Gerhard Höpp was born in Berlin on February 4, 1942. He attended school here and then worked for a year at the Oberspree cable factory. From 1962 to 1966 he studied Arabic, Islamic and Religious Studies in Leipzig. He then worked at the Leipzig Oriental Institute as a research assistant and received his doctorate there in 1972.
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Höpp estate
After working as a translator for the General German Intelligence Service in Berlin, he became a research assistant at the Central Institute for History in 1975, then at the Institute for General History of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. Here he habilitated in 1986 with a thesis on the history and ideology of the Arab Nationalist movement and its successor organizations. When the research focus Modern Orient was founded after the fall of the Wall in 1992, Gerhard Höpp took on the task of coordinator in addition to his academic work. As the right hand of several successive directors, he helped to build up and shape the research focus, from which the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient emerged in 1996. In doing so, he made a significant contribution to bringing together the scholars from East and West working at the institute.
His scholarly interest initially focused on the various intellectual and ideological currents in the Middle East in the 20th century. It then increasingly turned to the fates of Arabs and Muslims in Europe, especially in Germany, between the beginning of the 20th century and the end of World War II. In this field he became an acknowledged expert. He was also a helpful and patient colleague when it came to introducing young scholars to archival work.
Gerhard Höpp died on December 7, 2003, after a serious illness.
A list of his publications, the eulogy and an obituary published in Junge Welt can be found here.