Klaus Junack (1927-2012) R.I.P.

A while ago I received the sad news that Dr. Klaus Junack, former member of the Institute for New Testament Textual Research, had passed away at the age of 85 after a traffic accident. The family, however, did not want to give public notice before the funeral, which was held today in his hometown in Münster.

Klaus Junack was directly involved in the flight of Kurt Aland from East Germany (Halle/Saale) into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Berlin) in 1958.  Subsequently he fled himself with his family to West Germany, and in the following year in March 1959, he became the first research assistant at the Institute for New Testament Textual Research which had just been founded by Kurt Aland at Münster University in the previous month (see the anniversary post). 

Subsequently, Junack took on a number of duties and responsibilities at the INTF as well as the Münster University over the years (academic director, curator, etc.) and he was heavily involved in the production of several Nestle-Aland editions of the Greek New Testament as well as the UBS Greek New Testament, the preparation work for the new Editio Critica Maior, e.g., the Text und Textwert project. As I was working on my own edition of Jude, I took great benefit from his Das Neue Testament Auf Papyrus I: Die Katolischen Briefe co-edited with Winfried Grunewald, published in 1986.

Junack was Kurt Aland's assistant in the illustrious UBS committee (picture), whose members, with the recent passing of C. M. Martini and now Klaus Junack, have all left us. 

The INTF obituary has been published today, here.