National Socialist Archaeology as a Faustian Bargain: The Contrasting Careers of Hans Reinerth and Herbert Jankuhn
This case study utilizes a comparison of the career trajectories of prehistorians Hans Reinerth and Herbert Jankuhn, top-ranking officials in the Rosenberg Office and the Ahnenerbe, respectively, to reveal the complexity and diversity of the motivations that led archaeologists to the NSDAP and affec...
| Résumé: | This case study utilizes a comparison of the career trajectories of prehistorians Hans Reinerth and Herbert Jankuhn, top-ranking officials in the Rosenberg Office and the Ahnenerbe, respectively, to reveal the complexity and diversity of the motivations that led archaeologists to the NSDAP and affected the actions they engaged in between 1933 and 1945. The very different pre-, peri- and post-war experiences of these two archaeologists reveal the extent to which the German university system first fostered and then turned a largely blind eye to the activities of archaeologists engaged in underwriting the ideological program of German National Socialism. Prehistoric archaeology in Germany had been largely neglected in favor of the more prestigious fields of Classical and Near Eastern archaeology in Germany, so the unprecedented support provided by the NSDAP proved to be a potent lure for many professional archaeologists. Incorporates original archival research. |
|---|---|
| ISBN: | 9780253060792 |
| Contient: | Enthalten in: The betrayal of the humanities
|
