The
Ahnenerbe was a
Nazi GermanNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
think tankA think tank is an organization, institute, corporation, or group that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economy, science or technology issues, industrial or business policies, or military advice...
that promoted itself as a "study society for Intellectual Ancient History." Founded on July 1, 1935 by
Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich Luitpold Himmler , one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany, served as Chief of the German Police and Minister of the Interior...
, Herman Wirth, and Richard Walther Darré, the Ahnenerbe's goal was to research the anthropological and cultural history of the
Aryan raceThe Aryan race is a concept historically influential in European culture in the period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 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...
, and later to experiment and launch voyages with the intent of proving that prehistoric and mythological
Nordic populations had once ruled the worldThe Nordic race was one of the racial subcategories into which white people were divided by anthropologists in the first half of the 20th century. The debates about this topic are nowadays mostly not considered scientific, but ideological...
.
Formally, the group was called
Studiengesellschaft für Geistesurgeschichte‚
Deutsches Ahnenerbe e.V. ("Study society for primordial intellectual history, German Ancestral Heritage, registered society"), and was renamed in 1937 as
Forschungs- und Lehrgemeinschaft das Ahnenerbe e.V. ("Research and Teaching Community the Ancestral Heritage, registered society").
History and development
In January 1929,
Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich Luitpold Himmler , one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany, served as Chief of the German Police and Minister of the Interior...
was appointed the leader of the fledgling
SchutzstaffelThe , abbreviated SS- or - was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. The SS grew from a small paramilitary unit to a powerful force that served as the Führer's "Praetorian Guard," the Nazi Party's "Shield Squadron" and a force that, fielding almost a million men ,...
(SS). He launched a massive recruitment campaign that took the SS from less than three hundred members in 1929 to ten thousand in 1931.
Once the SS had grown, Himmler began its transformation into a "racial elite" of young
NordicThe Nordic race was one of the racial subcategories into which white people were divided by anthropologists in the first half of the 20th century. The debates about this topic are nowadays mostly not considered scientific, but ideological...
males. This was to be accomplished by a new bureaucracy in the SS, the Race and Settlement Office of the SS (
Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt-SS) known as
RuSHAThe Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt-SS , , was the organization responsible for "safeguarding the racial 'purity' of the SS" within Nazi Germany....
. Himmler named SS Obergruppenführer Richard Walther Darré to lead the organisation, which determined if applicants were racially fit to be in the SS.
This brought about a sudden campaign meant to educate the new applicants about their Nordic past through weekly classes taught by senior RuSHA graduates using the periodical
SS-LeitheftSS-Leitheft was a Nazi periodical from 1934 to 1945.This "SS-leadership magazine", as it is often called, was published in German in Berlin from 1934 onward, and in the beginning mostly circulated among professional officers in the SS. The publisher was the SS-Hauptamt, the Main Office of the...
.
On July 1, 1935 at
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
’s SS headquarters, Himmler met with five racial experts representing Darré and with Dr. Herman Wirth, one of Germany’s most famous pre-historians. Together they came up with an organization called “
Deutsches Ahnenerbe—Studiengesellschaft für Geistesurgeschichte” ("German Ancestral Heritage—Society for the Study of the History of Primeval Ideas")—later shortened to its better-known form in 1937.
At the meeting they designated the official goal “to promote the science of ancient intellectual history” and appointed Himmler as the superintendent with Wirth serving as the president.
Wolfram SieversWolfram Sievers was Reichsgeschafsführer, or General Secretary, of the Ahnenerbe from 1935 to 1945.-Early life:...
was appointed
Reichsgeschafsführer, or General Secretary, of the
Ahnenerbe, by Himmler.
Wirth left the project at the beginning of 1937. On February 1 of that year, Dr. Walther Wüst was appointed the new president of the Ahnenerbe. Wüst was an expert on India and a dean at
Ludwig Maximilians University of MunichThe Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich , also known as LMU, is a university in Munich and, with more than 44,000 students, is the second-largest university in Germany....
