Nicholas Poppe

Nicholas Poppe (; 8 August 18978 June 1991) was a Russian linguist and Nazi collaborator. He is also known as Nikolaus Poppe, with his first name in its German form. He is often cited as N.N. Poppe in academic publications.

Poppe was a leading specialist in the Mongolic languages and the hypothetical (and controversial) Altaic language family to which the Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic languages are supposed to belong. Poppe was open-minded toward the inclusion of Korean in Altaic, but regarded the evidence for the inclusion of Korean as weaker than that for the inclusion of Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic.

Life Poppe was born on in Yantai, Shandong, China. Poppe's father was stationed in China as a consular officer in the Russian diplomatic service.

Poppe's boyhood and youth were marked by wars: the Boxer Rebellion, the Russo-Japanese War, the First World War, and the Russian Civil War, which was followed by the establishment of the Soviet regime. Later, he experienced Stalin's Great Purge and the Second World War.

Poppe graduated from the Mongolian Department of the Faculty of Social Sciences of Petrograd University in 1921 where his main mentor was B. Ya. Vladimirtsov. He began teaching at the Institute for Modern Oriental Languages before he had completed his studies in 1920 at the age of 23. Three years later, in 1923, he began teaching at the University of Petrograd. In 1931, he was appointed head of the Department of Mongolian Studies in the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Soviet Academy of Sciences. In 1933, at the age of 36, he was elected as the youngest associate member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

During World War II, Poppe left Leningrad in 1941 while it was under threat of capture by the German military, and found work at a teaching institute in Mikoyan-Shakhar. However, he defected to the Nazis when they arrived there in August 1942. Poppe "actively collaborated in the creation of the quisling government in the Karachai minority region", which quickly rounded-up and killed the region's Jews. Poppe himself says he acted as a translator and helped the German military identify mountain passes through which to advance further into the country.

Books authored

1926 Yakut Grammar for students. 1927 The Chuvash and their neighbours. Materials for the investigation of the Tungus language: the dialect of the Barguzin Tungus. The Finno-Ugric peoples: a sketch. 1930 The Alar dialect. Part I, Phonetics and morphology 1931 The Alar dialect. Part II, Texts Practical manual of colloquial Mongolian (Khalkha dialect) Materials on the Solon Language 1932 Manual of Mongolian Specimens of Khalkha-Mongolian folklore: North Khalkha dialect Notes on the dialect of the Aga Buriat 1933 Buriat-Mongolian linguistics Linguistic problems of East Siberia 1934 The language and collective farm poetry of the Buriat-Mongols of the Selenga region 1935 Annals of the Barguzin Buriats: texts and investigation Annals of the Khori-Buriate. First issue: The chronicles of Tugultur Toboev and Vandan Yumsunov 1936 Annals of the Selenga Buriats. First issue: Chronicle of Ubashi Dambi Jaltsan Lombo Tserenov of 1868 Khalkha-Mongolian structure Buriat-Mongolian folkloristic and dialectological collection 1937 Khalkha-Mongolian heroic epics Grammar of written Mongolian Grammar of the Buriat-Mongolian language 1940 Annals of the Khori-Buriats. First issue: Chronicles of Tugultur Toboev and Vandan Yumsunov Manual of Mongolian 1941 History of the Mongolian Script. Vol.1: The square script 1951 Khalkha-Mongolian grammar: with bibliography, texts, and glossary. 1954 Grammar of written Mongolian. 1955 Introduction to Mongolian comparative studies. Mongolian folklore: sayings, songs, fairytales and heroic sagas. 1957 The Mongolian monuments in the 'Phagspa script 1960 Comparative grammar of the Altaic languages. Part I: Comparative phonology. Buryat Grammar 1964 Bashkir manual 1965 Introduction to Altaic linguistics 1967 The twelve deeds of the Buddha: a Mongolian version of the Lalitavistara

Mongolian texts with English translation and notes

1970 Mongolian language handbook 1971 The Diamond Sutra: three Mongolian versions of the Vajracchedikaaprajnaapaaramitaa: texts, translations, notes, and glossaries Khalkha-Mongolian heroic epic 1972 The language and collective farm poetry of the Buriat-Mongols of the Selenga region 1975 Mongolian epics I Mongolian epics II Mongolian epics III Mongolian epics IV 1976 Mongolian epics V 1977 Mongolian epics VI 1978

1980 Mongolian epics IX 1985 Mongolian epics XI