'The Wilamowitz in Me': 100 Letters Between Ulrich Von Wilamowitz

UCLA CHARLES E. YOUNG RESEARCH LIBRARY Department of Special Collections OCCASIONAL PAPERS 9 Paul Friedlander (1914) 'THE WILAMOWITZ IN ME' 100 Letters between Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff and Paul Friedlander (1904-1931) Edited by William M. Calder III and Bernhard Huss With Translations of Selected Letters by Caroline Buckler Department of Special Collections Charles E. Young Research Library University of California Los Angeles 1999 Copyright © 1999 by the Regents of the University of CaUfomia ISSN 1041-1143 Publication of this book is made possible by the Bernadine J. L. M. Zelenka Memorial Endowment MARTIN HOSE AMICO FIDELISSIMO COLLEGAE PRAESTANTISSIMO LITTERARUM GRAECARUM ET LATINARUM PERITISSIMO D.D.D. EDITORES Preface Ut clavis portam, sic pandit epis tula pectus. (Goethe, Tagebuch, 28. 6. 181 1) The collection pubhshed here for the first time (two items had been pubHshed earher) contains the correspondence (1906— 1931) between Paul Friedlander and Ulrich von Wilamowitz-MoellendorfFand several other texts, relevant to the content of the collection. Friedlan- der's letters and those of Wilamowitz marked with an asterisk reside today in the Wilamowitz NachlaB (No. 412) in the Handschriftenab- teilung of the Niedersachsische Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek Gottingen. We are grateful again to the director. Dr. Helmut Rohlfing, for owner's permission to publish them. The other letters of Wila- mowitz and Marie von Wilamowitz-MoellendorfiF, geb. Mommsen, are m the Paul Friedlander Collection (Collection 1551), Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, Univer- sity of California, Los Angeles. We are grateful to Dr. Susan M. Allen, Head of Special Collections, for owner's permission to pubhsh them and, for his generous aid and encouragement in the preparation of this edition, to her colleague, Mr. P.G. Naiditch. It has only bene- fited from his careful observations. The late Schwester Hildegard von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff granted Calder permission to pubhsh her father's letters. Friedlander's daughter, Dorothy E. Millon, M.D., kindly granted family permission to publish her father's letters (per litt. 12 May 1995). She has also provided valuable information con- cerning personal matters in the letters and the frontispiece that begins the volume. We are grateful to Mr WiUiam P. Smith (Mount Airy, Maryland), who discovered and generously provided Calder with a copy of Wilamowitz' letter to Friedlander of 8 July 1927. The most demanding task is the accurate transcription of the documents. The diflBculty of Wilamowitz' handwnting is notorious. Bern- hard HuB (Munich) transcribed the originals with his famihar exper- tise and set them on the computer in winter 1997/98. The Alexander von Humboldt Prize awarded to Calder in July 1996 provided the funds for this end as well as his preparation of camera-ready copy of the whole. In May 1 998 the Oldfather Research Fund allowed him to viii The Wilamowitz in Me' spend that month completing the commentary with C alder at the Villa Mowitz and to examine with Calder disputed texts in Los Angeles. The preface and introduction are by Calder. The commentary was compiled by Calder and Hul3. The indices are by HuI3. We are grateful to Carohne Buckler (lUinois) for her translations of selected letters of Fnedlander, gathered in the appendix (pp. 195-217). These versions will make documents of more than specialist interest available to a larger audience. We are gratefiil for advice on specific matters to Prof emer. Emmett L. Bennett (Wisconsin), Dr. Anton Bierl (Leipzig), Dr. Maxi- milian Braun (Dresden), Prof Mortimer H. Chambers (UCLA), Prof Andrew Dyck (UCLA), Prof Dr. Albert Hennchs (Harvard), Dr. Robert Kirstein (Miinster/Ilhnois), Dr. Alexander Kosenina (Freie Universitat Beriin), Prof Dr. Jaap Mansfeld (Utrecht), Prof J. K. Newman (IlUnois), Doz. Dr. phil. habil. Stefan Rebenich (Mann- heim), Prof Dr. David Ruma (Leiden), and R. Scott Smith, M.A. (Mnois). Dr. Kirstein and Mr. Naiditch usefully read proof Scanning and reproduction of Fnedlander 's sketches and of the fi"ontispiece was done by stud, archit. Wolfgang Hul3 (Munich; sketches) and by Dr. Stephen Trzaskoma (Urbana; photo). We have published all the matenal available to us and have censo- red nothing. Wilamowitz' and Fnedlander's occasionally 'erratic' orthography and occasional scribal inconsistencies have been pre- served and need not be attributed to the carelessness of the editors. Our goal is to reproduce the autograph, not correct it. The commentary is philological rather than historical. We have avoided discussing the military history of World War 1. hi the index personarum those names cited in the letters are italicized. The volume is dedicated to a fiiend of both editors, skilled in both ancient languages and a com- mitted supporter of Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Wilham M. Calder m The Villa Mowitz The 145th Birthday of Fnednch Leo ^ Introduction Several days before his