Karl Helm (full name Karl Hermann Georg Helm, born 19 May 1871 in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, died 9 September 1960 in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...

) was a German philologist who specialized in

Germanic studies Germanic philology is the philological study of the Germanic languages, particularly from a comparative or historical perspective. The beginnings of research into the Germanic languages began in the 16th century, with the discovery of literary te ...

Biography

Karl Helm was born in Karlsruhe, Germany on 19 May 1871. He studied German philology in Heidelberg and Freiburg, earning his doctorate in 1895 with a study on 16th-century poetry. Helm's habilitation was on the literature surrounding the

Teutonic Order The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

, published 1899 in

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univer ...

. After teaching in Giesen, Würzburg and Frankfurt, he received tenure in

as professor for early Germanic philology (''Altgermanistik'') in 1921. Helm took over editorship of the ''Althochdeutsche Grammatik'', ''Althochdeutsches Lesebuch'' and ''Gotische Grammatik'' from

Wilhelm Braune Theodor Wilhelm Braune (20 February 1850 in Großthiemig, Province of Saxony – 10 November 1926 in Heidelberg) was a German philologist and Germanist. Biography In 1869 Braune entered the University of Leipzig, where he was approved as an instru ...

, all standard works in Germanic studies. His own research focused on

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

Germanic folklore Proto-Germanic folklore is the folklore of the speakers of Proto-Germanic and includes topics such as the Germanic mythology, legendry, and folk beliefs of early Germanic culture. By way of the comparative method, Germanic philologists, a variety ...

and

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

. students of Helm include Karl Bischoff, , Hans Kuhn,

Nechama Leibowitz Nechama Leibowitz ( he, נחמה ליבוביץ׳; September 3, 1905 – April 12, 1997 ) was a noted Israeli Bible scholar and commentator who rekindled interest in Bible study. Biography Nechama Leibowitz was born to an Orthodox Jewish fami ...

, Eduard Neumann and

Jost Trier Jost Trier (15 December 1894 – 15 September 1970) was a German philologist who was Chair of German Philology at the University of Münster from 1932 to 1961. Biography Jost Trier was born in Schlitz, Hesse, Germany on 15 December 1894, the son ...

. Helm adhered to a

national conservative National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, f ...

ideology throughout his life, expressing sympathy for the

German National People's Party The German National People's Party (german: Deutschnationale Volkspartei, DNVP) was a national-conservative party in Germany during the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the Nazi Party, it was the major conservative and nationalist party in Wei ...

(without however becoming a regular member). He was a member of the

Militant League for German Culture The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin ...

from 1933, but he never became a member of the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

. In November 1933 Helm signed the ''

Vow of allegiance of the Professors of the German Universities and High-Schools to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialistic State Bekenntnis der Professoren an den Universitäten und Hochschulen zu Adolf Hitler und dem nationalsozialistischen Staat officially translated into English as the Vow of allegiance of the Professors of the German Universities and High-Schools to Ad ...

''. Helm retired from Marburg as professor emeritus in 1936, but continued hold lectures there until 1958. He died in Marburg on 9 September 1960.

Selected works

* ''Zur Rhythmik der kurzen Reimpaare des 16. Jahrhunderts'', 1895 * (Publisher) ''Das Evangelium Nicodemi'', 1902 * (Publisher) ''Dichtungen des Deutschen Ordens. 1: Die Apokalypse Heinrichs von Hesler: aus der Danziger Handschrift'', 1907 * ''Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte'', 1913 * ''Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte. 2: Die nachrömische Zeit; Teil 1: Die Ostgermanen'', 1937 * ''Die Literatur des Deutschen Ritterordens'', 1951 * ''Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte. 2: Die nachrömische Zeit; Teil 2: Die Westgermanen'', 1953

References

Sources

* Peter Wengel: ''Karl Helm''. In: ''Internationales Germanistenlexikon 1800-1950'', eds. König, Wägenbaur, Frindt, vol. 1, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin – New York 2003. . * Bernhard Maier: ''Karl Helm'', In: Heinrich Beck, Dieter Geuenich, Heiko Steuer (eds.): ''

Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde ''Germanische Altertumskunde Online'', formerly called ''Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde'', is a German encyclopedia of the study of Germanic history and cultures, as well as the cultures that were in close contact with them. The first ...

'', vol.14, Berlin – New York 1999, * * ''

Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie The ''Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie'' (''DBE'') is a biographical dictionary published by Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus (from the third to fourth volume), the first edition of which was published from 1995 to 2003 in 13 volumes by K. ...

'', 1996.

External links

*
Karl Helm
in the

OPAC The online public access catalog (OPAC), now frequently synonymous with ''library catalog'', is an online database of materials held by a library or group of libraries. Online catalogs have largely replaced the analog card catalogs previously ...

Regesta Imperii Papal regesta are the copies, generally entered in special registry volumes, of the papal letters and official documents that are kept in the papal archives. The name is also used to indicate subsequent publications containing such documents, in c ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helm, Karl German medievalists Germanic studies scholars Linguists of Germanic languages Germanists Militant League for German Culture members Pagan studies scholars 1871 births 1960 deaths German male non-fiction writers Writers on Germanic paganism

Biography

Selected works

See also

References

Sources

External links