 lazar gulkowitsch (20 december 1898&ndash;summer 1941) was an eminent jewish studies scholar. ==life== born in zirin (minsk province), belarus as the son of a merchant, he attended school in baranavichy and then the famous mir yeshiva. during world war i, the family fled to nikolayev (ukraine), where gulkowitsch graduated from high school. in 1918-1919, gulkowitsch went to virbÄlis in lithuania, where he headed a hebrew-speaking basic school and was part of the rabbinate. he then took up studying medicine at the university of kÃ¶nigsberg, germany (now kaliningrad, russia), but also attended classes in philosophy and theology, especially old testament. in 1922, he received both an ph.d. and an m.a., the former with a work on the kabbalah, and in 1924, and m.d., with a specialization in ophthalmology. in kÃ¶nigsberg, gulkowitsch married frieda rabinowitz (27 february 1900 â fall 1941); the couple would have two daughters. immediately after handing in his medical dissertation, however, gulkowitsch had been invited by the university of leipzig to take over the lecturership in hebrew, aramaic, and talmudic sciences from the renowned and recently deceased israel issar kahan. leipzig in saxony was then the "mecca" of oriental studies in germany, a very large and very highly regarded university (probably the best outside of prussia). gulkowitsch also became director of the institute of late jewish studies within the old testament division of the divinity school. with his appointment, gulkowitsch automatically became a german citizen. at leipzig, gulkowitsch not only taught but continued studying there, with the eminent scholars available (especially in islamic studies, near eastern studies, ethiopian studies, and assyriology, as well as philosophy with the eminent theodor litt) towards his habilitation, which he attained in 1927. continuing at leipzig as privatdozent (unsalaried senior lecturer who may be called to a professorship), he became, in 1932, professor extraordinary (full professor without a chair) of late jewish studies within the faculty of philosophy, the only such position within a german university. however, already a year later, in 1933, due to the nazisâ rise to power and the nuremberg race laws (which were, i.a., directed against jews as civil servants, which in germany professors are), he was dismissed from the university of leipzig. in the same year, however, the university of tartu in estonia, which had a very distinguished tradition of oriental studies and hebrew, had opened, pushed by the local scholars and supported, i.a., by albert einstein - a new insti
1898_births 1941_deaths Belarusian_Jews