Sh. Choimaa was born on 20 May 1951 in the Sharga semi-desert area of the Gobi-Altai. 

His male ancestors had lived in the area of the Daichin-Van Banner in the Zasagt-Khan-Aimag for five generations. His fourth-generation grandfather was an official of the rank of zangi. His descendants eked out a living as cattle breeders, raising mainly camels.

His father D. Sharav, like all men in this barren region, lived from cattle breeding, while his mother, like all women in her surroundings, took care of the well-being of her family. 

Father D. Sharav can be seen in an old family photo. He looks serious, perhaps even stern, but the look in his wise eyes does not quite fit a simple cattle farmer. The impression is not wrong. Sharav had been a lama scholar in his former life. He entered the venerable Usan Zuiliin Khuree monastery in what was then Mongolia's Zasagt-Khan-Aimags around the age of seven in 1893, probably at the request of his father Donoi. Khuvilgaan Erdeni Khamba, who had been a reincarnation and possibly also the abbot of the monastery, personally accepted him as his disciple. The monastic community of Usan Zuiliin Khuree, as the monastery of Tonkhil was called, comprised at least 1,000 monks and novices at this time. With its thirteen temples, the monastery was thus considered one of the great monasteries of Mongolia and a place of great scholarship, especially philosophical scholarship, with direct links to A-mdo and Lhasa, the residence of the Dalai Lama. 

The young Sharav seemed to have been a bright mind. He was said to be able to memorise large prayer texts quickly. His teacher Erdeni Khamba therefore sent him to study Buddhist philosophy at the Gandantegchenlin Monastery in Da Khuree (now Ulaanbaatar) around the year 1904 at the age of eighteen. Founded in 1756 as part of the Gandan Monastery, the Dashchoimbol Dacan was considered the most important training centre for philosophy in Outer Mongolia at the time. Sharav was living there like many thousands of other lamas in Ikh Khuree when the religious leader of the Khalkh Mongols, the rJe-btsun dam-pa, proclaimed Mongolia's independence from China in 1911. The princes of Outer Mongolia then enthroned him as the secular and religious ruler of Outer Mongolia with the title of Bogd Gegeen. Sharav must also have felt the new sense of freedom at that time. But when the troops of the Chinese Guomindang reoccupied the capital Niislel Khuree (today Ulaanbaatar) in 1919/1920, Sharav set off on foot with other monks on a pilgrimage towards Tibet. On the way, he continued his studies in the famous monasteries of Bla-brang and sKu-'bum in A-mdo. Later he went to Lhasa for years, where he was finally conferred the title of Rab-`byams-pa on 15 August 1925. From Lhasa he returned to his ancestral Mongolian homeland in 1944 after decades in his "spiritual home". Certainly, he had little idea of the political changes in Mongolia at that time. But perhaps he had heard that the years of political terror to which so many monks and monasteries had fallen victim were over. 

Arriving in the Gobi-Altai, he must have been shocked. Of the former monasteries he knew, often not even the foundation walls were left. The rich monastery libraries had fallen victim to the conflagration of Stalinist terror. Sharav himself was arrested by the pro-Soviet authorities and taken to the Aimag centre for months of interrogation. A few years earlier, he would have been sentenced to death. But now it was enough for the authorities to order him to live as a cattle farmer and not to teach anyone anything. Sharav complied. What else could he do! But the people of the Gobi-Altaj, even officials, continued to meet him with a reverence that could not be ignored. They called him "Cagaan mört Sharav" (Sharav with the white path), which later became "Cagaan mor't Sharav" (Sharav with the white horse). They visited him, presented him with chadags as a token of their appreciation and sought his advice. Around the year 1957, the cattle around Sharav, as in the whole of Mongolia, were "genealogised" in several waves. At some point, Sharav also felt compelled to become a member of the cooperative and herd its cattle.

When Sharav's young wife gave birth to a son in 1951, he himself was already around 65 years old. He gave his son the Tibetan name Choimaa, which according to its Mongolian translation could be translated as "source of the teaching". Choimaa later emphasised again and again that he was the late-born son of an old father and a young mother.

