John Milfull

John Milfull (24 April 1940 – 6 November 2016) was an Australian academic, educator and professor. In 1971, he was appointed as professor of German and head of the School of German at the University of New South Wales.

In 1984, he became the dean of arts and social sciences there. He later founded that university's degree program in European studies and founded its Centre for European Studies and in 1986 was appointed as professor emeritus and visiting professor in European studies.

He was a member of the international advisory board for the journal Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe and vice-president of the Contemporary European Studies Association of Australia.

Early life and education Milfull was born John Rowland Milfull on 24 April 1940 in Sydney. His father was Tom Milfull, who taught mathematics at Sydney Grammar School from 1928 to 1933, at Brisbane Grammar School from 1934 to 1938, and at Sydney Church of England Grammar School in the years from 1939 until 1971. His mother was Marion Milfull née Rowland (born 1905), who was the daughter of Percy Fritz Rowland, the headmaster of Townsville Grammar School in the years from 1905 until 1938, and Jessie Adeline.

After attending the Sydney Church of England Grammar School from which he graduated as dux with Leaving Certificate first class honours in English, Latin and German and several prizes,

He spent a year studying German, English, and music at LMU Munich.

Career University of Sydney Returning to Australia, he worked as lecturer at the University of Sydney from 1963 until 1964 In 1968, he would complete his Ph.D. at that same university.

University of New South Wales

In 1966, he was appointed as lecturer in German in the Department of German (then part of the School of Western European Languages) at the University of New South Wales. In 1969, he was promoted to Senior Lecturer there and, upon the retirement of Professor Walter Hesse two years later, he became Professor of German (later German Studies), being at that time "one of the youngest professors appointed in Australia". He held this position until 1996.

He quickly set about transforming the School of German into a flourishing community and modernising and broadening the curriculum from a study of German language and literature to also include a study of "history, social sciences and politics, film and media".

In support of that goal, he recruited Gero von Wilpert and in 1976 he convinced the university administration "to 'import' three full-time lecturers from Germany". Bernd Hüppauf and Konrad Kwiet.

Milfull forged a close alliance with the Department of German at Monash University, where similar reforms had been undertaken by Professor Leslie Bodi. Professor Philip Thomson praised Milfull's groundbreaking role:

of the eleven departments of German that then existed in Australian universities, only New South Wales, where John Milfull headed an energetic group, was engaged in the sort of German studies that Monash was committed to, broad-ranging, interdisciplinary and contemporary.

Milfull's innovation soon bore fruit. His School of German Studies, as it was now known, attracted international attention and distinguished scholars from Europe and North America came as visiting professors.

In 1980, he gave an invited lecture on "Visibility and Invisibility: Assimilation, Success, and the German-Jewish Paradox" at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC. a position he held until 1993.

During this "time of reduced government funding, growing commercialisation of the university sector and dwindling enrolments in 'non-profitable' languages"

Partly as a result of this, in 1984 Milfull established a degree program in European Studies at the University of New South Wales

In 2006, he was appointed as professor emeritus

Other university appointments

Apart from his years at University of New South Wales, he acted in 1994 as acting dean at the University of Adelaide and worked in 1995 as a visiting research fellow in the School of European Studies at the University of Sussex.

In 1969, he was invited to the Free University of Berlin as a Humboldt Scholar.

Other appointments From 1996, he was a member of the International Advisory Board for the journal Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe.

In 1997, he was elected vice-president of the Contemporary European Studies Association of Australia.

In 1997, Milfull was appointed Director of the Centre for Intercultural Jewish Studies in Sydney, "a co-operative venture between Macquarie University, the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney". He delivered the opening speech for this centre on 5 August 1997.

Research interests Milfull's research interests included the following: "The German-Jewish Experience, Literature and Society in the German Democratic Republic, The Process and Impact of German Unification." They had three daughters, Inge, Alison and Cathy.

During his life he maintained his interest in music and participated in concerts playing his flute. He also spoke out periodically on politics and current affairs.

He died in Canberra on 6 November 2016.

Select bibliography Books: As author From Baal to Keuner. The "Second Optimism" of Bertolt Brecht, Bern and Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1974.

Books: As editor The Attractions of Fascism: Social Psychology and Aesthetics of the "Triumph of the Right", New York: Berg, 1990; London: Bloomsbury Academic, 1990. Why Germany? National Socialist Anti-Semitism and the European Context, Providence: Berg, 1993. Britain in Europe: Prospects for Change, Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999.

Articles For extensive listings of articles in refereed journals, edited books and edited conference proceedings, see: John Milfull's CV and Recent Essays by John Milfull.

Further articles and online republications of articles: "Cosi? Sexual Politics in Mozart's Operas", in: The Habsburg Legacy: National Identity in Historical Perspective, ed. Ritchie Robertson and Edward Timms, Edinburgh University Press, 1994. "La géographie poétique des « Elixirs du Diable»", in: Romantisme, No. 4, 1972, 65–75. Available online at: Romantisme, 1972, n°4. «Voyager doit être un travail sérieux.», persee.fr. Retrieved 9 April 2017.