Martin Ostwald (born January 15, 1922) is an influential German-American classical scholar, who taught until 1992 at the University of Pennsylvania and Swarthmore College. His main field of study is the political structures of Ancient Greece.
Born as the oldest son of a Jewish lawyer, Ostwald was raised in Dortmund, where he attended the Municipal Gymnasium, and originally intended to become a rabbi. During the Reichskristallnacht on November 9, ...
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Martin Ostwald (born January 15, 1922) is an influential German-American classical scholar, who taught until 1992 at the University of Pennsylvania and Swarthmore College. His main field of study is the political structures of Ancient Greece.
Born as the oldest son of a Jewish lawyer, Ostwald was raised in Dortmund, where he attended the Municipal Gymnasium, and originally intended to become a rabbi. During the Reichskristallnacht on November 9, 1938, Ostwald was arrested by the Gestapo, together with his father and his younger brother. Forced to leave his parents behind in Germany, Ostwald and his brother soon later were able to emigrate to England via the Netherlands. In England, however, Ostwald and other German refugees were, in the wake of the British defeat at Dunkirk, sent to a Canadian detention camp, where he first met Thomas G. Rosenmeyer.
Following his release, Ostwald enrolled at the University of Toronto, majoring classical studies. After graduation in 1946 he continue...
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