THIEME, KARL OTTO°

THIEME, KARL OTTO° (1902–1963), historian and theologian. Born in Leipzig, Thieme was a professor at German universities from 1927 to 1933. Believing that the Lutheran Church in Germany was more amenable to National Socialism than the Catholic Church, he converted to Catholicism. His opposition to National Socialism resulted in the loss of his professorship soon after the Nazi ascent to power. In 1935 he immigrated to Switzerland and thereafter devoted the major part of his life's work to bringing about a better understanding between Jews and Christians. He became especially active in pursuit of this ideal on his return to post-World War II Germany where, together with Gertrud Luckner, he founded the Freiburger Rundbrief. He also participated in many conventions and inter-denominational dialogues. Although a missionary trait toward the Jews was not entirely absent from his early work, the more he concerned himself with Jewish faith and existence, the more this point of view changed, until he became one of the few Catholics who really prepared the way for Jews and Christians to meet as equals. He played a considerable part in preparing the document of the Vatican Council which revised the attitude of the Catholic Church toward the Jews. His principal writings on Judaism are Kirche und Synagoge; Die ersten nachbiblischen Zeugnisse ihres Gegensatzes im Offenbarungsverstaendnis (1945); Dreitausend Jahre Judentum; Quellen und Darstellungen zur juedischen Geschichte (1960). He edited Judenfeindschaft (1963), and Franz Rosenzweig's Die Schrift (1964). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Freiburger Rundbrief, 53/56 (1962), 7f.; 57/60 (1963/64), 71–73; 73/76 (1968), 5–24; n.s. vol. 9:2 (2002); A. Voegtle, in: Hochland, 56 (1963/64), 465–8. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: International Biographical Dictionary of Central Europen Émigrés 1933 – 1945 (1999), vol. 1, 1161–12. (Willehad Paul Eckert / Elisabeth Dessauer (2nd ed.)