Nazi archaeology
Encyclopedia
Nazi archaeology refers to the movement led by various Nazi leaders, archaeologists, and other scholars, such as Adolf Hitler
and Heinrich Himmler
, to research the German past in order to strengthen nationalism
. This movement, which set out to bring the glory of the Roman Empire
back to Germany
, was based on ideas of Tacitus
' Germania
.
-centric national prehistory began after the loss of World War I
in 1918, spurred on the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
. At this time the country was in a financial and economical crisis and it was also the same time when Adolf Hitler began to rise to power. Although Hitler was behind the Nazi Party
's funding for German prehistorical research, the first inflectional prehistorian is said to be Gustaf Kossinna
. His ideas and theories were picked up by the Nazi organisations Amt Rosenberg
and Germanen-Erbe. Presenting Germany as the place where civilisation began, the Nazis were able to use pseudoarchaeology
to persuade the German people.
The Ahnenerbe
undertook a search for more copies of Germania, but even as they did so, they began constructing a series of "super-myths" regarding the glory of the old Germania, which eventually led to a well-developed theory of Nazi archeology, complete with five core tenets.
. By 1937, it was the primary instrument of Nazi archaeology and archaeological propaganda, subsuming smaller organisations like Reinerth's Archaeology Group, and filling its ranks with "investigators". These included people like Herman Wirth, co-founder of the Ahnernerbe, who attempted to prove that Northern Europe
was the cradle of Western civilisation
. Although it included some real archaeologists with extreme views, such as Hans Reinerth and Oswald Meghin (who became high-ranking party officials due to their cooperation), much of the membership of Ahnenerbe were second-rate archaeologists or untrained researchers, backed up by amateur enthusiasts.
The main goals of the organisation were:
Although the organisation claimed to have a research goal, Himmler had no official training in archaeology and was known for his interest in mysticism
and the occult
. Himmler defined the organisation as working towards a prehistory which would prove the pre-eminence of the Germans and their Germanic predecessors since the beginning of civilisation. He is quoted as saying, “A nation lives happily in the present and the future so long as it is aware of its past and the greatness of its ancestors.”
The Ahnenerbe had difficulty finding scientists to work on the projects and was run largely by scholars from branches of the humanities, which made their research more amateurish. The group went on to be responsible for pseudoarchaeology
, illustrated by open-air displays honouring Germanic heritage such as the Externsteine
, a sandstone formation that was thought to have been a key Germanic cult site. Another example is the Sachsenhain, where 4500 Saxons
were executed as a punishment for Widukind’s uprising. This site was used as an idealised shrine, considered sacred to the Germanic people and highlighting their readiness for self-sacrifice.
Many other sites were censored from the public since they did not have the correct Germanic interpretations. The sites chosen for excavations were limited to those of Germanic superiority such as Erdenburg, were the Ahnenerbe claimed to have clear evidence of the victorious campaign of the Germani against the Romans
.
Some of the Ahnenerbe's most extravagant activities include:
organisation. It was staffed with archaeologists who signed on to some of Rosenberg's later thinking and theory. Rosenberg saw world history as shaped by the eternal fight between the 'Nordic Atlantic', the pure-blooded Nordic people of Atlantis
, and the 'Semites', or Jewish people. To him, only the Germanic people brought culture to the world, while Jews brought evil. He speculated that the people of Germany were survivors from Atlantis who had migrated to Germany. He saw Germans as a distinct race, not only in biological terms but in mental phenomena and in their 'will to live'. Hence, he advocated 'race materialism', stating that only the fittest race (Aryans) should survive, a tenet that would later shape the Nazi policy on the Final Solution
. The Amt Rosenberg was dedicated to finding archaeological evidence of the superiority of Germanic culture and of Atlantis, and in this it was much aided by (and in turn, gave aid to) the Thule Society
.
Additionally, public journals gained popularity such as Die Kunde (The Message) and Germanen-Erbe (Germanic Heritage). With the journals and films, Germans thought they were being given good visuals and interpretations of different archaeological sites and learning more about 'true' German prehistory.
