Hans Kuhn was born in Minden, Germany on 13 July 1899. After gaining his PhD, Kuhn initially worked as a high school teacher. He completed his habilitation under the supervision of Karl Helm in 1931 at the University of Marburg, where he subsequently lectured for several years.
From 1946 to 1964, Kuhn was Professor of Nordic Philology at the University of Kiel. In 1959, Kuhn gained much attention for his proposal that there existed a Nordwestblock in the area around the lower Rhine in the Iron Age, which was neither Celtic or Germanic. He was also the author of numerous works on Old Norse literature. Prominent students of Kuhn at the University of Kiel include Klaus von See and Dietrich Hofmann.
Selected works
Das Füllwort of-um im Altwestnordischen, 1929
Island. Das Heimatland der Sagas, 1935
Vor- und frühgermanische Ortsnamen in Norddeutschland und den Niederlanden, 1959
Wolfgang Meid: Hans Kuhns „Nordwestblock“-Hypothese. Zur Problematik der „Völker zwischen Germanen und Kelten“. In: Heinrich Beck (Hrsg.): Germanenprobleme in heutiger Sicht. de Gruyter, Berlin u. a. 1986, ISBN3-11-010806-2, S. 183–212