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Relations in the Humanities Between Germany and Egypt

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Relations in the Humanities Between Germany and Egypt Sonderdrucke aus der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg HANS ROBERT ROEMER Relations in the humanities between Germany and Egypt On the occasion of the Seventy Fifth Anniversary of the German Institute of Archaeology in Cairo (1907 – 1982) Originalbeitrag erschienen in: Ägypten, Dauer und Wandel : Symposium anlässlich d. 75jährigen Bestehens d. Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Kairo. Mainz am Rhein: von Zabern, 1985, S.1 - 6 Relations in the Humanities between Germany and Egypt On the Occasion of the Seventy Fifth Anniversary of the German Institute of Archaeology in Cairo (1907-1982) by HANS ROBERT ROEMER I The nucleus of the Institute whose jubilee we are celebrating today was established in Cairo in 1907 as »The Imperial German Institute for Egyptian Archaeology«. This was the result of a proposal presented by the Berlin Egyptologist Adolf Erman on behalf of the commission for the Egyptian Dictionary, formed by the German Academies of Sciences. This establishment had its antecedents in the 19th century, whose achievements were not only incomparable developments in the natural sciences, but also an unprecedented rise in the Humanities, a field in which German Egyptologists had contributed a substantial share. It is hence no exaggeration to consider the Institute the crowning and the climax of the excavation and research work accomplished earlier in this country. As a background, the German-Egyptian relations in the field of Humanities had already had a flourishing tradition. They had been inaugurated by Karl Richard Lepsius (1810-84) with a unique scientific work, completed in 1859, namely the publication of his huge twelve-volume book »Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Nubien« (»Monuments from Egypt and Nubia«), devoted to the results of a four-year expedition that he had undertaken. German Egyptology, one of whose fathers he was, has gone a long way since: its younger generations carried out innumerable exca- vations, the handling and publication of which won them international renown. They developed or adopted new research methods and integrated their field of study within the framework of modern Humanities. Yet, even today, they are not able to do their work without the plates of old »Lepsius«. Karl Richard Lepsius is the same scholar to whom was entrusted at Berlin University, in 1846, the first chair of Egyptology. He drew the plans for the Egyptian Museum of Berlin, whose first director he was. He is also the one who led the reorganization of the German Archaeologi- cal Institute in Berlin and, in 1874, succeeded in transforming it into a governmental establish- ment. This close relationship to classical Archaeology, which had its own institutes abroad—one in Rome, highly appreciated for remarkable archaeological achievements, and another, pretty young then, in Athens—, may have stood behind the request presented in 1881 to Kaiser Wilhelm I, for funding an institute in Egypt, devoted to (1) the recording and publication of inscriptions, (2) the support of German scholars working in Egypt, and (3) the distribution of scholarships. The result, however, was negative just as were several later applications, regarding the same matter. 1 The Egyptologists did not give up, nor did they lack new ideas as to how to reach their aim. Struggling for a foothold in Cairo, Adolf Erman (1854-1937) was able to bring his large Egyp- tian Dictionary into the battle, and, with a memorandum from the Prussian Academy of Sciences, reached a breakthrough before the turn of the century, namely the creation of a position of an attache to the German Consulate General in Cairo, entrusted with scientific tasks in Egyptology. It was a fortunate coincidence that a very appropriate candidate for the post was at hand: Ludwig Borchardt (1863-1937), a former student of Erman in Egyptology and at the same time a trained architect, who had already conducted excavations in Egypt. In October 1899, Borchardt started working in Egypt. A specialized library, donated as a basis for his work, was sheltered in his house in Cairo, where also his assistant could work, and where he found room enough for the vast excavation equipment he acquired. In Thebes-West, he was able to set up a working and lodging place, the so-called German House, for which the Khe- dive had granted the land, and the Kaiser the building costs. These were the elements which later on, in 1907, were incorporated into the newly founded Institute, for which spacious accommoda- tions were soon to be provided. II Within the narrow framework of this paper, we cannot mention all the various members of the Institute, many of whom were or turned out to become scholars of the highest rank. Thus, the following outline will be limited to a few, who will be mentioned in the context of some of the Institute's outstanding achievements. But