The Nazis also pushed the public to get involved in the search for the past, using the appeal of patriotism
as a tool. For example, the membership flyer of one amateur organisation of the Amt Rosenberg stated, “Responsibility with respect to our indigenous prehistory must again fill every German with pride!” The goal of the organisation was also stated as, “the interpretation and dissemination of unclassified knowledge regarding the history and cultural achievements of our northern Germanic ancestors on German and foreign soil.”
Along with appealing to public patriotism there were open-air museums that reconstructed Neolithic
and Bronze Age
lake settlements at Unteruhldingen. These public museums also gained immense popularity and pushed the people to believe in and search for their Germanic past.
All of this, gathered together, created a skein of Germanic pride that was used to reinforce the nationalistic, fascist message Adolf Hitler was crafting with his speeches, open-air meetings, and public image.
With Hitler that changed: funds were made available for scholars to make great advancements beyond their neighboring countries. Under Nazi rule, archaeology went from having one chair in prehistory in Marburg in 1933 to having nine chairs in the Reich in 1935. Once archaeology started gaining popularity, scholars were also able to excavate castles, old ruins and the like, and bring back pieces for display in museums.
One example of those changes was that the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (Romano-Germanic Central Museum) in Mainz
in 1939 became for a time the Zentralmuseum für deutsche Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Central museum for pre- and early German history). (Note the difference between the original "Römisch-Germanisch" which denotes a historical period, and "deutsche", implying a continuous history and one people. "Anglo-Saxon" and "English" would be rough analogies.)
In their enthusiasm for the Nazi regime's support of archaeology, many German archaeologists became pawns and puppets of the real goals behind the movement. They answered to the requests of the Ahnenerbe, and not always in the interests of pure archaeology.
about the origins and racial superiority of Germanic peoples influenced many aspects of Nazi ideology and politics. He is also considered to be a precursor of Nazi archaeology. Kossinna was trained as a linguist at universities in Göttingen, Leipzig, Berlin, and Strasbourg but eventually held the chair for Germanic Archeology at the University of Berlin. He laid the groundwork for an ethnocentric German prehistory. One of his theories, the Kulturkreis
theory, was a basis on which Nazi archaeology was founded. Kossinna also published books for a general readership which were useful tools for German propaganda and created archaeological expeditions which allowed the Nazis to use Kulturkreis theory as an excuse for territorial expansion. In one of his most popular books, Die deutsche Vorgeschichte—eine hervorragend nationale Wissenschaft (German Prehistory: a Pre-eminently National Discipline), Kossinna puts forward the idea of an Aryan race superior to all peoples, the Germani, and shows Germany as the key to an unwritten history. The point of the book is clear from the beginning as the dedication reads, “To the German people, as a building block in the reconstruction of the externally as well as internally disintegrated fatherland.” Kossinna died in 1931, 13 months before Hitler seized power.
was a Nazi Party ideologist who supported excavation and the study of provincial Roman Germany. He stated, as a summary of his research and thoughts, that “An individual to whom the tradition of his people and the honor of his people is not a supreme value, has forfeited the right to be protected by that people.” Rosenberg’s perspective on German prehistory led mainly to racist distortion of data which did not directly apply to the Germanic people. Rosenberg’s book Der Mythos des 20. Jahrhunderts (The Myth of the Twentieth Century
) gave support to the concept of a new Germanic religion
. Rosenberg’s theory, Weltanschauungswissenschaften, was implicit in the idea that Germany had the right to crush other nations - or even exterminate them - since German culture
was "superior". He also tried to prove that the Nordic-Aryans originated on a lost landmass identified with Atlantis
, and that Jesus was not a Jew but an Aryan Amorite
.
and he saw the Nazi Party as a tool he could use to work his way up in society. This is just what occurred, and in 1934 Rosenberg appointed him to the position of “Reich Deputy of German Prehistory”. This made him the spokesman for the “purification and Germanisation of the German prehistory". Reinerth was an adherent of Hitler’s theory of German racial purity. Though this theory never really came into full effect, Reinerth pushed it heavily as Reich Deputy, and encouraged archaeological exploration. His archaeological group, along with the Ahnenerbe organisation, was used to the Nazis' full advantage since it was "professional".
