Ludwig Landgrebe

Ludwig Landgrebe (9 March 1902 – 14 August 1991) was an Austrian phenomenologist and Professor of philosophy. Born in Vienna, he studied philosophy, history, and geography at the University of Vienna. Influenced by Max Scheler, he continued his studies in Freiburg. In 1923, Landgrebe became an assistant to Edmund Husserl. After his doctoral dissertation was approved, Landgrebe moved to Prague for his postdoctoral qualification under Oskar Kraus. From 1939, he collaborated with Eugen Fink at the Husserl-Archives in Leuven. Landgrebe's wife, Ilse Maria Goldschmidt, was of Jewish ancestry. In 1940, Landgrebe was deported to Belgium and worked part-time as a merchant assistant in Hamburg. In 1945, Landgrebe had his post-doctorate reapproved in Hamburg. He was appointed ordinary professor in Kiel in 1947, where Hans Blumenberg was among his students. In 1954, he transferred to Cologne and became the director of the Husserl-Archives there. Landgrebe is recognized as one of Husserl's closest associates, but he was also known for his independent views on history, religion, and politics, approached through the lenses of existentialist philosophy and metaphysics.