first, we shall deal with the external vicissitudes of the Institute. As in the case of the scientific attache, the Institute, to whose direction Ludwig Borchardt was nominated, was under the administrative control of the German Foreign Ministry. Its Egypt- ological activities were to be determined in accordance with the German Academies of Sciences. Its field of work remained unchanged, except that its own research was now placed in the fore- ground. Besides their personal research work and their participation in the Institute's major pro- jects the members took care of the growing number of expeditions arriving from Germany. This successfully initiated work was interrupted by the First World War and not taken up again until 1923, after the British authorities approved the release of the Institute's library and other belongings as well as its reopening, following the intervention of the Zurich Arabist Jean- Jacques Hefl (1866-1949) and other Swiss professors. To be sure, the Institute recuperated its ability to function and set up again the German House torn down in 1915, but it lacked the funds for undertaking projects as big as those launched in earlier years. So it was obliged to give prior- ity to smaller and less expensive undertakings. The year 1929 was marked by considerable changes: it brought about the transition to the Berlin German Archaeological Institute, the retirement of Ludwig Borchardt and the nomination of his successor, Hermann Junker, until then professor at Vienna University. Whereas Borchardt's main field of work was the history of architecture, where he had excel- lent accomplishments, Junker was outstanding for the unusual breadth of his Egypt°logical inter- ests. Nevertheless his main efforts were dedicated to Egyptian archaeology. Fortunately a consid- erable improvement in the financial situation opened new possibilities in this respect. Conse- quently, there was a shift in the Institute's activities, all the more that Borchardt, after his retire- ment, had founded a private institute in line with his special interests. By the way, this establish- ment later developed into the Swiss Institute for the History of Egyptian Architecture and Anti- quities, to which the German Institute is linked by so many common interests and successful joint undertakings. 2 Yet the integration within the German Archaeological Institute had also its effect on later activities, according to the regulation that these activities should be devoted to »all cultures, whose traces are found in Egyptian monuments«. Thus their scientific competences were vastly expanded in comparison with previous practices, as we shall see later. The yearly archaeological travel grant, introduced at this time, was an important aid for Egyptologists of the younger generation. Although the number of permanent posts was not increased, the Institute was granted funds sufficient for two more scholarships besides the direc- tor and his assistant or research fellow. The urgent room problems were solved in 1931 by the renting of a new building. Through the Second World War, the activities of the Institute were interrupted for the sec- ond time. Hermann Junker and some of his associates were able to continue abroad their work on the publication of the material they had gathered in Egypt. This they did first in Berlin, then, from 1943 to the end of the war, in Vienna. The interruption of work in Egypt not only lasted much longer than the one caused by the First World War, namely sixteen years, but also led to the loss of the whole inventory, along with the library and photo-collections. As the presumed successor of Junker, Hanns Stock, who was then the director of the Egyp- tian Collection and professor at Munich University, was commissioned in 1955 to revive the »Cairo Department« as it was called in the meantime. In the person of Stock, a first-rate Egyptol- ogist came to Cairo, his special preference being archaeology. With great enthusiasm, untiring energy, and extraordinary skill, he put himself to the task of creating a practically new founda- tion, whose inauguration was celebrated on November 17 6, 1957, by both Egyptian and German colleagues, as well as guests from other countries. At that moment the most important conditions for scientific work were already restored. In a spacious house in Zamalek, which, having been enlarged, still lodges the present Institute, one could find nice rooms for work and housing, as well as an excellent library of 12.000 volumes, which the Institute acquired from Ludwig Keimer (1893-1957), who had spent a life-time collecting it. Soon the German House was also given back. In the course of time, the number of scholarly positions was increased to six, in addition to technical and administrative staff. In less than ten years, Stock made the Institute such a convincing establishment, and one so recognized in the guest country, that it could survive unharmed the 1965 crisis caused by the breaking of diplomatic relations between Egypt and the Federal Republic of Germany.
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