Julius Petersen (literary scholar)

Julius Petersen (5 November 1878 - 22 August 1941) was a German literary scholar and university professor, principally at the Friedrich Wilhelm University (as it was known before 1949) in Berlin. He did much to rediscover the works of Theodor Fontane for twentieth century readers. Petersen himself has been described as one of the most influential academics in the field of German studies during the interwar period, but after 1945 he disappeared from university reading lists. During the 1960s interest in his life and works resurfaced, though it has frequently been on account of evident contradictions in his attitude to National Socialism during the final decade of his own life that he has attracted the interest of more recent commentators.