Günter Reichenkron or What Romance Studies can Contribute to Balkan Studies

Abstract

This article deals with one of the first three editors of the Zeitschrift für Balkanologie, the Berlin Romance scholar Günter Reichenkron (1907–1966), and explores the question of what Romance studies can contribute to Balkan studies. Reichenkron is one of the few research personalities who have treated the Balkans on the basis of their background in traditional Romance studies (above all in Gallo- and Italo-Romance studies). The lacking interest of Romanists in South-Eastern Europe can be explained by the fact that although this region was part of the Roman Empire, non-Romance languages dominate here today – with the exception of Romanian. It is exactly this panorama of a region, however, which displays after the end of the Imperium Romanum an astonishing variety of subsequent developments that can be extraordinarily interesting for Romanists who possess the necessary comparative tools, not least mastery of the required languages. This is proven not only by Reichenkron but also by research personalities such as Gustav Weigand and Rupprecht Rohr, who are also introduced.