Although Sharav spoke to his son Choimaa about his past rather guardedly, he did let him share his knowledge in some way, albeit with due caution. Even before his son started primary school, he taught him the Cyrillic letters with the help of Tibetan. With the help of an acquaintance, he wrote a table for this purpose: on the left, the Tibetan letters phonetically corresponding to the Cyrillic letters, on the right, the Cyrillic alphabet. When Choimaa entered primary school, he could already do arithmetic and read and write in Cyrillic. Of course, he was also proficient in the Mongolian script. This was very rare among children at a time when the majority of older people were illiterate. 

In the early 1960s, one of the few officially approved lamas in Mongolia named Dorž taught the Tibetan language at the Mongolian State University. He had three booklets of a basic course in the Tibetan language printed in Ulaanbaatar. The fact that an acquaintance of Sharav's brought the first booklet of this basic course from the capital may seem like a sign of providence in retrospect. Sharav concluded that he would be allowed to teach Tibetan to his son if the state allowed this language to be taught at its most important university. And he did. His son, who was already proficient in Mongolian writing and therefore able to read ancient texts fluently, now also learned the written Tibetan language, which was an important bridge to a body of writing that was well known to his father.

Choimaa experienced his first blow in the fourth year of school when his mother died. He then had to stay in his father's yurt for a while and help his father. After that, he attended the seven-grade school in neighbouring Tugrug Sum. His performance must have been exceptional, because the school awarded him a holiday at the Black Sea in the Soviet Artek. From grade 8, Choimaa attended the ten-grade school in Aimag Centre. Like other pastoralist children, Choimaa thus lived mainly in boarding schools since the fifth grade. During his tenth year at school, his father died. It is said that before he passed away, his father had given him three things to do. He advised him never to enter a religious school, never to study or work abroad, and under no circumstances to become a functionary or state leader. Looking back on his school days, Choimaa often spoke of how it had been a particularly fortunate circumstance for his generation to have been educated by the first teachers with university degrees. His teachers enabled him to enrol at the Mongolian State University of Mongolian Language and Literature. He later said himself that it was mainly his father's influence, however, that made him decide on this field of study. After all, his father had awakened in him an interest in studying ancient works such as the Geser Saga.

Choimaa travelled to Ulaanbaatar with a small yurt on a truck. He set up his yurt on the property of relatives in the city. Soon he was sitting as a student in the 2nd building of the Mongolian State University. Well-known scientists taught his group of students: D. Choijilsuren the "Old Mongolian", Kh. Gaadan the Tibetan and academician Sh. Luvsanvandan the Lingustics in the broadest sense etc. etc. In June 1976, Choimaa graduated as a graduate teacher of Mongolian language and literature. His thesis dealt with folk customs and idioms associated with them. Looking at his diploma certificate, one gets a concrete idea of his studies, which were surprisingly broad and modern for the time and the special social circumstances in Mongolia, in which the ancient Mongolian language and literature, Mongolian folk poetry and ancient linguistics played an important role alongside modern linguistic components. 

Choimaa had graduated as one of the best students awarded a Sukhbaatar scholarship. Mongolian State University therefore offered him to work as a teacher in the Department of Mongolian Language and Literature. Choimaa happily agreed. For the young graduate, this offer was an extremely fortunate circumstance that fully corresponded to his intentions. After all, this chair enjoyed a high reputation at that time, because in it well-known scientists such as Sh. Luvsanvandan, D. Choijilsuren, Kh. Gaadan and Ya. Sharibuu, but also scholars from the Academy of Sciences such as C. Damdinsuren and B. Rinchin liked to drop in for scientific discussions. To be able to draw from their "ocean-like knowledge", as he later called it, seemed like a great privilege to Choimaa.

But the new job also presented the young graduate with huge challenges. Not only did he have to teach Mongolian script, historical grammar, Tibetan and elective subjects for about 30-36 hours a week, but he also had to carefully prepare these many lessons. Needless to say, Saturday was a full working day during this period. Choimaa himself regarded his early teaching career as a time of tireless and indeed uninterrupted learning, during which, however, the knowledge acquired in his studies was considerably expanded. Moreover, it was almost a matter of course at that time that he was always allowed to seek advice and help from the scholars working at the chair. 

