BARUCH, Willy. Herford, Kr. Detmold 1900 — Montfavet, Avignon ?.3.1954. German Indologist, Sinologist, Buddhist and Central Asian Scholar. Born of a Jewish family in Westfalen. Studies at Berlin and Leipzig, student of Lüders and F. Weller, then of Kirfel at Bonn. Ph.D. 1937 Bonn. Leaving Germany he was living in France, in 1934 in Asnières (Seine), in 1938/48 in St.-Jacques-de-Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes). In 1933-35 chargé de cours de mandchou at E.L.O.V. in Paris. During WW II apparently in Shanghai as a member of the International Committee for European Immigrants. He was still working after the war (reviews of new books) living in Paris. In the end he seems to have become involved in the obscure Christian sect Universal Alliance. Married Hildegard Frankenstein.

Publications: Diss. Beiträge zum Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra. 48 p. Bonn 1937, as a book 100 p. Ld. 1938.

– Catalogue descriptif des manuscrits et imprimés mandchous appartenant au Fonds mandchou de la Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris. 1-2. P. 1933-34.

– “Maitreya d’après les sources de Sérinde”, RHR 132, 1946, 67-92; “Une mystère tibétain: La dame Tchokyid de Ling”, Cahiers du Sud 291, 1948, 310-321; “Le cinquante-deuxième chapitre du mJaṅs-blun (Sūtra du sage et du fou)”, JA 243, 1955, 339-366; short articles and reviews, also wrote on Manchu, etc.

Sources: Member lists of Société asiatique for 1934, 1938, 1948 & 1954; stray notes in Internet; works in Bibl. bouddh.; photo in collections.ushmm.org (U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum).