Wolfram Theodor Hermann Freiherr von Soden (19 June 1908 in Berlin – 6 October 1996 in Muenster) was a German Assyriologist during the Nazi[1] era and Second World War.
Born in Berlin, Wolfram von Soden studied ancient Semitic languages with Benno Landsberger at Leipzig, receiving his doctorate in 1931 at the age of 23.
After his death in 1996, his library was bequeathed to the newly revived Institute for Near Eastern Studies at the University of Leipzig, where he had earned his doctorate.
His early works, especially Der Aufstieg des Assyrreiches als geschichtliches Problem (1937), appear to promote "racist concepts of Aryan superiority" over Semitic culture.
In the 1936 edition (page 556), the conclusion is: “that science in the strict sense of the word is something that could only be created by the Indo-Europeans determined by the Nordic race.