Albin Putzker (1848–1923): First Chair of German Department at Cal; Spoke 27 Languages

  

Plot 26, Lot 125

Albin Putzker was a pioneering linguist, educator, and long-time professor of German at the University of California, Berkeley. Born in Austria, Putzker received his early education in Europe before emigrating to the United States at age nineteen. After further study in the East, he became affiliated with Santa Barbara College as president. In 1874, he was appointed as the first official professor of German language at UC Berkeley. Ten years later, with the addition of another faculty member, a distinct German Department was formally established.

For more than four decades, Putzker shaped German studies at Berkeley. He served as department chair and emeritus chair for decades, overseeing the department’s early growth and guiding it through periods of controversy, including World War I, when the department was criticized for “alleged pro-German sentiments” of some faculty. His contributions extended beyond administration: he was widely recognized as an accomplished scholar, a polyglot with knowledge of 27 languages, and a respected lecturer both in the United States and Europe. His lecture on the German poet, writer and philosopher Friedrich Schiller was widely reported on in newspapers and periodicals.

Putzker gained particular prominence as the author of A Practical German Grammar, which became one of the most widely used textbooks for teaching German in American schools and universities. His reputation was such that about twenty years before his death he was offered the post of United States consul to Greece, owing to his fluency in Greek language and culture, though he declined the appointment to remain in academia.

Beyond the classroom, Putzker was active in community and cultural life. He was a member of Durant Lodge of Masons in Berkeley, the German Teachers’ Association, and the German Club in Oakland. He also built one of the earliest residences along Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, at 2600 Telegraph Avenue, which became a landmark in the growing college town.

Bruno Putzker (1880-1899)

Putzker’s family life was touched by both distinction and tragedy. He and his wife Caroline raised several children, including Bruno Lane Putzker, who enlisted in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War. Bruno was mortally wounded during an assault in Manila on February 12, 1899, and died days later, becoming one of Berkeley’s young war dead. 

In his final years, Putzker retired from Berkeley but remained a noted figure in the academic world. He suffered declining health following the death of his wife in January 1923, and on May 1, 1923, he died at Temple Hospital in Berkeley at the age of 79. His funeral was held under the auspices of the Masons at the Berkeley Masonic Temple.

Sources: Find a Grave, San Francisco Call, Oakland Tribune, University of California at Berkeley website, Berkeley Architectural Heritage Assoc.