, working on the side as a
VertrauensmannThese are terms, concepts and ideas that are useful to understanding the political situation in the Weimar Republic. Some are particular to the period and government, while others were just in common usage but have a bearing on the Weimar milieu and political maneuvering.*Agrarian Bolshevism...
for the SS Security Service. Referred to as “The Orientalist” by Sievers, Wüst had been recruited by him in May 1936 because of his ability to simplify science for the common man.
After being appointed president, Wüst began improving the Ahnenerbe: moving the office to a new headquarters that had cost 300,000
ReichsmarkThe Reichsmark was the currency in Germany from 1924 until June 20, 1948. The Reichsmark was subdivided into 100 Reichspfennig.-History:...
, in the
Dahlem neighborhoodSteglitz-Zehlendorf is the sixth borough of Berlin, formed in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by merging the former boroughs of Steglitz and Zehlendorf.-Subdivision:The Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough consists of seven localities:*Steglitz*Lichterfelde...
of Berlin. He also worked to limit the influence of “those he deemed scholarly upstarts,” which included cutting communication with the RuSHA office of
Karl Maria WiligutKarl Maria Wiligut was an Ariosophist and a Nazi occultist. He was the only occultist who exerted real influence in the Third Reich and has therefore also been called "Himmler's Rasputin".-Biography:Wiligut was baptised as a Roman Catholic in Vienna...
.
The organization was incorporated into the larger SS in January 1939.
Institutions
The Ahnenerbe had several different institutions or sections for its departments of research. Most of these were archeological but others included the
Pflegestätte für Wetterkunde (Meteorology Section) headed by Obersturmführer
Dr. Hans Robert ScultetusHans Robert Scultetus was a German meteorologist, who headed the Pflegestätte für Wetterkunde of the Nazi Ahnenerbe think tank....
, founded on the basis that
Hans HörbigerHans Hörbiger was an Austrian engineer from Vienna with roots in Tyrol. He took part in the construction of the Budapest subway and in 1894 invented a new type of valve essential for compressors still in widespread use today.- Early life :Hans Hörbiger was born in Atzgersdorf, a suburb of Liesing,...
's "
WelteislehreWelteislehre , also known as Glazial-Kosmogonie is a cosmological theory proposed by Hans Hörbiger, an Austrian engineer and inventor and respected steam engine designer, whose invention of the Hörbiger valve made him a wealthy man.Hörbiger did not arrive at his theory through research, but said...
" could be used to provide accurate long-range weather forecasts, and a section devoted to
musicologyMusicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture. In the intermediate sense, it includes all relevant cultures and a range of musical forms, styles, genres and...
, whose aim was to determine "the essence" of German music. It recorded folk music in expeditions to Finland and the Faroe Islands, from ethnic Germans of the occupied territories, and in South Tyrol. The section made sound recordings, transcribed manuscripts and songbooks, and photographed and filmed instrument use and folk dances. The lur, a Bronze Age musical instrument, became central to this research, which concluded that Germanic
consonanceConsonance is a stylistic device, most commonly used in poetry and songs, characterized by the repetition of the same consonant two or more times in short succession, as in "pitter patter" or in "all mammals named Sam are clammy".Consonance should not be confused with assonance, which is the...
was in direct conflict to Jewish atonalism.
New Swabia
See 1938 New Swabia expedition for full article
The third German Antarctic Expedition took place between 1938 and 1939. It was led by Capt.
Alfred RitscherAlfred Ritscher was a polar explorer from Germany. A Captain in the German Navy, he was the leader of a covert German military mission to Antarctica. This expedition, no longer secret, has since been named the Third German Antarctic Expedition....
(1879–1963).
Bohuslän
After a slide show on February 19, 1936 of his trip to
Bohuslän' is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated on the west coast of the country. It borders Dalsland and Västergötland as well as the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea and Østfold in Norway....
