Leonie Zuntz Explained

Leonie Zuntz (1908–1942) was a German Hittitologist who settled in Britain in 1934 as refugee scholar at Somerville College, Oxford. She was included in the Black Book, the list of British residents to be arrested after a Nazi invasion of Great Britain in 1940.^[1]

Life

Leonie Zuntz was from a family of Jewish descent, although her grandfather Nathan Zuntz (1847–1920) had converted to Christianity. In the 1920s she was romantically involved with Elias Joseph Bickerman.^[2] In the late 1920s, while studying at Munich, she befriended the orientalist Fritz Rudolf Kraus. After gaining her doctorate, she emigrated to England in 1934. Settling in Oxford, she taught German at Somerville College and worked for Oxford University Press.^[3] In 1934-1935 she introduced Oliver Gurney to Hittite.^[4] She committed suicide in 1942,^[3] at 12, Norham Gardens, Oxford, and died at the Radcliffe Infirmary. Her estate was administered by Anna Edith Zuntz, a widow.^[5]

Works

• Die hethitischen Ortsadverbien arha, parā, piran als selbständige Adverbien und in ihrer Verbindung mit Nomina und Verba, Speyer a. Rh. : Pilger-Druckerei, 1936

Notes and References

1. Web site: Hitler's Black Book - information for Doctor Leonie Zuntz. forces-war-records.co.uk. 2018-09-24.
2. Book: Albert I. Baumgarten. Elias Bickerman as a Historian of the Jews: A Twentieth Century Tale. 2010. Mohr Siebeck. 978-3-16-150171-5. 20.
3. Book: Jan Schmidt. Dreizehn Jahre Istanbul (1937-1949) (2 vols): Der deutsche Assyriologe Fritz Rudolf Kraus und sein Briefwechsel im türkischen Exil.. 2014. BRILL. 978-90-04-26307-9. 8.
4. Book: Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 120, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows, II. 2003. OUP/British Academy. 978-0-19-726302-0. 221.
5. "ZUNTZ Leonie of 12 Norham-gardens Oxford spinster died at the Radcliffe Infirmary Oxford" in Wills and Administrations 1942 (England and Wales) (1943), p. 531