Walter Jens
Walter Jens (8 March 1923 – 9 June 2013) was a German philologist, literature historian, critic, university professor and writer. He was born in Hamburg, and attended the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums from 1933 to 1941, when he gained his Abitur, before studying at the University of Hamburg. In the early 1940s, Jens joined the NSDAP. He denied having applied for membership actively and claimed that he had become a member automatically because he was a member of the Hitler Youth and that he never received a membership card.
Walter Jens
איתן טל Etan Tal · CC BY 3.0
- Name
- Walter Jens
- Born
- 8 March 1923
- Birthplace
- Hamburg, Germany
- Died
- 9 June 2013
- Occupation
- Professor, philologist, writer
- Nationality
- Germany
- Education
- University of Tübingen · University of Freiburg · University of Hamburg · Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums
- Honours
- Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany · Ernst Reuter Medal · Theodor Heuss Award · Austrian Decoration for Science and Art · Heinrich Heine Prize · honorary doctor of the University of Augsburg
- Languages
- German
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Walter Jens (8 March 1923 – 9 June 2013) was a German philologist, literature historian, critic, university professor and writer. He was born in Hamburg, and attended the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums from 1933 to 1941, when he gained his Abitur, before studying at the University of Hamburg. In the early 1940s, Jens joined the NSDAP. He denied having applied for membership actively and claimed that he had become a member automatically because he was a member of the Hitler Youth and that he never received a membership card.
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Authority files
gnd · 1204155437 · wikidata · Q38573 · wikipedia · Walter Jens
In this article
Biography
Biography
During World War II, he earned a doctorate in Freiburg with a work about Sophocles' tragedy and habilitated at age 26 with the work Tacitus und die Freiheit (Tacitus and Freedom) at the University of Tübingen. From 1950 onward, he was a member of the Group 47. That year, he had his breakthrough with the novel Nein. Die Welt der Angeklagten. From 1965 to 1988, Jens held the chair for General Rhetoric at the University of Tübingen, which was created in order to keep him at the university. Under the pseudonym Momos, he wrote television reviews for Die Zeit. From 1976 to 1982, he was president of the International PEN center in Germany. From 1989 to 1997, he was president of the Academy of Arts, Berlin, and afterwards he was the honorary president. From 1990 to 1995, he was chairman of the Martin-Niemöller-Foundation.
Walter Jens studied at University of Tübingen, University of Freiburg and University of Hamburg. The recorded working language is German. Places of work recorded in the authority are Freiburg im Breisgau, Hamburg and Tübingen. Employment is recorded with University of Tübingen. Distinctions recorded are Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Ernst Reuter Medal, Theodor Heuss Award and Austrian Decoration for Science and Art.
Walter Jens (mid) and Inge Jens with Josef Tal (left) at the Akademie der Künste (2004)
איתן טל Etan Tal
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Walter Jens • Born — 8 March 1923 • Birthplace — Hamburg, Germany • Died — 9 June 2013 • Occupation — Professor, philologist, writer
Personal life
Personal life
In 1951, Jens married Inge Puttfarcken. They had two sons, Tillmann and Christoph. Jens suffered from dementia, which began to manifest in 2004. He died in 2013 in Tübingen, aged 90.
Career and activity
Career and activity
He was employed by University of Tübingen. He belonged to Leibniz Society of Sciences, German Academy for Language and Literature, Academy of Arts, Berlin and Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities. He worked at Freiburg im Breisgau, Hamburg and Tübingen.
Identity
Identity
Walter Jens is recorded as having received Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Ernst Reuter Medal and Theodor Heuss Award.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1923
Walter Jens born at Hamburg.
2013
Walter Jens died at Tübingen.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Hamburg.
Birth place
Tübingen.
Death place
Recognition and collections
Where the work is held
Recognition and collections
Walter Jens received Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Ernst Reuter Medal, Theodor Heuss Award, Austrian Decoration for Science and Art, Heinrich Heine Prize and honorary doctor of the University of Augsburg.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q38573: Walter Jens
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Walter Jens”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
scholarly publication
- Rezension von: Jens, Walter u.a. (Mitarb.), Die kleine große Stadt Tübingen, Schwäbische Heimat, 2025
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2025
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 1204155437, Walter, Jens.
Unverified · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Honours and awards
Source: • 1951: Prize of Amis de la Liberté • 1959: German Youth Literature Prize • 1968: Lessing Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg • 1981: Heinrich Heine Prize of the city of Düsseldorf • 1982: Honorary President of the PEN Centre of the Federal Republic of Germany • 1983: Austrian Merit • 1984: Adolf Grimme Award • 1988: Alternative Büchner Prize • 1988: Theodor Heuss Prize (with his wife Inge Jens) • 1989: Hermann Sinsheimer Award • 1990: Austrian State Prize for Cultural Journalism • 1992: Austrian Decoration for Science and Art • 1992: Poetry Foundation Visiting Professor at the Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main • 1997: Bruno Snell sticker for outstanding work in science and society at the University of Hamburg • 1997: Honorary President of the Berlin University of the Arts • 1998: Ernst Reuter Medal • 2002: Ecumenical Sermon Prize (Predigtpreis) awarded by German publisher Verlags für die Deutsche Wirtschaft • 2003: Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany • 2003: Corine Literature Prize (with Inge Jens)
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Rezension von: Jens, Walter u.a. (Mitarb.), Die kleine große Stadt Tübingen, Schwäbische Heimat, 2025Crossref registry
Verifiedauthority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 1204155437, Walter, Jens.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Partially resolvedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q38573: Walter JensWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Studied at
1- University of FreiburgOrganisation
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
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