On the role of language and consciousness in theprocess of becoming “one of our own” upon theexample of Professor Lazar GulkowitschBased on archive materials, the article explores the importance of languageand consciousness in the process of becoming an Estonian citizenupon the example of Professor Lazar Gulkowitsch (1898–1941).The scholar of Wissenschaft des Judentums, Lazar Gulkowitsch wasborn and raised in a traditional Jewish family in Zirin (Belarus), heacquired his doctoral degree in philosophy at the Albertus Universityin Königsberg, worked at Leipzig University (Germany) first asa lecturer on Late Hebrew, Jewish-Aramaic, and Talmudic Studiesat the faculty of theology and then as an associate professor of theStudy of Late Judaism at the faculty of philosophy. In 1934–1940he was the head of the chair for Jewish Studies at the Universityof Tartu (Estonia). He was killed by the Nazis during the occupationof Estonia in the summer of 1941. His scholarly objective wasto capture the phenomenon of Judaism as a historical and currententity especially from the aspect of language by exploring Hebrewas a reflection of and basis for the history of Jewish ideas; outliningboth its formal-grammatical and material-conceptual aspects. Forthis purpose he applied a method based on the history of ideas (begriffsgeschichtlicheMethode), defining the central ideas of the Jewishculture (God, good, Hesed, etc.). Language—a central part in his scholarlywork—also played an important role to him in the process ofbecoming an Estonian citizen
