Scholar of Islam, Victim of the Holocaust The Tragic Story of Hedwig Klein

In this truly monumental work, Sabine Schmidtke painstaikingly reconstructs Hedwig Klein's short carreer, including her purported involvement in Wehr's dictionary, where Schmidtke puts to rest unfounded but persistent rumors. This remarkable chapter in the history of orientalism is also a tribute not only to Klein herself, but to the whole Jewish community of Hamburg, several generations of family, colleagues, teachers, which Schmidtke reconstructs and mourns with as much empathy as scholarly insight and precision.

Sarah Stroumsa, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

This is a book of unusual brilliance and consequence. Schmidtke combines rigorous historical excavation, formidable philological inquiry, and a deeply moving narrative to restore and recover the life and career of a major yet almost forgotten scholar of Islam and victim of the Holocaust: Hedwig Klein. And Schmidtke achieves all this in prose both lucid and riveting. A groundbreaking work that is a must-read for scholars of Islam, the Holocaust, and beyond.

SherAli Tareen, author of Shah Waliyullah: Aspirations and Tensions of Islamic Cosmopolitanism (Oneworld Academic, 2026)