, a region in southwestern Sweden, Wirth convinced Himmler to launch an expedition to the region, the first official expedition financed by the Ahnenerbe. Bohuslän was known for its massive quantity of
petroglyphPetroglyphs are images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, pecking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...
rock carvings, which Wirth believed were part of an ancient writing system, predating all other known systems. Himmler appointed
Wolfram SieversWolfram Sievers was Reichsgeschafsführer, or General Secretary, of the Ahnenerbe from 1935 to 1945.-Early life:...
to be the managing director of the expedition, likely because of Wirth’s earlier troubles balancing finances.
On August 4, 1936 the expedition set off on a three month trip starting with the German island of
RügenRügen or Rugia is Germany's largest island. It is located in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Rügen makes up the principal part of the Rügen District, which also includes the neighboring islands Hiddensee and Ummanz, as well as several small islands.- Geography :Rügen is...
then continuing to
Backa, SwedenBacka, also known as Hisings-Backa, is a district of Gothenburg, Sweden with a population of approx. 22,000. It lies on the island of Hisingen....
, the first recorded rock-art site in Sweden. Despite scenes showing warriors, animals and ships, Wirth focused on the lines and circles he thought made up a prehistoric alphabet.
While his studies were largely based on personal belief, rather than objective scientific research, Wirth made interpretations about the meaning of ideograms carved in the rock, such as a circle bisected by a vertical line representing a year and a man standing with raised arms representing what Wirth called “the Son of God.” His team proceeded to make casts of what Wirth deemed the most important carvings and then carried the casts to camp where they were crated and sent back to Germany. Once satisfied with their work in Sweden, the team set out on a trek through Sweden, eventually reaching the Norwegian island of
LauvøylandetLauvøylandet is a small island outside Sandnessjøen in northern Norway. The island is often called called Rødøya, but that is not correct. Rødyøa is an island much further north...
.
Middle East
In 1938, Dr.
Franz AltheimFranz Altheim was a German historian, best known for his trip with Erika Trautmann funded by the Ahnenerbe and Hermann Göring.-Early life:...
and his research partner Erika Trautmann requested the Ahnenerbe sponsor their
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to 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 peoples. Eager to credit the vast success of the Roman Empire to a Nordic background, the Ahnenerbe agreed to match the 4,000RM put forward by
Hermann GöringHermann Wilhelm Göring was a German politician, military leader and a leading member of the Nazi Party. Among many offices, he was Hitler's designated successor and commander of the Luftwaffe...
, an old friend of Trautmann who led the Reich’s
Four-Year PlanThe Four Year Plan was a series of economic reforms created by the Nazi Party. The Four Year Plan sought to Reduce Unemployment; increase synthetic fibre production; undertake public works projects under the direction of Fritz Todt; increased automobile production; initiate numerous building and...
.
In August 1938, after spending a few days traveling through remote hills searching for ruins of
DacianThe Dacians were an Indo-European people, the ancient inhabitants of Dacia , present-day Romania and Moldova, parts of Sarmatia and Scythia Minor in southeastern Europe...
kingdoms, the two researchers arrived at their first major stop in
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
, the capital of
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
. Here Grigore Florescu, the director of the Municipal Museum, met with them and discussed both history and the politics of the day, including the activity of the
Iron GuardThe Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II...
, a fascist and anti-Semitic group.
After traveling through
IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
,
AthensAthens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
and
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon
[Republic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies...]
, the researchers went to
DamascusDamascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and its current population is estimated at about 1,669,000...
. Here they were not welcomed by the
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
(who ruled over
SyriaThe French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was a League of Nations mandate created after the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire...
as a colony at the time). The newly-sovereign
Kingdom of IraqThe Kingdom of Iraq was the sovereign state of Iraq during and after the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. The League of Nations mandate started in 1920. The kingdom began in August 1921 with the coronation of Faisal bin al-Hussein bin Ali al-Hashemi as King Faisal I...
was being courted for an alliance with Germany, and
Fritz GrobbaFritz Konrad Ferdinand Grobba is best remembered for being a German diplomat during the interwar period and World War II.-Biography:...
