Gero von Wilpert

Who was Gero von Wilpert?

Professor Dr. Gero von Wilpert was a German author and professor for German Literature at the University of Sydney. Wilpert was born in Tartu, Estonia. Like all Baltic Germans, he was forced to leave Estonia after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the takeover of the country by the Soviet Union. From 1953 to 1957 he studied at the University of Heidelberg, where he was at times a docent. He then settled near Stuttgart to work as independent author and lecturer. Von Wilpert published several editions of an encyclopedia of literary descriptions Sachwörterbuch der Literatur. He also wrote a comprehensive Lexicon of World Literature and earlier had published a German Literature in Illustrations and a Journal on Schiller.

Professor Dr. Gero von Wilpert died in Sydney.