Uku Masing (born Hugo Albert Masing, 11 August 1909 – 25 April 1985) was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

. He was a significant figure in Estonian religious philosophy. Masing also wrote poetry, mostly on religious issues. Masing authored one novel, ''Rapanui vabastamine ehk Kajakad jumalate kalmistul'' (''Liberation of Rapa Nui'', or ''Seagulls at the Cemetery of Gods'') in the late 1930s, which was published posthumously in 1989. As a folklorist, he was a distinguished researcher of fairy tales, contributing to the international ''

Encyclopedia of the Folktale The ''Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales'' (''Enzyklopädie des Märchens'') is a German reference work on international Folkloristics, which runs to fifteen volumes and is acknowledged as the most comprehensive work in its field. It examines over two ...

''. He was awarded the Righteous Among The Nations by

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

and the Israeli Supreme Court for his participation during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

in helping a Jew in Estonia escape capture from 1941 until the end of the war. His actions exposed him to great danger during this period requiring him to meet with his friend as well as lying to the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

Early life

Masing was born in

Lipa Lipa or LIPA (Cyrillic: Липа) may refer to: Acronym *Liquid Isopropyl alcohol *League for Independent Political Action, a former American progressive political organization *Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, a performing arts school in ...

village, Raikküla Parish, Rapla County, on 11 August 1909 as Hugo Albert Masing. His parents were Ado Masing and Anna Masing. He had one sibling, a younger sister named Agnes Masing (married surname, Saag) born in 1911. A gifted polyglot, he was able to speak four languages by the end of secondary school and forty by the end of his life. He started to study theology at the University of Tartu in 1926. During his time there and after the graduation he published numerous poems, translations, and essays. His most famous work was in 1935 with the publication of ''Promontories into the Gulf of Rains'' (Estonian: ''Neemed vihmade lahte''). Masing was a member of the influential group of Estonian poets brought together in 1938 by literary scholar Ants Oras, who was greatly influenced by

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

. The small circle of poets became known as '' Arbujad'' ("Soothsayers") and included

Heiti Talvik Heiti Talvik (9 November 1904 – 18 July 1947) was an Estonian poet. Life and literary career Heiti Talvik's father was a family doctor based in Tartu and his mother was a pianist. In 1923 he left the school early and initially sought work ...

Betti Alver Elisabet "Betti" Alver ( in Jõgeva – 19 June 1989 in Tartu), was one of Estonia's most notable poets. She was among the first generation to be educated in schools of an independent Estonia. She went to grammar school in Tartu. Writing S ...

Paul Viiding Paul Viiding (22 May 1904 – 27 June 1962) was an Estonian poet, author and literary critic. Born in Valga, to Juhan and Ann Viiding (''née'' Rose), he was the oldest of two children; his sister Linda was born in 1907. He graduated with a de ...

, Mart Raud,

Bernard Kangro Bernard Kangro (18 September 1910 – 25 March 1994) was an Estonian writer and poet. Education Bernard Kangro was born the son of a farmer, Andres Kangro, and his wife, Minna. He grew up in rather humble circumstances. He attended primary schoo ...

August Sang August Sang (27 July 1914 – 14 October 1969) was an Estonian poet and literary translator.Marcel Cornis-Pope, John Neubauer, ''History of the literary cultures of East-Central Europe: junctures and disjunctures in the 19th and 20th centuries, ...

and

Kersti Merilaas Kersti Merilaas ( in Narva – 8 March 1986 in Tallinn) was an Estonian poet and translator. In addition, she wrote poems and prose for children and plays. Early life and education Kersti Merilaas was born Eugenie Moorberg in Narva, Estonia shor ...

. At his peak Masing was able to speak around 65 languages with the ability to translate from 20 of them. He was known for his ability to translate straight from original

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, occidental European and oriental languages into

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

. Such was his prolific nature it is estimated over 10,000 pages of his manuscripts have yet to be published. Masing was known for his anti-German sentiment, that was the core of what at times was Masing's general dislike of the

Indo-European people The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

(whom he sometimes called 'ethnic garbage' and referred to as Indo-Germanic people).

Righteous Among the Nations award

Masing lectured at the University of Tartu in Estonia, where he was known as a brilliant teacher of theology and Semitic languages, if somewhat eccentric. After the German invasion of Estonia in World War II he gave up his teaching post at the university and devoted his time to protecting and salvaging Jewish cultural and religious items. Masing knew the Jewish folklorist, narrative researcher and theologian

Isidor Levin Isidor Levin ( lv, Izidors Levins; September 20, 1919 – July 24, 2018) was a Latvian Jewish-born Soviet/Estonian folklorist, narrative researcher, theologian, and Professor Emeritus at the St. Petersburg Institute of Religion and Philosophy. Lev ...

from his teaching days, and decided to hide him from the Germans who most certainly would have brought him to death. Masing and his wife Eha helped Levin evade capture by supplying him with food, shelter, clothing and even forged documents, while on occasions lying to the

about knowledge of Isidor. For these actions, Masing and his wife were honoured as Righteous Among the Nations.The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust By Sir Martin Gilbert; P.31
After the war, Masing also took part in investigating Nazi war crimes, in particular the

Klooga concentration camp Klooga concentration camp was a Nazi forced labor subcamp of the Vaivara concentration camp complex established in September 1943 in Harju County, during World War II, in German-occupied Estonia near the village of Klooga. The Vaivara camp comple ...

where many Jews had been killed.