, the German envoy to Baghdad, arranged for Altheim and Trautmann to meet with local researchers and be driven to
ParthiaParthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasts, after which the Arsacid Empire is then also known as the 'Parthian Empire'....
n and Persian ruins in southern Iraq, as well as
BabylonBabylon was a city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
.
Through Baghdad the team went north to
AssurAssur , was one of the capitals of ancient Assyria...
where they met Sheikh Adjil el Yawar, a leader of the
ShammarThe tribe of Shammar is one of the largest tribes of Arabia, with over 1 million strong in Saudi Arabia concentrated in Hail, an estimated 1.5 Million in Iraq, Kuwaiti population centered in Aljahra is around 100,000, Palestinian population that was not displaced by war is the house of Abu Ghousa...
BedouinThe Bedouin, , are a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and Negev to the Arabian Desert...
tribe, and commander of the northern Camel Corps. He discussed German politics and his desire to duplicate the success of
Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud*King Saud*King Faisal*Mohammed*King Khaled*Nasr*Saad*King Fahd*Mansur*Bandar*Musa'id*King Abdullah*Mishaal*Sultan*Abdul Mohsin*Abd al-Rahman*Mutaib*Talal*Badr*Nawaf*Nayef*Turki*Fawwaz*Abdulilah*Salman*Ahmed*Mamdouh...
who had recently ascended to power in Saudi Arabia. With his support, the team traveled to their final major stop—the ruins of
HatraHatra is an ancient ruined city in the Ninawa Governorate and al-Jazira region of Iraq. It is today called al-Hadr, and it stands in the ancient Persian province of Khvarvaran. The city lies 290 km northwest of Baghdad and 110 km southwest of Mosul.Hatra was founded as an Assyrian city...
on the border of the Roman and Persian empires.
Karelia
In 1935, Himmler contacted author Yrjö von Grönhagen, after seeing one of his articles about the
KalevalaThe Kalevala is a book and epic poem which Elias Lönnrot compiled from Finnish and Karelian folklore in the nineteenth century. It is held to be the national epic of Finland and is traditionally thought of as one of the most significant works of Finnish literature. Karelian citizens and other...
folklore, published in a Frankfurt newspaper. Grönhagen agreed to lead a voyage through the
KareliaKarelia , the land of the Karelian peoples, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden...
region of
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
, to record pagan sorcerers and witches. Because there was uncertainty about whether the Karelians would allow photography, Finnish illustrator Ola Forsell also accompanied the team. Musicologist Fritz Bose brought along a
magnetophonMagnetophon was the brand or model name of the pioneering reel-to-reel tape recorder developed by engineers of the German electronics company AEG in the 1930s, based on the magnetic tape invention by Fritz Pfleumer...
hoping to record the pagan chants.
The team departed for their expedition in June 1936. The team’s first success was with a traditional singer, Timo Lipitsä, who knew a song closely resembling one in the Kalevala although he was unaware of the book. Later, in Tolvajärvi, the team photographed and recorded Hannes Vornanen playing a traditional Finnish
kanteleA kantele or kannel is a traditional plucked string instrument of the zither family native to Finland, Estonia and Karelia. It is related to the Russian gusli, the Latvian kokle and the Lithuanian kanklės...
.
One of the trip’s final successes was in finding Miron-Aku, a
soothsayerA soothsayer is a person who claims to speak sooth: specifically one who predicts the future based upon personal, political, spiritual, mental, or religious beliefs rather than scientific facts...
believed to be a witch by locals. Upon meeting the group, she claimed to have foreseen their arrival. The team persuaded her to perform a ritual for the camera and tape recorder in which she could summon the spirits of ancestors and “divine future events.”
