Gerhard Kittel

Gerhard Kittel (23 September 1888, Breslau – 11 July 1948, Tübingen) was a German Protestant theologian, and lexicographer of biblical languages. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Nazis. and an open anti-Semite. He is best known in the field of Biblical study for his Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament).

The son of Old Testament scholar Rudolf Kittel, he married Hanna Untermeier in 1914, but there were no children from the union. In May 1933 he joined the National Socialist German Workers Party. He had had no previous involvement in politics but called the Party "a folkish renewal movement on a Christian, moral foundation".

In 1945, after Hitler's Third Reich capitulated to the Allies, Kittel was arrested by the French occupying forces, removed from office and interned at Balingen. In his own defense, Kittel maintained his work was "scientific in method" and motivated by Christianity, although it may have appeared anti-semitic to some. He attempted to distinguish his work from the "vulgar antisemitism of Nazi propaganda" like Der Stürmer and Alfred Rosenberg, who was known for his anti-Christian rhetoric, völkisch arguments and emphasis on Lebensraum. Even so, Kittel admitted that he had attempted to "grapple with the problem of Jewry and the Jewish question."

Professor Martin Dibelius a theologian at Heidelberg wrote that Kittel's works related to ancient Judaism "are of purely scientific character" and "do not serve the Party interpretation of Judaism." He said further that Kittel deserved "the thanks of all who are interested in the scientific study of Judaism."

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