is not in a position to cross.

[^5: 19]

[^6: Authorization to teach at university]

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