Friedrich Münzer (22 April 1868 – 20 October 1942) was a German
classical scholar
Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
noted for the development of
prosopography
Prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a group of people, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable. Research subjects are analysed by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line a ...
, particularly for his demonstrations of how family relationships in
ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...
connected to political struggles. He died in
Theresienstadt concentration camp.
Biography
He was born at Oppeln,
Silesia
Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...
(now
Opole
Opole (; ; ; ) is a city located in southern Poland on the Oder River and the historical capital of Upper Silesia. With a population of approximately 127,387 as of the 2021 census, it is the capital of Opole Voivodeship (province) and the seat of ...
, Poland), into a
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
merchant family, went to
Leipzig University
Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...
and then in 1887 to
Berlin University, where he wrote his
thesis
A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...
''De Gente Valeria'' under the supervision of
Otto Hirschfeld. In 1893 he traveled to
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, where
Georg Wissowa
Georg Otto August Wissowa (17 June 1859 – 11 May 1931) was a German classical philologist born in Neudorf, near Breslau.
Education and career
Wissowa studied classical philology under August Reifferscheid at the University of Bresl ...
recruited him to write biographical articles for the ''
Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft
The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedias on Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman classical studies, topics and scholarship. The first of these, or (1839–1852), was begun by compiler A ...
''. From there he went to
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
and participated in excavations on the
Acropolis
An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...
. He also met Clara Engels there; they were married two years later, on 4 September 1897.
Meanwhile, Münzer had been appointed as an unsalaried lecturer at
University of Basel
The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...
in 1896; he and Clara were supported by their parents and his article-writing. (When applying for the job, he reported himself as a member of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church; three years earlier his CV had said he was of Jewish faith.) He was promoted to the second chair in classical
philology
Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...
in 1902. In 1912 he accepted a post at
Königsberg
Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...
, which made him an official in the German
civil service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...
.
Clara died in the
Spanish flu
The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...
pandemic
A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...
on 15 December 1918; and in 1921, the widower took up a post at the
University of Münster
The University of Münster (, until 2023 , WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...
. His greatest work, ''Römische Adelsparteien und Adelsfamilien'' (Roman noble parties and noble families") had appeared in 1920 and brought him fame for the first time.
He was appointed a
dean at the university in 1923, and in 1924 married a widow,
Clara Lunke ''née'' Ploeger, becoming a stepfather to two teenagers.
Nazi persecution
Münzer was generally apolitical, but politics began to catch up with him in 1933 in the form of the law that sought to dismiss
Communists
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...
,
"non-Aryans", and opponents of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
. Civil servants appointed before 1914 were officially exempt, but his biographers attribute his continued employment to the intercession of influential colleagues and former students. In January 1935 a new law required the removal of all lecturers and professors over the age of 65 (a move to make available more posts for
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
sympathizers), and Münzer formally retired on 23 July 1935.
His wife died in 1935 as well, and on 14 November of that year he was officially classified as Jewish, upon which many colleagues and acquaintances distanced themselves from him. Nevertheless, he continued to write biographical articles for Pauly-Wissowa, and they continued to accept them, in spite of a law forbidding Jews to publish. In 1938 a new law compelled him to adopt a Jewish middle name, and he became officially known as "the Jew Friedrich Israel Münzer". In a letter of 12 December 1938 to
Ronald Syme
Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roma ...
, he wrote that the changed situation "deeply depressed" him, but that he still considered himself better off than many others.
Despite the urgings of some friends, he refused to emigrate. But in July 1942 he was taken by the
Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...
to the
Theresienstadt concentration camp. His adopted daughter Margerete won some privileges for him, such as the right to send and receive letters, and to receive his suitcase intact, and ultimately a release from Theresienstadt. But an epidemic of
enteritis
Enteritis is inflammation of the small intestine. It is most commonly caused by food or drink contaminated with pathogenic microbes,Dugdale, David C., IIII, and George F Longretc"Enteritis" MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, 18 October 2008. Acces ...
had been sweeping through the camp, and he succumbed to it the very same day that Margerete received the notice that her father was to be released.
Works
* ''De Gente Valeria'' ("The Valeria ''gens'', Berlin Dissertation, published Oppeln, 1891)
* ''Die Entstehung der Historien des Tacitus'' ("The Origin of the ''Histories'' of Tacitus", 1901)
* ''Cacus der Rinddieb'' ("Cacus the cattle thief", 1911)
* ''Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families'' (
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publish ...
, 1999), Thérèse Ridley translation of the original ''Römische Adelsparteien und Adelsfamilien'' (J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart, 1920), adding sketches of the work's content and significance, and author biography: Ronald T. Ridley "Friedrich Münzer's Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families", XIX-XXXVIII; Thérèse Ridley "The Fate of a Historian", XXXIX-LVII; and a photograph of Münzer opposite the title page translation
* ''Die Entstehung des römischen Principats'' ("The Origin of Imperial Rome", 1927)
* thousands of biography articles in the Pauly-Wissowa ''RE'': ''nomina gentilicia'' from C to P
References
*
Alfred Kneppe and
Josef Wiesehöfer, ''Friedrich Münzer: Ein Althistoriker zwischen Kaiserreich und Nationalsozialismus'', Bonn 1983.
* Ronald T. Ridley, "T. R. S. Broughton and Friedrich Münzer", pp. 43–56 in Jerzy Linderski (ed.) ''Imperium Sine Fine: T. Robert S. Broughton and the Roman Republic'', Historia Einzelschriften 105 (Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, 1996); ''in memoriam'' tome for Broughton (1900-1993) with preface by Linderski and memorial chapters (including summary of Broughton's career and publications) by G. W. Houston, then the seven substantial articles on the Republican aristocracy and prosopographic topics. Ridley's is the first of the seven.
* Ernst Badian, "The Legend of the Legate who lost his luggage", ''Historia'' 42 (1993), 203–210, on C. Porcius Cato (cos. 114) and Nazi period professors (Miltner, Volkmann) who wrote most of the entries in ''RE'' on the Porci Catones and Popilli Laenates in the 1950s, possibly with unacknowledged access to Münzer's notes.
* Ronald T. Ridley, "The Genesis of a turning-point: Gelzer's ''Nobilität''", ''Historia'' 35 (1986), 474-502
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munzer, Friedrich
1868 births
1942 deaths
German classical scholars
Prosopographers of ancient Rome
German encyclopedists
Jewish scholars
People from Opole
People from the Province of Silesia
Leipzig University alumni
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
Academic staff of the University of Königsberg
Academic staff of the University of Münster
German people who died in the Theresienstadt Ghetto
German male non-fiction writers
Infectious disease deaths in Czechoslovakia
Infectious disease deaths in the Czech Republic