In 1980, the Mongolian State University delegated him to work for three years as a guest lecturer at the Mongolian Studies Department of the Humboldt University in Berlin. The Berlin Mongolian Studies team under Hans-Peter Vietze placed great expectations in Choimaa. In addition to the advanced courses in "Modern Mongolian" and "Old Mongolian" for the students of Mongolian Studies, he was immediately integrated into the ongoing work on the "Mongolian-German Dictionary". His extraordinary knowledge of the mother tongue greatly benefited the dictionary project. Nevertheless, there was also time for him to do his own research, e.g. on Mongolica in the Herrnhut Brethren Unity, and to attend conferences. Of particular importance for him was undoubtedly the work in the German State Library in Berlin, where he not only got to know most of the works of famous Mongolians such as Walther Heissig for the first time, but above all was able to copy them for his further work. (We have long forgotten today what a "book hunger" there was among Eastern scholars during the Cold War). Choimaa used all these possibilities with his characteristic diligence. He also proved for the first time how well he was able to fit into international teamwork. Choimaa himself later recounted that after his time in Berlin, he was much more eager to constantly consult international journals when possible (which was sometimes not easy in Mongolia) and to actively participate in conferences.

After his return to Mongolia, he continued his work at his chair in the Mongolian State University. As before, teaching was the main focus for Choimaa due to the high hourly workload. At that time, as he later reported, the principle applied that the university and also the state only supported a young teacher if he fulfilled his rights, duties and responsibilities equally. From 1989 to 1991, Choimaa headed the Department of Mongolian Linguistics at the Mongolian State University.

In the second half of the 1980s, the intellectual climate in Mongolian society began to change. Encrustation broke down under the influence of Soviet perestroika, and by 1988 it was even clear that Mongolia had to take a different path. The public began to increasingly discuss culturally taboo topics. They demanded that Mongolian script be taught in schools again. These tendencies were clearly echoed at the Mongolian State University, Mongolia's intellectual centre. The writer Ch. Galsan, who later achieved great recognition, especially in Germany. Galsan, then editor-in-chief of a magazine, asked Choimaa for "Old Mongolian" lessons for publication. The trade union newspaper "Chödölmör" (Labour) also had Choimaa produce handwritten lessons, which were offset directly and finally published as a small textbook. But Mongolian National Television also contacted him. In 1989-1991, Choimaa taught Mongolian script in a total of 60 programmes on Mongolian National Television. The programmes were often repeated on television in the following years. Choimaa also taught the Mongolian script to President P. Ochirbat together with his advisors for forty-five days. He agreed with the president: "You are the president. However, you are (now) the student and I am the teacher." President P. Ochirbat not only proved to be a good student, but he also realised the importance of Mongolian script for Mongolian revival. He therefore later vetoed parliamentary resolutions that ran counter to society's interest in promoting Mongolian writing and culture.

Choimaa et al trained primary school teachers in the Mongolian script. From autumn 1991, the teachers trained by him and his colleagues began to teach the Mongolian script to their pupils in the country's primary schools. At that time, they could already refer to the first textbooks prepared and published by Choimaa and colleagues.

Choimaa achieved a high degree of popularity among the public in his country through his efforts to spread Mongolian script. He had thus made a significant contribution to strengthening the national identity and culture at this time, when Mongolia had to prove itself as a nation state on its own and on the path to democracy and a market economy. But Choimaa and his comrades-in-arms had another aspect in mind. Choimaa said: "The Mongolian script is of special interest because of the shape of the letters, the graphics, the way the letters are connected and the direction of writing. There is no other state with such a script. In other words, the Mongolian script is a solid witness that distinguishes the Mongolian people from the other writing and cultural nations in the world." So it was also about the exclusivity and distinctiveness of the Mongolian nation, which had once built the largest world empire in human history. 

