Wilhelm Kroll

Who was Wilhelm Kroll?

Wilhelm Kroll was a German classic philologist.

Kroll was born in the town of Frankenstein in the Prussian Province of Silesia. Having studied in Breslau, he obtained his Ph.D. in 1891. Afterwards he worked as a teacher and in 1894 was appointed a Privatdozent at the Breslau university. In 1899 he obtained a chair at the University of Greifswald. He moved to Münster in 1906 and returned to Breslau in 1913, where he was offered the chair of his former colleague Franz Skutsch.

After having worked as a Breslau professor für more than 20 years Kroll retired in 1935. As his follower he supported the appointment of Hans Drexler, an active Nazi who was prohibited from teaching after WW2. Kroll moved to Berlin in 1937. He sought the anonymity of the big city because of his anti-Nazi reputation. He died in 1939 in Berlin, aged 69.

Kroll was an internationally renowned classicist, owing to his research and, even more, his editorial work on a number of important publication, the biggest of which was the Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Kroll directed this encyclopedia from 1906 until his death, combining the work of classical scholars from all over Europe and the United States.