Leslie Bodi
Leslie Bodi (1922–2015) was the foundation Professor of German and long-term head of the department (1963-1987) at Monash University. Early life and education. Bodi was born László Bodi in Budapest, Hungary on 1 September 1922. His parents were István Bruchsteiner, a publisher, and Klara (née Pongrácz). He attended school in Hungary and Italy. After working as a graphics instructor and offset machine operator in 1940-43, he spent 18 months in a forced labour camp (1943–45). At the end of the Second World War, he studied German and English at the university level in Budapest and  Vienna (1945–49), graduating with Budapest "Staatsexamen" qualifications in 1949 and with a Ph.D. from the University of Budapest. From 1946 he also worked as a tutor and assistant in German at the University of Budapest. Following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, he migrated to Australia with his wife and daughter. Academic career in Australia. Bodi taught German and history at the Melbourne Grammar School for two years (1957–58) and then was a lecturer at the University College, Newcastle, New South Wales. In 1961 he returned to Melbourne to take up an appointment as Senior Lecturer at Monash University. In 1963  he was appointed as the Foundation Professor of German at the same university, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1987. During those years as professor he would also occupy several research positions, mainly in Vienna, but also at Berlin, Budapest, Frankfurt am Main, Paris and Siegen. He was also visiting professor at universities in Vienna, Graz and Berlin. Legacy. Appointed in 1963 to set up the new German studies department at Monash University, Bodi implemented a broad curriculum that included not only the traditional study of German language and literature but also the "political, social and cultural  history of the German-speaking lands". He actively and rapidly recruited new young staff, many of whom, including the linguist Michael Clyne and the Germanist David Roberts, went on to complete "doctorates under his supervision". He used Monash University's new budget to build up an "outstanding collection" of books and other resources in the university library. He emphasised that German culture and studied were "pluricentric" and so he taught not only Germany but also Austria whose literature and language he viewed as "autonomous". He also promoted the study of the literature and culture of the German Democratic Republic and  more generally of "emerging European writers and movements". Bodi's own academic research included pioneering work on German-Australian connections, including on the naturalist and ethnologist Georg Forster, who went on James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific, and on the Enlightenment in Austria, writing a book "Tauwetter in Wien" (Thaw in Vienna) which has become a standard work. He produced bibliographies on German Australiana and German culture held in Melbourne libraries. Personal life. Leslie Bodi married Marianna "Marianne" Marton in 1950. They had one daughter, Anna. He died on 4 September 2015.