Starting in 1992, the Ministry of Culture again sent Choimaa to the Asian Studies section of Berlin's Humboldt University for two years. In the Plan on Scientific Cooperation between Humboldt University and Mongolian State University for 1991-1995 (21 June 1991), Choimaa was responsible for the project topic "Source Research on the History of the Spread of Lamaism in Mongolia" together with Prof. Dr. T. Dashtseden. For Choimaa, Buddhism and source research increasingly became the focus of his work, alongside the desired scriptural reform. Although he was not a specialist in this field himself, he quickly recognised the possibilities of computer technology for his concerns. The pioneering work of Hans-Peter Vietze of the Humboldt University played no small role in this. In the second half of the 1980s, he had already developed his own computer variant for the Mongolian script and published the "Secret History of the Mongols" together with T. Dashtseden as a computer manuscript. In 1992, Vietze's work was already much further advanced when he published the "Altan Tovch" as a computer manuscript on Taiwan. However, a large part of Berlin Mongolian studies, including Vietze, was wound up "due to unification". Choimaa's project had thus come to an end in Berlin.

After his return to Mongolia, Choimaa, together with Prof. Ts. Shagdarsuren, proposed to the Mongolian State University in 1994 that a Chair of Textology and Altaic Studies be established. The university agreed and Choimaa took over its leadership until 2000. The new chair's research focused more on Mongolian historical sources and Buddhism. Both directions were also able to give important impulses to the identity and cultural immunity of the Mongols. Choimaa concentrated more on research on Buddhism, as a result of which he and his team published a two-volume encyclopaedia on Buddhist religion and culture in 1999. In 2003, two editions of this encyclopaedia in Mongolian script were also published in Inner Mongolia (PR China). Choimaa's research results thus bore a multi-layered "transnational" character for the first time. 

For Choimaa, the year 2004 was of particular significance. In 1206, Čingis Chaan had the Uyghur script declared the official script of the Great Mongol Empire. Choimaa had prepared a submission to the Presidential Chancellery for the upcoming 800th anniversary, pointing out the historical and practical significance of this anniversary for the Mongolian state. President N. Bagabandi then issued an edict on 25 June 2004 directing, among other things, that the first Sunday of each month of May be made a holiday for Mongolia's national script. The holiday was to serve the dissemination of the national script, the customs and traditions associated with it, as well as the study of its heritage, and to give an important impetus to mastering the script well and teaching it to future generations.

Choimaa had done extensive research work in the past years. The Mongolian state was very appreciative of this. In 2002, the state president awarded him the title "Honoured Teacher of Mongolia". In 2004, Choimaa habilitated with his work "Source Research on Mongolian Historical Sources". 

Later, Choimaa still remembered with great gratitude the exhibition "Chingis Khaan and his Heirs"- the World Empire of the Mongols", which opened in Bonn in 2005 and eventually toured Europe as a travelling exhibition. He took part in a scientific conference in Bonn organised by the DAAD and the DFG, which accompanied the exhibition. At this conference, he spoke about the "personality traits of Chingis Khaan", a topic that never really let go of him again. Both the exhibition and the conference represented good examples of Mongolian-German cultural relations in the sense of "Change by Exchange" in the run-up to the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Great Mongolian Empire in 2006. 

For the 800th anniversary of the Great Mongol Empire in 2006, a team of scholars led by D. Choimaa presented the critical and annotated edition of the most important Mongol chronicles in 30 volumes. Choimaa alone had produced the edition of seven of the volumes himself, but edited all 30 as editor. He and his team worked on this massive work non-stop and almost day and night over a long period of time, as the author of this article can attest. The fact that they also had the heritage for the future generations of the Mongolian peoples in mind was part of their motivation and therefore went without saying for them. 

On the occasion of the 800th anniversary celebrations in 2006, the President of the Republic, D. Choimaa, awarded the State Prize of Mongolia for his work "Comparative Source Research on the 'Secret History of the Mongols' and the 'Altan tovch' of Luvsandanzan". 

Choimaa withdrew from university offices and functions from this time on. His health, which had always caused him great hurdles, no longer allowed him to make many compromises. To what extent he was also thinking of his father's legacy can only be surmised. However, he had clear visions of what he still wanted to create.