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
, to research the German past in order to strengthen nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
. This movement, which set out to bring the glory of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
back to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, was based on ideas of Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
' Germania
Germania (book)
The Germania , written by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus around 98, is an ethnographic work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire.-Contents:...
.
Overview
The search for a strongly nationalistic, AryanAryan race
The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in Western culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-European languages and their descendants up to the present day constitute a distinctive race or...
-centric national prehistory began after the loss of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1918, spurred on the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
. At this time the country was in a financial and economical crisis and it was also the same time when Adolf Hitler began to rise to power. Although Hitler was behind the Nazi Party
National Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party , commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party , existed from 1919 to 1920...
's funding for German prehistorical research, the first inflectional prehistorian is said to be Gustaf Kossinna
Gustaf Kossinna
Gustaf Kossinna was a linguist and professor of German archaeology at the University of Berlin...
. His ideas and theories were picked up by the Nazi organisations Amt Rosenberg
Amt Rosenberg
Amt Rosenberg was an official body for cultural policy and surveillance within the Nazi party, headed by Alfred Rosenberg.It was established in 1934 under the name of Dienststelle Rosenberg , with offices at Margarethenstraße 17 in Berlin, to the west of Potsdamer Platz.Due to the long official...
and Germanen-Erbe. Presenting Germany as the place where civilisation began, the Nazis were able to use pseudoarchaeology
Pseudoarchaeology
Pseudoarchaeology — also known as alternative archaeology, fringe archaeology, fantastic archaeology, or cult archaeology — refers to interpretations of the past from outside of the academic archaeological community, which typically also reject the accepted scientific and analytical methods of the...
to persuade the German people.
Tacitus' Germania
The original ideas of using archaeology as nationalistic propaganda were fed by the Roman historian Tacitus' description of the Teutons in his AD 98 work Germania. In it, Tacitus praised the Teutonic tribes for their undaunted struggle against the Roman occupation force. He described them as "noble savages" as a counter-image to the "moral corruption" that predominated in decadent Rome. The Nazi Party had exactly the same idealised view of their own time. They rejected the more and more consuming decadent city life, which they blamed on Jews, "lesser blood races", and Communist infiltrators, and sought to return to a more original way of life, where "old virtues were honored again, and life could be lived in concordance with Nature and the earth which provided the daily bread". A world inhabited by "decisive, strong men and honorable, fertile women".The Ahnenerbe
Ahnenerbe
The Ahnenerbe was a Nazi German think tank that promoted itself as a "study society for Intellectual Ancient History." Founded on July 1, 1935, by Heinrich Himmler, Herman Wirth, and Richard Walther Darré, the Ahnenerbe's goal was to research the anthropological and cultural history of the Aryan...
undertook a search for more copies of Germania, but even as they did so, they began constructing a series of "super-myths" regarding the glory of the old Germania, which eventually led to a well-developed theory of Nazi archeology, complete with five core tenets.
Tenets
- The Kulturkreise ("culture circles") theory of Gustaf KossinnaGustaf KossinnaGustaf Kossinna was a linguist and professor of German archaeology at the University of Berlin...
, which stated that recognition of an ethnic region is based on the material culture excavated from an archeological site. This theory was used by the Nazis to justify takeover of foreign lands such as PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and the Czech RepublicCzech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
. For example, in his article "The German OstmarkGerman ostmarkOstmark is the name given to a currency denominated in Mark which was issued by Germany in 1918 for use in a part of the eastern areas under German control at that time, the Ober Ost area. The currency consisted of paper money issued on 4 April 1918 by the ‘Darlehnskasse’ in Kowno and was equal to...
