Our friend, Ian King, achieved a great deal in his life: head of a successful university department; a journalist and commentator for a German newspaper; a tireless worker for the Sonnenberg movement and the Tucholski Society. His humour and his endeavours for progressive causes and international understanding will be sorely missed.
Ian was supported in his illness by Macmillan Cancer Support and benefited for a year with new drugs, developed by groups such as Cancer Research UK. Thus, as an alternative to sending flowers for the funeral, we recommend donating to these charities as a tribute to Ian, using the links on the right hand column.

Obituary

Dr William John (‘Ian’) King
German scholar, social activist, and much more.

Contributed by Kenneth Gibson & Stuart Parkes
 
Ian King (as he was always known, to distinguish him from his father, William John Riddell King), was brought up in Barassie on the Ayrshire coast.  Originally a village, Barassie was by then a suburb of Troon famed for its extensive sandy beach – and for the railway carriage repair works which employed Ian’s father (who had been transferred there from Glasgow at a time when it repaired Spitfire planes during the War).  Ian was an only child whose mother, a primary school teacher, died from asthma before he had even left school.
 
The secondary school in Troon was (and is) Marr College.  It had opened in 1935 and took its name from the philanthropist C K Marr who had left his entire fortune to establish a school open to all children of the town, whatever their backgrounds.  It is therefore seen as a precursor of the comprehensive school, and Ian thrived in it, leading the chess team, debating, performing in Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and emerging as Dux in 1967.
 
The next stage of Ian’s education took him to Glasgow University where he embarked on the usual Scottish four-year degree, extended, in his case, to five years by the requirement for language students to spend a year abroad.  It was also a requirement to major in two subjects, and Ian had chosen French and German.
 
During these five years, Ian emerged as an outstanding student.  In his academic year abroad (1969-70) he was based in Münster, Germany, and the following year spent a term in Besançon, France, before being awarded the degree of MA with First Class Honours in 1972.  '(In those days when 'Firsts' were as rare as hen's teeth, only two of the 45 students of French and German achieved that distinction.)'
 
Ian’s interest in politics and social justice then led him to undertake research into the political writings of Kurt Tucholsky, one of the most important journalists and satirists of the Weimar Republic and a tireless opponent of Nazism.  Over the next five years he moved between Glasgow University; the Goethe-Institut in Schwäbisch Hall; Tübingen University; Rottach-Egern (home of Tucholsky’s widow and literary executor); and Marbach am Neckar (home of the Kurt Tucholsky archive).  In 1977 Glasgow University awarded him a PhD for his thesis on the political development of Tucholsky.
 
In 1975, while still writing up his research, Ian had obtained a lecturing post at the then Sheffield Polytechnic (now Sheffield Hallam University).  Apart from the challenge of completing his thesis, he had to accustom himself to teaching a large number of hours (more than most lecturers in traditional universities).  Both challenges were soon mastered. Ian quickly developed into an exceptional teacher who was very much at home teaching students on the recently-introduced course Modern Languages with Political Studies. He was greatly appreciated by the students, in particular the few mature students, some of whom were to become close friends. It also did not take him long to adapt to students of Business Studies, who had different linguistic needs. To understand these better, he even took on seminars in this area, regaling colleagues, for example, with information on such things as the ‘product cycle’.
 
His doctorate completed and published in book form, Ian, unlike many others, did not turn his back on its subject. Tucholsky remained at the centre of his scholarly interests. When the Kurt Tucholsky Society was established in Germany in 1988, he was a founder member. His unrivalled expertise led to him finally becoming Chair, a major achievement for a non-German. The other academic grouping which attracted him was the Association for the Study of German Politics, where his probing questions to both academic and political speakers during conferences made him stand out.

In addition to his contributions to higher education, Ian also became involved in international adult education. After attending a conference at the International House Sonnenberg in the Harz region of Germany in 1978, he became a committed supporter of the Sonnenberg movement, which seeks to promote international understanding. He has been Chair and Secretary of the Sonnenberg Association of Great Britain and Chair of the International Sonnenberg Association. At conferences in Britain and elsewhere, his perfect command of German made him the ideal interpreter, whilst his lectures, delivered in English or German, were always appreciated – as was his singing on social evenings.

Ian’s life during the years in Sheffield was not confined to the worlds of academia and international friendship. He did identify with the city and, at least in the area of cricket, the county of Yorkshire, even if he never read the book How I became a Yorkshireman and certainly did not aspire to following the author’s example, especially when it came to football. He remained true to Rangers and Scotland, despite attending both Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United games quite frequently. In the field of culture, he appreciated the Halle Orchestra concerts at the City Hall and plays at the Crucible Theatre, although he did not shy away from criticism when he felt it was deserved.

