Kurt Adel

Born:	05-21-1920
Faculty:	Philosophical School
Category:	Expelled student

Kurt ADEL, born on May 21^st, 1920 in Vienna  (entitled residency ('heimatberechtigt') for, Citizenship 1938: Austria), son of ing. Emil Adel (d. 1963, postal clerk) and Antonia Maria Adel, née Kuehnl (d. 1967), lived in Vienna's 4^th district, Goldegggasse 20/III/8, had successfully passed the school-leaving examination (Matura) in 1938 at the Elisabethgymasium [Rainergymnasium] in Vienna's 5^th district, Rainergasse 39. In the spring term of 1939, he began to study German, English and Romance languages and literature at the School of Philosophy of the University of Vienna. He was of roman catholic faith, but according to Nazi criteria, as the grandson of a Jewish gravedigger, he was considered a "Mischling 1. Grades" and could therefore only study under the reservation of revocation at any time. Already in the third semester, he was forced to quit his studies in the first trimester of 1940, since the Berlin Reich Ministry of Education did not permit further enrollment for racial reasons on April 11^th, 1940 and again on May 21^st, 1940, despite the endorsement of Prof. Josef Nadler (1884-1969) (who has already accepted the topic of his doctoral theses), "all the more so as a transfer to the civil service is not given". He was forced to labor and harvesting services and was conscripted as a payroll clerk for the Porr construction company, but continued to pursue his studies privately by studying books on his own and worked on a dissertation, "The Icelandic Saga and Contemporary German Poetry," which he submitted immediately after the end of National Socialism (he enrolled for a last term in spring term 1945). Within a few weeks he successfully entered viva voce (rigorous final examinations) and also passed the teacher's examination for German and English and received his doctorate in German studies on September 15^th, 1945. His former dissertation advisor Nadler, a member of the NSDAP, was no more allowed to teach in fall 1945, therefore Kurt Adel graduated with Dietrich Kralik (1884-1959) and  Hans Rupprich (1898-1972), former assitant of Nadler. In 1946 he began to work as a high school teacher of German and English at his former school, the Rainergymnasium (until his retirement in 1985), but his attempts to habilitate in German studies at the University of Vienna with a paper on Johann Karl Wezel at the University of Vienna failed, however, as well as his application to receive a "sup auspiciis graduation" retroactively when it was reintroduced in 1952 was rejected, since the verbal evaluation of his dissertation in 1945 was retrospectively classified only as "Good", and not "Excellent" as required.

Despite this difficult initial situation, he was an important Austrian literary and linguistic scholar. His works include accounts of Austrian Jesuit and Baroque literature such as Das Wiener Jesuitentheater und die europaeische Barockdramatik (Vienna 1960), Enea Silvio Piccolimini (Vienna 1962), complete accounts of Austrian literature (history) such as Vom Wesen der oesterreichischen Dichtung. Oesterreichische Dichtung und deutsche Poesie (Vienna 1964), Geist und Wirklichkeit. Vom Werden der oesterreichischen Dichtung (Vienna 1967), Aufbruch und Tradition. Einfuehrung in die oesterreichische Literatur seit 1945 (Vienna 1982), Die Literatur Oesterreichs an der Jahrtausendwende (2001/2003 2. überarb. u. erg. Aufl., Frankfurt/M. 2003), but also works on individual writers such as Johann Karl Wezel. Ein Beitrag zur Geistesgeschichte der Goethezeit (Vienna 1968) or Franz Xaver Kappus (1883–1966). Oesterreichischer Offizier und deutscher Schriftsteller (Frankfurt/M. 2006), on individual works such as Die Faust-Dichtung in Oesterreich (Vienna 1971), or on other German-speaking countries such as Literatur der DDR. Ein Wintermaerchen? (Vienna 1992). He received numerous awards, including the Cross of Honor for Science and Art I. Class (awarded in 1985, returned in 1987 in protest because this award was also given to a war criminal; awarded again in 2003) and the Golden Decoration of Honor for Services to Vienna (2002). Dr. Kurt Adel died on December 19^th, 2009 in Vienna and is buried at Vienna Central Cemetary.

Lit.: Archive of the University of Vienna/enrollment forms ("Nationale") PHIL 1938-1946, final examinatuon registry and file ("Rigorosenakt und-protokoll") 16049, graduation registry ("Promotionsprotokoll") PHIL 1941-1956 No 506, Rektorat GZ 944 ex 1939/40/41, PHIL GZ 743 ex 1939/40 No 1; Viktor SUCHY, Dem Kuender von Oesterreichs Literatur. Kurt Adel zum 70. Geburtstag, in: Jahrbuch der Grillparzer-Gesellschaft, Wien 1991, 211–224; Martin G. PETROWSKY, Abschied von Kurt Adel, in: Der Literarische Zaunkoenig. Zeitschrift der Erika Mitterer Gesellschaft, Wien 2010, 47; Rathauskorrespondenz, May 23, 2002; Wikipedia.

Herbert Posch