Selection of scientific works

*193
"The Word of Yahweh"
— Acta et commentationes Universitatis Tartuensis (Dorpatensis). B, Humaniora. XXXIX, Tartu, 1936, pp. 1–60. *193
"Der Prophet Obadja. Bd. I: Einleitung in das Buch des Propheten Obadja. Teil I"
— Acta et commentationes Universitatis Tartuensis (Dorpatensis). B, Humaniora, XLI, Tartu, 1938, pp. 1–176. *1938 "Die Proklamation des Tab'alsohnes (Zu Zach. 9)". — In piam memcriam A. von Bulmerincq, Riga, 1938, pp. 117–126. *194
"Die Entstehung des Märchens vom gestohlenen Donnerinstrument (Aarne-Thompson 1148B)"
— Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur 81, 1944, pp. 23–31. *1960 "Das Evangelium des Alten Testaments". — Communio Viatorum 2, 1960, pp. 123–132. *1961 "Confessio amantis". — Communio Viatorum, 1961, pp. 139–160. *1963 "Panta dynata". — Communio Viatorum 4, pp. 242–262. *196
"C. Scott Littleton, The New Comparative Mythology: an anthropological assessment of the theories of Georges Dumézil"
—

Semiotica ''Semiotica'' is an academic journal covering semiotics. It is the official journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies. Publication Since 2000, the journal publishes five issues per year. It is published in English and French. ...

1, 1969, pp. 339–355. *1973 "De hermeneutica". — Communio Viatorum 1–2, 1973, pp. 1–29 *197
"Akkadisches miksu in Osteuropa"
— Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft im Alten Vorderasien, J. Harmatta and G. Komoróczy (toim.); Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientarum Hungaricae 22, 1974 / 1976, pp. 521–526. *1976 "Some remarks on the mythology of the people of Catal Hüyük". — Acta et commentationes Universitatis Tartuensis 392: Oriental Studies 3 / Tartu Riikliku Ülikooli Toimetised 392, Töid orientalistika alalt 3, Tartu 1976, pp. 75–92. *1979 "Elpida echomen". — Communio Viatorum 1, 1979, pp. 1–28 *198
"Die "Hand" im Alten. Testament und die estnische Übersetzung"
— La main et les doigts dans l´expression linguistique, Lacito-Documents Eurasie 6, Paris, SELAF, 1981, pp. 213–222. *198
"Der Gegnersucher (AT 650 B). Varianten aus Kaukasien und Sibirien"
— Acta et commentationes Universitatis Tartuensis 558 / Oriental Studies VI, Tartu, 1981, lk. 17–35. *1982 Isidor Levin, Uku Masing

— Eugen Diedrichs Verlag, Düsseldorf, 1982, 283 pp. *198

— Folklorica: Festschrift for Felix J. Oinas. Indiana University, Uralic and Altaic Series 141. Bloomington, Indiana: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, 1982, pp. 173–184. *1984 "Esten". �
Enzyklopädie des Märchens. Handwörterbuch zur historischen und vergleichenden Erzählforschung
4. Berlin -New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1984, pp. 479–491.

About Uku Masing

* Vincent B. Leitch
"Religious Vision in Modern Poetry: Uku Masing Compared with Hopkins and Eliot"
- Journal of Baltic Studies 5, 1974, pp. 281–294. *

Ivar Ivask Ivar Vidrik Ivask (December 17, 1927 Riga – September 23, 1992 Fountainstown, Ireland) was an Estonian poet and literary scholar. He escaped in 1944 from Estonia to Germany and lived from 1949 onwards in the United States and from 1991 in Irela ...

"Uku Masing: A poet between east and west"
- Journal of Baltic Studies 8, 1977, pp. 16–21. * Aira Võsa
"Spiegelt Sprache die Seele? Einige Aspekte in der religiösen Identität der Estinnen und Esten in den Augen von Uku Masing"
– Journal of the European Society of Women in Theological Research 14, 2006, pp. 109–120. * Peeter Espak

- Forschungen zur Anthropologie und Religionsgeschichte 43, 2012, pp. 71–85. * Urmas Nõmmik

- Forschungen zur Anthropologie und Religionsgeschichte 43, 2012, pp. 187–198.

References

External links

– his activity to save Jews' lives during the

, at

website * *
''Uku Masing compared with Hopkins and Eliot'' by Vincent B. Leich
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masing, Uku 1909 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Estonian philosophers 20th-century Estonian poets 20th-century translators Analytic philosophers Anti-German sentiment in Europe Burials at Raadi cemetery Estonian folklorists Estonian philosophers Estonian Righteous Among the Nations Linguists from Estonia People from Rapla Parish People from the Governorate of Estonia Religious philosophers Translators from Arabic Translators from Catalan Translators from Coptic Translators from English Translators from French Translators from German Translators from Greek Translators from Hebrew Translators from Italian Translators from Japanese Translators from Latin Translators from Sanskrit Translators from Sumerian Translators to Estonian University of Tartu alumni