", Kossinna argued that Poland should be a part of German ReichGerman EmpireThe German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
, since any lands where an artifact was titled “Germanic” were therefore ancient Germanic territory, "wrongfully stolen" by "barbarians". - The Social Diffusion theory, which stated that cultural diffusionCultural diffusionIn cultural anthropology and cultural geography, cultural diffusion, as first conceptualized by Alfred L. Kroeber in his influential 1940 paper Stimulus Diffusion, or trans-cultural diffusion in later reformulations, is the spread of cultural items—such as ideas, styles, religions, technologies,...
occurred by a process whereby influences, ideas and models were passed on by more advanced peoples to the less advanced whom they came into contact with. Examples offered by Kossinna and Alfred RosenbergAlfred Rosenberg' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
presented a history of GermanyHistory of GermanyThe concept of Germany as a distinct region in central Europe can be traced to Roman commander Julius Caesar, who referred to the unconquered area east of the Rhine as Germania, thus distinguishing it from Gaul , which he had conquered. The victory of the Germanic tribes in the Battle of the...
equivalent to that of the Roman Empire, suggesting that “Germanic people were never destroyers of culture—not like the Romans—and the French in recent times.” Combined with Nazi ideology, this theory gave the perfect foundation for the view of Germany as the locomotive of world civilisation. - Weltanschauungswissenschaften or World View Sciences, which stated that culture and science were as one, and carried certain "race-inherent values". The theory suggested that older cultural models, such as sagas, stories and legends, should be not only reincorporated into mainstream culture, but that "the guiding principle in Germany must be to emphasise the high cultural level and the cultural self-sufficiencySelf-sufficiencySelf-sufficiency refers to the state of not requiring any outside aid, support, or interaction, for survival; it is therefore a type of personal or collective autonomy...
of the Germanic people.” Examples were the use of Aryan-styled regalia such as the swastikaSwastikaThe swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
, the use of German legends and runic symbols in the SSSchutzstaffelThe Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
, and the idea that German scientists and their conclusions were more correct than the views of "lesser-race" scientists. - Deutsche Reinheit, or Pure German Man, suggesting that Germans were "pure Aryans" who had survived a natural catastrophe and evolved a highly developed culture during their long migration to Germany. It also suggested that Greeks were 'Germanic', claiming evidence that certain "Indogermanic" artifacts could be found in Greece. This theory supported the Kulturkreise theory tangentally, in that archeologists who did not approve of the uses of Kulturkreise theory (moderates) could support this theory.
- The unspoken, unpublished point of Nazi archaeology was summed up in the actions and purpose of the Ahnenerbe, which was the wholesale creation of "archaeology" that would support the propaganda machine of the Nazi regimeNazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
.
Ahnenerbe
The Ahnenerbe Organisation, formally the Deutsches Ahnenerbe – Studiengesellschaft für Geistesurgeschichte (German Ancestry - Research Society for Ancient Intellectual History ) was an organisation started as the Research Institute for the Prehistory of Mind and was connected to the SS in 1935 by Walther Darre. In 1936 it was attached to Hitler’s Reichsführer-SS and led by chief of police Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
. By 1937, it was the primary instrument of Nazi archaeology and archaeological propaganda, subsuming smaller organisations like Reinerth's Archaeology Group, and filling its ranks with "investigators". These included people like Herman Wirth, co-founder of the Ahnernerbe, who attempted to prove that Northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
was the cradle of Western civilisation
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
. Although it included some real archaeologists with extreme views, such as Hans Reinerth and Oswald Meghin (who became high-ranking party officials due to their cooperation), much of the membership of Ahnenerbe were second-rate archaeologists or untrained researchers, backed up by amateur enthusiasts.
The main goals of the organisation were:
- To study the territory, ideas and achievements of the Indo-GermanicIndo-European languagesThe Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
people - To bring the research findings to life and present them to the German people
- To encourage every German to get involved in the organisation.
Although the organisation claimed to have a research goal, Himmler had no official training in archaeology and was known for his interest in mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
and the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
. Himmler defined the organisation as working towards a prehistory which would prove the pre-eminence of the Germans and their Germanic predecessors since the beginning of civilisation. He is quoted as saying, “A nation lives happily in the present and the future so long as it is aware of its past and the greatness of its ancestors.”
The Ahnenerbe had difficulty finding scientists to work on the projects and was run largely by scholars from branches of the humanities, which made their research more amateurish. The group went on to be responsible for pseudoarchaeology
Pseudoarchaeology
Pseudoarchaeology — also known as alternative archaeology, fringe archaeology, fantastic archaeology, or cult archaeology — refers to interpretations of the past from outside of the academic archaeological community, which typically also reject the accepted scientific and analytical methods of the...
