Oesterreich, Traugott Konstantin

(1880–1949)

   German professor of philosophy and author of a classic work on POSSESSION and EXORCISM.

   Traugott Konstantin (T. K.) Oesterreich was born in Germany in 1880. Little is known of his personal life. In 1910, he took a philosophy teaching post at a university in Tubingen, Germany, and he became professor there in 1922.

   In 1933, the Nazi government dismissed him from his university post, apparently because of his marriage in 1912 to a Jewish woman and his political writings in 1919, which later provoked the dislike of the Nazis. He was forced into retirement on a severely limited pension.

   After the defeat of the Nazis in 1945 in World War II, he was reinstated at the university but soon was dismissed again, allegedly because he was near retirement age. He may have been terminated because of his deep interest in psychical research and in cases of possession. Oesterreich is the author of Possession: Demoniacal & Other, a comprehensive examination of states of possession, both voluntary and involuntary, since ancient times, and in various cultures, and the exorcisms applied for relief. The book has been reprinted as Possession and Exorcism.

   FURTHER READING:

   - Oesterreich, Traugott K. Possession and Exorcism. Secaucus, N.J: University Books, 1966.