Editing Emil Julius Gumbel (section)

==Influences==
Emil Gumbel was strongly influenced from a young age by his uncle, Abraham Gumbel (1852-1930) with whom he had long conversations about political and social issues.<ref>E.J. Gumbel (1931). ''Abraham Gumbel gestorben'', Somntags-Zeitung (SZ), 4 January 1931, cited in {{cite book|first=Arthur David |last=Brenner|title=Emil J. Gumbel: Weimar German Pacifist and Professor|isbn =978-0-391-04101-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rTTTgpj31GQC|year=2001|publisher=BRILL }} p. 17.</ref> The death of Abraham's son (Emil's cousin) in the [[World War I|First World War]], is thought to have been a triggering factor in both Abraham and Emil's life-long commitment to [[pacifism]].<ref name="BrennerCh01">{{cite book|first=Arthur David |last=Brenner|title=Emil J. Gumbel: Weimar German Pacifist and Professor|isbn =978-0-391-04101-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rTTTgpj31GQC|year=2001|publisher=BRILL }} Chapter 1</ref>

During his time at the University of Munich (1910-1914), Gumbel was taught mathematics, economics and the social sciences by eminent scholars known to have liberal political views, including [[Alfred Pringsheim]] and [[Lujo Brentano]]. He also studied actuarial science and gained insurance qualifications and work experience (including a summer job with a London insurance company), before completing his doctorate dissertation under the supervision of extraordinary professor of statistics [[Friedrich Böhm]] in July 1914.<ref name="BrennerCh01" />

At the University of Berlin (1915-1922), Gumbel became closely associated with [[Georg Friedrich Nicolai]], whose pacifist book, ''The Biology of War'', was banned by the German Government.<ref name="BrennerCh02" /> He also became acquainted with [[Albert Einstein]], who was one of the founding members of the German League for Human Rights. Einstein was subsequently a strong supporter of Gumbel's professional career.<ref name="BrennerCh02" /> Gumbel developed a deep professional bond with the prominent Russian statistician and economist [[Ladislaus Bortkiewicz|Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz]], who considered Gumbel to be "a gifted man [with an] uncommonly active mind". His recommendation strongly influenced Gumbel's subsequent appointment to professor of mathematics at the [[Heidelberg University|University of Heidelberg]] in 1922.<ref name="BrennerCh08">{{cite book|first=Arthur David |last=Brenner|title=Emil J. Gumbel: Weimar German Pacifist and Professor|isbn =978-0-391-04101-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rTTTgpj31GQC|year=2001|publisher=BRILL }} Chapter 8</ref>

After the 1919 murder of prominent USPD member, [[Karl Liebknecht]], who Gumbel greatly admired, there was strong criticism by journalist [[Kurt Tucholsky]] that the trial judge completely ignored evidence against the Nazi [[Brownshirts]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=DER SPIEGEL, Hamburg, Germany |title=Literatur - Kultur - DER SPIEGEL |url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=www.spiegel.de |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Olear |first=Greg |date=2024-02-04 |title=Sunday Pages: "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" |url=https://gregolear.substack.com/p/sunday-pages-deutschland-deutschland |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=PREVAIL by Greg Olear}}</ref> Horrified, Gumbel ardently investigated many similar political murders that had occurred and published his findings in numerous publications and books, including ''Two Years of Murder'' in 1921, followed by ''Four Years of Political Murder'' in 1922, the deeply controversial ''Conspirators'' in 1924, ''The Armor of War of the Imperialistic States'' in 1928, which dealt with the causes of political murder, and ''Traitors fall victim to the Feme'' in 1929.<ref name="BrennerCh04">{{cite book|first=Arthur David |last=Brenner|title=Emil J. Gumbel: Weimar German Pacifist and Professor|isbn =978-0-391-04101-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rTTTgpj31GQC|year=2001|publisher=BRILL }} Chapter 4</ref>

Gumbel was an admirer of the British intellectual and pacifist [[Bertrand Russell]], though they never met. He translated some of Russell's work into German.<ref name="BrennerCh02" />