, illustrated by open-air displays honouring Germanic heritage such as the Externsteine
Externsteine
The Externsteine are a distinctive rock formation located in Ostwestfalen-Lippe of northwestern Germany, not far from the city of Detmold at Horn-Bad Meinberg. The formation is a tor consisting of several tall, narrow columns of rock which rise abruptly from the surrounding wooded hills...
, a sandstone formation that was thought to have been a key Germanic cult site. Another example is the Sachsenhain, where 4500 Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
were executed as a punishment for Widukind’s uprising. This site was used as an idealised shrine, considered sacred to the Germanic people and highlighting their readiness for self-sacrifice.
Many other sites were censored from the public since they did not have the correct Germanic interpretations. The sites chosen for excavations were limited to those of Germanic superiority such as Erdenburg, were the Ahnenerbe claimed to have clear evidence of the victorious campaign of the Germani against the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
.
Some of the Ahnenerbe's most extravagant activities include:
- Edmund Kiss tried to travel to Bolivia in 1928 to study the ruins of temples in the Andes mountainsAndesThe Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
. He claimed their similarity to ancient European construction indicated they were designed by Nordic migrants, millions of years earlier. - In 1938, Franz Altheim and his research partner Erika Trautmann requested the Ahnenerbe sponsor their Middle EastMiddle EastThe Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
trek to study an internal power struggle of the Roman Empire, which they believed was fought between the Nordic and Semitic peoplesSemiticIn linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...
. - In 1936 an Ahnenerbe expedition visited the German island of RügenRügenRügen is Germany's largest island. Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of the Vorpommern-Rügen district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.- Geography :Rügen is located off the north-eastern coast of Germany in the Baltic Sea...
then Sweden, with the objective of examining rock-art which they concluded was 'proto-Germanic'. - They took a huge interest in the Bayeux TapestryBayeux TapestryThe Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—nearly long, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings...
, going so far as to attempt archaeological digs to find other contemporary artwork which would support their assertion of Germanic might. - In 1938 the AhnenerbeAhnenerbeThe Ahnenerbe was a Nazi German think tank that promoted itself as a "study society for Intellectual Ancient History." Founded on July 1, 1935, by Heinrich Himmler, Herman Wirth, and Richard Walther Darré, the Ahnenerbe's goal was to research the anthropological and cultural history of the Aryan...
sent an expedition to Tibet with the intention of proving Aryan superiority by confirming the VrilVrilVril, the Power of the Coming Race is a 1871 science fiction novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, originally printed as The Coming Race. Many early readers believed that its account of a superior subterranean master race and the energy-form called "Vril" was accurate, to the extent that some theosophists...
theory, which was based on Edward Bulwer-Lytton's book Vril, the Power of the Coming Race. Their study included measuring the skulls of 376 people and comparing native feature to those associated with Aryans. The expedition's most scientific findings are associated with biological finds.
Amt Rosenberg
A smaller, more professional group of archaeologists, at least in their background and training, was led by Rosenberg and part of his Amt RosenbergAmt Rosenberg
Amt Rosenberg was an official body for cultural policy and surveillance within the Nazi party, headed by Alfred Rosenberg.It was established in 1934 under the name of Dienststelle Rosenberg , with offices at Margarethenstraße 17 in Berlin, to the west of Potsdamer Platz.Due to the long official...
organisation. It was staffed with archaeologists who signed on to some of Rosenberg's later thinking and theory. Rosenberg saw world history as shaped by the eternal fight between the 'Nordic Atlantic', the pure-blooded Nordic people of Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
, and the 'Semites', or Jewish people. To him, only the Germanic people brought culture to the world, while Jews brought evil. He speculated that the people of Germany were survivors from Atlantis who had migrated to Germany. He saw Germans as a distinct race, not only in biological terms but in mental phenomena and in their 'will to live'. Hence, he advocated 'race materialism', stating that only the fittest race (Aryans) should survive, a tenet that would later shape the Nazi policy on the Final Solution
Final Solution
The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
. The Amt Rosenberg was dedicated to finding archaeological evidence of the superiority of Germanic culture and of Atlantis, and in this it was much aided by (and in turn, gave aid to) the Thule Society
Thule Society
The Thule Society , originally the Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum , was a German occultist and völkisch group in Munich, named after a mythical northern country from Greek legend...
