After finishing secondary school in Schiers, Zimmerli studied theology at the universities of Zurich, Berlin and Göttingen. After passing his practical exams at the end of April 1930, he worked in the Theological Faculty at the University of Göttingen as the assistant to Professors Hemperl and Rahlfs and earned his Licentiate in Theology in 1932. When the Nazi Party came to power in Germany, Zimerli returned to Switzerland and, in August 1933, became a pastor in Aarburg in the Canton of Aargau. But already in 1935 he was called to be a Lecturer by the University of Zurich and in 1938 was made full professor of Old Testament, History of Religions and Oriental Languages. After further teaching in Berlin and Montpellier, he was called, in 1951, to be Professor of Old Testament at the University of Göttingen. He remained there until he retired, and also served as rector of the university from 1964–1966. In 1964–65 he initiated and was president of the first of the Confederation of European Union Rectors' Conferences, which was held in Göttingen. Zimmerli was active in the academic division of the Council of Europe, served on the board of the World Rectors' Conference and was in the senate of the Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft. Between 1970 and 1978 he was president of the Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, and he also served as the president of the "Konferenz der deutschen Akademien der Wissenschaften". In 1940 Zimmerli founded the "Reformierte Theologenhaus" in Zurich and after 1945 further Reformed houses of study for students in all disciplines. In 1949, Claus Westermann earned his doctoral degree in Zurich under Zimmerli for his dissertation "Das Loben Gottes in den Psalmen". Zimmerli was a highly regarded and well known representative of his discipline and was therefore invited to be a guest professor at Yale University, granted many honorary doctorates and was the 1972 recipient of the Burkitt Medal of the British Academy. In addition to his academic achievements, notable too was Zimmerli's unwavering opposition, from the very beginning, to Nazism. He contested Swiss neutrality during the Second World War, served in active duty from 1940 as a military chaplain in the Swiss Army and staunchly took a stand opposing pogroms against Jews and euthanasia. At the same time, after 1945, he was one of the first academics to attempt to re-establish contact with Germany, and did not hesitate to accept the call to Göttingen in 1951. There, Zimmerli became one of the most loved teachers in the Göttingen Theological Faculty of the twentieth century.
During his time as a student in Göttingen, Zimmerli married Irmgard von der Ropp, with whom he had six children. One of his sons is the philosopher Walther Christoph Zimmerli.
Work
The significance of Walther Zimmerli lies first and foremost in his academic work. He wrote fundamental commentaries on Genesis and Ecclesiastes, and one of his most important works is his two-volume commentary on Ezekiel in the series "Biblischer Kommentar zum Alten Testament". This commentary laid an entirely new foundation for understanding Book of Ezekiel. Zimmerli's scholarship is embodied in his Grundriß der alttestamentlichen Theologie, which has appeared in numerous editions since its first publication.
