John Peter Thiessen was a Canadian Russian Mennonite teacher, translator, and writer from Manitoba.
10 Facts About Jack Thiessen
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Jack Thiessen was born in Gnadenfeld near Grunthal, Manitoba, Canada, on 14 April 1931.
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Jack Thiessen grew up in Grunthal and attended high school at Mennonite Collegiate Institute in Gretna, Manitoba.
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Jack Thiessen graduated from the University of Manitoba, and received his PhD at the University of Marburg.
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Jack Thiessen is perhaps most well known for his influential Plautdietsch language dictionary.
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The 1977 edition of Jack Thiessen's dictionary, published two years before Herman Rempel's dictionary, was the first published Plautdietsch dictionary, a language that had until then been primarily a spoken language.
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Jack Thiessen wrote and published humorous Plautdietsch short stories about Mennonites, often collaborating with Al Reimer.
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Jack Thiessen was a professor of German Studies at the University of Winnipeg for many years.
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Jack Thiessen was married to poet Audrey Poetker from 1991 until his death in 2022.
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Jack Thiessen died in Steinbach, Manitoba, on 9 October 2022, at the age of 91.