death on 15 January 1914, the greatest Latinist of his age, Friedrich Leo (1851 — 1914), wrote to Paul Fried- lander (1882— 1968): "If anyone at all has a certain career, you are the one"' He won the praise of the greatest. On February 25th of that year Leo's Hellenic counterpart, Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (1 848—1 93 1 ), wrote to Walter F. Otto ( 1 874—1 958) recommending Friedlander for the chair of Greek at Basel held earlier by Friednch Nietzsche. He writes:^ "Friedlander, whom once Wackemagel would gladly have brought to Basel, is in contrast to Jaeger overripe. His produc- tions give him the feeling of being held back. His Johannes- book in learning and solid exegesis surpasses everything of the last decade. For a long time he has struggled with very diflBcult personal circumstances; and he has to earn a living. His Jewish origin casts its shadow upon him as well as a certain amount of awkwardness in his appearance. I have known him now for so many years and am convinced that his character is noble and his apparent arrogance really only appearance, of the sort I have found only in people who are destined to become university teachers." hi 1920 Hermann Diels (1848—1922) supported his candidacy for the Marburg chair: ' Friedlander to Wilamowitz 9 July 1914. ^ William M. Calder III and Christhard Hofiftnann, "Ulrich von Wilamo- witz-Moellendorff on the Basel Greek Chair", Museum Helveticum 43 (1986) 258-263, here 260-261 = Further Letters, 181-182. ^ UCLA Special Collections, Collection 1551 No. 40. The document is an undated typed copy. The Marburg appointment places it in 1 920. The German text is: "Nach meiner Meinung ist fiir die Marburger Vakanz in erster Linie unser Berliner KoUege P. Friedlander zu beriicksichtigen. Denn wenn er auch in den letzten Jahren nichts publiziert hat, so steht sein wissenschaftlicher Ruf durch seine fruheren Arbeiten hinlanglich fest. Es ware iibel, wenn er, der wahrend des ganzen Krieges mit nicht gewohnli- cher Energie sich im Dienst des Vaterlandes bestatigt hat, nunmehr von jiin- geren Gelehrten die sich inzwischen wissenschafthch ungestort haben wei- X 'The NA/ilamowitz in Me' 'Tn my opinion our Berlin colleague, P. Fnedlander, is in the first rank for consideration for the Marburg vacancy. Even though in recent years he has pubUshed nothing, nonetheless his scholarly reputation remains secure because of his earUer works. It would be wrong if he, who throughout the whole war with extraordinary energy has distinguished himself in the ser- vice of his country, now would be put out by younger scholars who have meanwhile been able undisturbed to develop themsel- ves further in research. Since his return to the academic profession, he has exerted himself with his usual devotion to duty in his position as librarian and director of the Institute for Ancient Studies for the young students, namely the veterans, in simply model ways and has shown himself as a mind gifted for organization. He has exerted a sustained influence on the undisturbed business of study and on building a good relation with our students. I do not know which candidates are still under consideration for Marburg but I do not believe, in so far as the younger scholars in our field are known to me, that anyone is found among them who as scholar, as teacher, but most of all also as a personality might have more claim than Paul Fnedlander." Friedlander for Diels was simply the best, as scholar, as teacher, and as man. ter entwickeln konnen, ausgestochen wiirde. — Seit seiiier Riickkehr in die Universitatstatigkeit hat er sich mit gewohnter Pflichttreue in seiner Eigen- schaft als Bibliothekar und Leiter des Instituts fur AJtertumskunde unsere studentische Jugend, namentlich die Kriegsteilnehmer, in geradezu vor- biidlicher Weise bemiiht und sich als organisatorisch begabten Geist ge- zeigt, der auf den ungestorten Betrieb des Studiums und auf das gute Ver- haltnis unsern Studenten einen sichtlichen Einfluss ausgeiibt hat. Ich weiss nicht, welche Kandidaten filr Marburg sonst noch in Vorschlag gebracht werden, glaube aber nicht, dass soweit mir die jilngeren Gelehrten unseres Fachs bekannt geworden sind, sich darunter jeniand befmdet, der als For- scher wie als Lehrer, vor allem aber auch als Personlichkeit mehr Anrecht hatte als Paul Friedlander." — Introduction xi On December 10th 1968, aged 86, Fnedlander died at 2012 Camden Avenue, Los Angeles, California. He had been assistant- professor in classics at UCLA 1940— 1945 and at age 63 was made professor. He retired four years later with a pension from the university of $58.00 a month. What happened? Why is Friedlander the man, as distinct from his books, of lasting interest?'' First and briefly bare facts. Friedlander was bom in BerUn on 21 March 1882 to Maximih- an Friedlander, a business man, who would die when his son was eleven, and Clara Schidlower Friedlander. He attended the Friedrich- Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Berlin^ and was a student at Berlin (1 900 1902; 1903—1905) and Bonn (1902—1903).

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