.
To the public
Nazi archaeology was rarely conducted with an eye to pure research, but was a propaganda tool designed to both generate nationalistic pride in Germans and provide scientific excuses for conquest. The German people were drawn to the idea of Germany as the site of the origins of civilisation by several means. For one, there were a series of films put out by Lothar Zotz with titles like Threatened by the Steam Plough, Germany’s Bronze Age, The Flames of Prehistory and On the Trail of the Eastern Germans. These used the appeal of myths, olden times, and German triumph over change to reinforce the idea that German history was something to be proud of, while at the same time taking advantage of the fact that since these periods of history were little known to the general public, they could include heavy doses of propaganda.Additionally, public journals gained popularity such as Die Kunde (The Message) and Germanen-Erbe (Germanic Heritage). With the journals and films, Germans thought they were being given good visuals and interpretations of different archaeological sites and learning more about 'true' German prehistory.
The Nazis also pushed the public to get involved in the search for the past, using the appeal of patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
as a tool. For example, the membership flyer of one amateur organisation of the Amt Rosenberg stated, “Responsibility with respect to our indigenous prehistory must again fill every German with pride!” The goal of the organisation was also stated as, “the interpretation and dissemination of unclassified knowledge regarding the history and cultural achievements of our northern Germanic ancestors on German and foreign soil.”
Along with appealing to public patriotism there were open-air museums that reconstructed Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
and Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
lake settlements at Unteruhldingen. These public museums also gained immense popularity and pushed the people to believe in and search for their Germanic past.
All of this, gathered together, created a skein of Germanic pride that was used to reinforce the nationalistic, fascist message Adolf Hitler was crafting with his speeches, open-air meetings, and public image.
To archaeologists
Prior to the formation of the Ahnenerbe, there was little funding for or interest in Germanic archaeology. This reality made it even easier for the Nazis to push their ethnocentric views onto the uninformed public, but the true effect was felt in some scholarly circles. German scholars who specialised in archaeology had long been envious of the advancements in archaeology their neighbors had made during their excavations in the Middle East; however, such archaeologists could do little.With Hitler that changed: funds were made available for scholars to make great advancements beyond their neighboring countries. Under Nazi rule, archaeology went from having one chair in prehistory in Marburg in 1933 to having nine chairs in the Reich in 1935. Once archaeology started gaining popularity, scholars were also able to excavate castles, old ruins and the like, and bring back pieces for display in museums.
One example of those changes was that the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (Romano-Germanic Central Museum) in Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
in 1939 became for a time the Zentralmuseum für deutsche Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Central museum for pre- and early German history). (Note the difference between the original "Römisch-Germanisch" which denotes a historical period, and "deutsche", implying a continuous history and one people. "Anglo-Saxon" and "English" would be rough analogies.)
In their enthusiasm for the Nazi regime's support of archaeology, many German archaeologists became pawns and puppets of the real goals behind the movement. They answered to the requests of the Ahnenerbe, and not always in the interests of pure archaeology.
Gustaf Kossinna
The nationalistic theories of Gustaf KossinnaGustaf Kossinna
Gustaf Kossinna was a linguist and professor of German archaeology at the University of Berlin...
about the origins and racial superiority of Germanic peoples influenced many aspects of Nazi ideology and politics. He is also considered to be a precursor of Nazi archaeology. Kossinna was trained as a linguist at universities in Göttingen, Leipzig, Berlin, and Strasbourg but eventually held the chair for Germanic Archeology at the University of Berlin. He laid the groundwork for an ethnocentric German prehistory. One of his theories, the Kulturkreis
Kulturkreis
The Kulturkreis school was a central idea of the early 20th-century Austrian school of anthropology that sought to redirect the discipline away from the quest for an underlying, universal human nature toward a concern with the particular histories of individual societies...
theory, was a basis on which Nazi archaeology was founded. Kossinna also published books for a general readership which were useful tools for German propaganda and created archaeological expeditions which allowed the Nazis to use Kulturkreis theory as an excuse for territorial expansion. In one of his most popular books, Die deutsche Vorgeschichte—eine hervorragend nationale Wissenschaft (German Prehistory: a Pre-eminently National Discipline), Kossinna puts forward the idea of an Aryan race superior to all peoples, the Germani, and shows Germany as the key to an unwritten history. The point of the book is clear from the beginning as the dedication reads, “To the German people, as a building block in the reconstruction of the externally as well as internally disintegrated fatherland.” Kossinna died in 1931, 13 months before Hitler seized power.
Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred RosenbergAlfred Rosenberg
' was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government...
was a Nazi Party ideologist who supported excavation and the study of provincial Roman Germany. He stated, as a summary of his research and thoughts, that “An individual to whom the tradition of his people and the honor of his people is not a supreme value, has forfeited the right to be protected by that people.” Rosenberg’s perspective on German prehistory led mainly to racist distortion of data which did not directly apply to the Germanic people. Rosenberg’s book Der Mythos des 20. Jahrhunderts (The Myth of the Twentieth Century
The Myth of the Twentieth Century
The Myth of the Twentieth Century is a book by Alfred Rosenberg, one of the principal ideologues of the Nazi party and editor of the Nazi paper Völkischer Beobachter. It was the most influential Nazi text after Hitler's Mein Kampf. The titular "myth" is "the myth of blood, which under the sign of...
) gave support to the concept of a new Germanic religion
Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period...
. Rosenberg’s theory, Weltanschauungswissenschaften, was implicit in the idea that Germany had the right to crush other nations - or even exterminate them - since German culture
Culture of Germany
German culture began long before the rise of Germany as a nation-state and spanned the entire German-speaking world. From its roots, culture in Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular...
was "superior". He also tried to prove that the Nordic-Aryans originated on a lost landmass identified with Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
, and that Jesus was not a Jew but an Aryan Amorite
Amorite
Amorite refers to an ancient Semitic people who occupied large parts of Mesopotamia from the 21st Century BC...
.
Hans Reinerth
Hans Reinerth was the main archaeologist Rosenberg used. Reinerth is famous for his excavations at the FederseeFedersee
Federsee is a lake located just north of Bad Buchau in the region of Upper Swabia in Southern Germany. It is surrounded by moorland, partially overgrown with reeds. With a size of 33 km² , the area is one of the largest, groundwater fed, connected moorlands in Southern Germany. At its deepest...
and he saw the Nazi Party as a tool he could use to work his way up in society. This is just what occurred, and in 1934 Rosenberg appointed him to the position of “Reich Deputy of German Prehistory”. This made him the spokesman for the “purification and Germanisation of the German prehistory". Reinerth was an adherent of Hitler’s theory of German racial purity. Though this theory never really came into full effect, Reinerth pushed it heavily as Reich Deputy, and encouraged archaeological exploration. His archaeological group, along with the Ahnenerbe organisation, was used to the Nazis' full advantage since it was "professional".
Other Nazi archaeologists
- Franz AltheimFranz AltheimFranz Altheim was a German historian, best known for his trip with Erika Trautmann funded by the Ahnenerbe and Hermann Göring.-Early life:...
- Erika Trautmann
- Yrjö von Grönhagen
- Assien Bohmers
External links
- Archaeological Organisations
- Hitler's Willing Archaeologists (How the SS perverted the Paleolithic record to support Nazi ideology) by Heather PringleHeather PringleHeather Pringle is a prize-winning Canadian non-fiction author and journalist, focusing on archaeology. Her 2006 book The Master Plan detailed Heinrich Himmler's establishment of the Ahnenerbe in a pseudo-scientific attempt to "prove" Aryan superiority. It won the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize...
in ArchaeologyArchaeology (magazine)Archaeology is a bimonthly mainstream magazine about archaeology, published by the Archaeological Institute of America. Its focus is both for archaeologists and non-specialists alike. The magazine was launched in 1948, and is published six times a year....
, Volume 59, Number 2, March/April 2006. - A Nordic civilisation on the lost continent of Atlantis in The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, May 3, 2006.