In the following years, he and his comrades-in-arms laid a solid foundation for school education in Mongolian script. Textbooks for almost all grades were created. He remained committed to this cause for many years. In 2018, the textbook "National Script-12" was published, which was prepared by a collective of authors led by him. Works with a bridging function such as a grammar (2006), a retrograde dictionary in Mongolian script (2006) and an orthography for Mongolian in Cyrillic script (2010) also appeared in Inner Mongolia (PR China). However, Choimaa also ensured that the bridge worked in the opposite direction. After the Inner Mongolian scholar Saishaal published his two-volume biography of Chingis Khaan, Choimaa wrote down this work in Cyrillic script together with his comrade-in-arms M. Bayarsaikhan and published it in Ulaanbaatar. 

From 2010 onwards, under Choimaa's scholarly leadership and editorship, more than twenty volumes of documents of the Manchurian Qing administration related to the history of the Mongols were published. The collection, which is very complex in itself, required translation from Manchurian in some cases. The team of scholars led by Choimaa proved itself in the best possible way with this edition as well.

Choimaa worked intensively and actively for the creation of legal foundations for the protection, preservation and promotion of the Mongolian language and script. President Ts. Elbegdorj issued a decree in May 2010 calling for the material and non-material heritage, culture and values, and traditional customs of the Mongolian nation to be passed on, protected, researched and disseminated. He called on the government to prepare and implement a teaching programme on the fundamentals of Mongolian traditional thought. Choimaa and his comrades-in-arms already presented corresponding textbooks in 2013 and 2014. 

In his edict of 6 June 2010, President Ts. Elbegdorj instructed that all official letters from the President, the Chairman of Parliament, the Prime Minister and members of the government to foreign politicians of the same rank were first to be written in Mongolian script and accompanied by an appropriate translation. Birth and marriage certificates as well as certificates and diplomas from educational and training institutions also had to be issued in Mongolian and Cyrillic script. In order to avoid inconsistencies in the spelling of names in Cyrillic and Mongolian letters, Choimaa's team presented a reference book for the Mongolian and Cyrillic spelling of names in 2012, which contributed significantly to the "standardisation" of spellings in the relevant offices.

When the parliamentarians M. Batchimeg and N. Enkhbold finally even prepared a law on the Mongolian language, Choimaa actively participated in their working group as an advisor. In this respect, he was proud to have also made his own contribution to the passing of the law in 2015. The law felt like a stage victory for him.

Looking at Choimaa's many outstanding scholarly achievements in retrospect, it is certainly not wrong to consider his critical and annotated edition of the "Secret History of the Mongols", which has since been published in several editions in both Mongolia and Inner Mongolia (PR China), to be of particular importance. In the opinion of proven specialists, this edition is probably the closest to the original of the first autochthonous chronicle of the Mongols. Choimaa was occupied with the "Secret History of the Mongols" until the end of his life. In 2022, he published it once again as a book, this time as a newly corrected text in Mongolian and Cyrillic script. The book could be something like his legacy, however, I, who was in close friendship and cooperation with Choimaa for over forty years, believe that his real legacy was much broader.

What really preoccupied my friend throughout his life was the question of how the Mongolian state or nation, given its/their specific geographical location, could strengthen itself from within and immunise itself against too strong influences from outside. The word "cultural immunity" therefore played a major role in his thinking. He commented: "The sense of national conviction, deeply internalising that I am a citizen of independent Mongolia, is very important. I did not say nationalism at all. Mongolians, Mongolian families and the state of Mongolia need their Mongolian immunity. At a time when Mongolians have their Mongolian identity, they feel that they themselves are a separate nation, different from other nations, that they themselves are respected."

In 2017, the Mongolian President awarded Prof. Dr. Sh. Choimaa the honorary title of "Teacher of the People of Mongolia". Nothing describes this person's life's work better than this title. 

Death delivered Prof. Dr. Sh. Choimaa from the agony of a prolonged illness on 14 November 2022.

We lost with Prof. Dr. Sh. Choimaa a tireless researcher, esteemed scientist and endearing colleague.

Udo B. Barkmann