Carl Anton Baumstark

Carl Anton Joseph Maria Dominikus Baumstark (4 August 1872 in Konstanz – 31 May 1948 in Bonn) was a German Orientalist, philologist and liturgist.

His main area of study was Oriental liturgical history, its development and its influence on literature, culture and art.

[1] He studied classical and Oriental philology, obtaining his habilitation for both subjects in 1898 at Heidelberg.

Later on, he worked for 15 years as an instructor at a Roman Catholic secondary school in Sasbach, Baden.

He began doubting his Nazi affiliation in 1943, and in 1944 supported the cause of Kilian Kirchhoff, who had been sentenced to death; Baumstark unsuccessfully asked for mercy.