Paper short abstract:

Wolfram Eberhard (1909-1989) and his wife Alide (1911-1994) were decent scholars of sinology. Both studied at Berlin University and were opponents of the Nazi regime. They left Germany in 1937, went to Turkey and in 1948 to the USA, where Eberhard joined the Deapartment of Sociology at Berkeley.

Paper long abstract:

Wolfram Eberhard (1909-1989) and his wife Alide (1911-1994) were decent scholars of sinology. Both studied at Berlin University and married in 1934. Both were virulently anti-nazi and after a short whistle stop in Leipzig, where Wolfram Eberhard was responsible of the east asian collection of the museum of ethnology, the couple went into exile to Turkey. Wolfram Eberhard was appointed as Professor of sinology in Ankara and stayded in Turkey until 1948. After the war the Eberhards decided to go to Berkeley/USA, where Wolfram Eberhard was appointed to a professorship in sociology. The Eberhards stayed in the USA and never resettled in Germany.

This lecture will stress two aspects of Eberhards (intellectual) life: the friendship of Wolfram Eberhard and Adam von Trott zu Solz, one of the members of the anti-nazi resistant movement. And on the other hand Wolfram Eberhards interest in sociological problems. Wolfram Eberhard was not only a sinologist but was also a well-known social anthropologist.