large number of Germans were put onto a Dutch ship for transport to Sri Lanka. On the 19th of January, the ship was attacked and sunk by a Japanese torpedo bomber off the western coast of Sumatra. The Dutch crew escaped with all but one lifeboat, into which 53 of the 477 German passengers were loaded. The rest, including von Zach, drowned in the sea. Von Zach is remembered as a brilliant scholar who possessed "an astounding knowledge of Chinese", but whose legacy was deeply marred by his "irascible personality and a penchant for acerbic criticism of other Sinologists' work", which alienated him from his peers and prevented him from publishing his work in the major journals of Chinese and Asian scholarship. By the early 1930s, Paul Pelliot felt von Zach's rude and demeaning writings had become unbearable, and banned him from ever publishing articles in T'oung Pao. Von Zach's publications often consisted of what he called verbesserung ("improvement") articles, in which he would thoroughly identify and criticize errors in other scholars' work. He was often known to rail against the competing opinions of others without producing evidence for his position, simply stating that he was right and others were wrong. Although his arrogance and contentious nature alienated him from his colleagues throughout his life, von Zach's talent and insights ensured that much of his work was published and appreciated for its quality. References Footnotes References Fogel, Joshua A. De l'un au multiple: Traductions du chinois vers les langues européenes (book review). The Journal of Asian Studies, ISSN 0021-9118, 02/2001, Volume 60, Issue 1, pp. 159 – 161. Available from JStor. Representative major works Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum Further reading Motsch, Monika. "Slow Poison or Magic Carpet: The Du Fu Translations by Erwin Ritter von Zach." In: Alleton, Vivianne and Michael Lackner (editors). De l'un au multiple: traductions du chinois vers les langues européennes Translations from Chinese into European Languages. Éditions de la maison des sciences de l'homme (Les Editions de la MSH, FR), 1999, Paris. , 9782735107681. 1872 births 1942 deaths Austrian civilians killed in World War II Austrian diplomats Austrian sinologists deaths by airstrike during World War II people lost at sea