Ian’s time in Sheffield came to an end in 1990. By then, Modern Languages had fallen out of favour. The Modern Languages with Political Studies course had closed, in itself a reason to move on. Fortunately, he soon found a niche at South Bank University in London, where he showed the same enthusiastic commitment until, there as well, Modern Languages came under the axe. When it came to redundancies, the institution used the last-in, first-out method rather than merit. Ian’s teaching career was at an end, apart from some part-time classes in other London universities. He could look back at his career with pride at his many achievements, which, sadly, had not brought the recognition from top management he deserved in the form of a Chair.

At least there was soon a new career as a translator, which he pursued until 2020.  And from as early as 1992, in parallel with his other work, he wrote articles on the UK political scene for the German newspaper Neues Deutschland, deploying satire and sarcasm to good effect.  He continued to write these articles even after being diagnosed with terminal cancer two years ago, his mind and wit as sharp as ever; his erudition undimmed. His last article, which can be translated as ‘Shaky start for Sunak’, appeared just a couple of weeks before his death.  Typical of his humour was the heading of his e-mail submitting the article: ‘Not dead yet’.
Dr William John (‘Ian’) King: born Troon, 9 July 1949, died London 19 September 2023, aged 74.

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  In memory of Dr. Ian King

Tilman Zschiesche, Managing Director
For the Sonnenberg-Kreis e.V., the board and all employees of the International House Sonnenberg

He is no longer with us - the bedrock of the British Sonnenberg Circle SAGB and a constant presence at numerous events, general meetings, ISA sessions and participation in Sonnenberg conferences: Dr. Ian King, the feisty Scotsman who combined such wonderful humor with much knowledge and warmth as well as cordiality, has fallen victim to cancer at the age of 74, after successfully battling it for two years after all.

We will miss him, his English as well as German comments on many topics, his pronounced desire to argue, but at the same time anxious to smooth the waters in order to contribute to reconciliation. His tirelessness in supporting the Sonnenberg International House, especially in enabling young people from Eastern Europe to attend Sonnenberg meetings free of charge through donations from the SAGB, or at least helping with travel expenses.
A friend of the Sonnenberg, a welcome, special guest and activist will only move in our memories, laughing, joking and talking. But in this we will keep him alive as long as we remember him.

Until the end, he wrote astute articles for the feature section of the cooperative newspaper "Neues Deutschland" (nd) about the current situation in Great Britain.

Farewell, Ian, where you are now, you have no more pain, that is a great reassurance for us.

Obituary in Neues Deutschland 

nd correspondent Ian King: In Tucholsky's footsteps

By Martin Ling

His visits to Berlin always required certain precautions. "I'll stop by the editorial office and ask if I can collect my accrued fees from the cash register." That's how the long-time Great Britain correspondent Ian King from London always contacted us by email or telephone when he visited Berlin every now and then . The occasion was often the meetings of his beloved Kurt Tucholsky Society, of which he was temporarily chairman. And contact with the “New Germany” probably came about at the Tucholsky Society through the long-standing “nd” foreign editor Jochen Reinert. Both King and Reinert revered Tucholsky as a man of letters and a warning against fascism. At the age of 28, Ian King completed his doctorate on Tucholsky's political development in 1977 and then worked as a university lecturer in Sheffield and London. As a German scholar, he has of course written articles in German for “Neues Deutschland” and “nd.der Tag”. His last article, "Bumpy start for the Tories," appeared on September 4, 2023. He submitted the offer with the subject line "Not dead yet" and wrote in the email: "I've been happy to help since the fall of 1992, I'm not giving up."

In articles for this newspaper, King devoted himself to the United Kingdom, which he, as a Scot, viewed with great distance. He didn't think much of the royal family, but he was just as uninterested in Scottish independence as he was in Brexit. He has been arguing with the Labor Party since at least the times of Tony Blair, who used lies to encourage the Iraq War. He always had a deep dislike for the Tories, which he also expressed in sarcastic article passages.

At the Tucholsky Society conference from October 20th to 22nd, Ian King will be on the program with his contribution “Tucholsky's winding path to pacifism”. He wanted to have him read aloud, give a lecture himself or even travel to Berlin, but his advanced cancer didn't allow him. When we spoke on the phone on September 13th, he said his oncologist gave him two to three more months, and so far he has always been right. Not this time. On September 20th, his friend Professor Stuart Parkes gave the "nd" the sad news that Dr. Ian King died.

The article in German:

https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1176456.nachruf-nd-korrespondent-ian-king-auf-tucholskys-spuren.html?sstr=ian|king