The team also recorded information on
Finnish saunaThe Finnish sauna is a substantial part of Finnish culture. There are five million inhabitants and over two million saunas in Finland - an average of one per household. For Finnish people the sauna is a place to relax in with friends and family, and a place for physical and mental relaxation as...
s.
Murg Valley
In 1936, Wiligut and Gunther Kirchhoff undertook a study of the
Murg ValleyFor the town in Baden-Württemberg, see Murg, Germany.The Murg is a right tributary of the Rhine, located in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It rises in the Black Forest, in Obertal, a constituent community of Baiersbronn, where the rivers Rechtmurg and Rotmurg , both rising on the Schliffkopf in...
in the
Black ForestThe Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
, where there was a settlement described as consisting of old half-timbered houses, architectural ornament, crosses, inscriptions, and natural and man-made rock formations in the forest, which they theorized showed it to be an ancient Krist settlement. In 1937 and 1938,
Gustav RiekBorn in Stuttgart in 1900, Gustav Riek was an archaeologist from the University of Tübingen who worked with the SS Ahnenerbe in their excavactions, and led the team that excavated the Heuneburg Tumulus burial mounds in 1937.- Works :...
led an excavation of the Grosse Heuneberg, where an ancient fortress had been discovered much earlier. They also studied the nearby Tumulus burial mounds, which continue to be excavated today.
Mauern
Quite likely the Ahnenerbe’s greatest discovery in Germany was in the southern
Jura mountainsThe Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each. The mountain range sensu Johann Gottfried Ebel is located in France, Switzerland, and Germany...
of Bavaria. During an excavation of the Mauern caves, R.R. Schmidt had discovered red ochre, a common pigment for cave paintings made by the Cro-Magnon.
In fall 1937, Dr. Assien Bohmers, a
FrisiaFrisia is a coastal region along the southeastern corner of the North Sea, i.e. the German Bight...
n nationalist who applied to the SS Excavations Department earlier that year, took over the excavation. His team proceeded to find artifacts such as
burinBurin from the French burin meaning "cold chisel" has two specialised meanings for types of tools in English, one meaning a steel cutting tool which is the essential tool of engraving, and the other, in archaeology, meaning a special type of lithic flake with a chisel-like edge which was probably...
s, ivory pendants, and a
woolly mammothThe woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is an extinct species of mammoth. This animal is known from bones and frozen carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia.This mammoth species was first recorded in deposits of the...
skeleton. They also discovered Neandertal remains buried with what appeared to be throwing spears and javelins, a technology thought to have been developed by the Cro-Magnons.
Bohmers interpreted this to mean Cro-Magnons had left these stones in the caves over seventy thousand years before and this was therefore the oldest Cro-Magnon site in the world. To validate his claims, Bohmers travelled Europe speaking with colleagues and visiting exhibitions through the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
,
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
and
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
.
France
At the Parisian
Institute for Human Paleontology, Bohmers met with
Abbé Henri BreuilHenri Édouard Prosper Breuil , often referred to as Abbé Breuil, was a French archaeologist, anthropologist, ethnologist and geologist...
, an expert on
cave artCave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings, and the term is used especially for those dating to prehistoric times. The earliest known European cave paintings date to Aurignacian, some 32,000 years ago. The purpose of the paleolithic cave paintings is not known...
. Breuil arranged for Bohmers to visit Les Trois-Frères, a site whose owners only allowed a small number of people to visit. First, however, Bohmers took a quick trip to
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, followed by a tour of several other French points of interest: La Fond de Gaume (a site featuring Cro-Magnon cave paintings), Teyat, La Mouthe and the caves of Dordogne. Then Bohmers moved on to Les Trois-Frères, “where Himmler and where so many other Nazis had long dreamed of standing—in the shrine of the ancient dead, in the dark embrace of the ancestors.”
Bayeux Tapestry
The Ahnenerbe took great interest in the 900-year-old
Bayeux TapestryThe Bayeux Tapestry is a 50 cm by 70 m long embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—which explains the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England as well as the events of the invasion itself. The Tapestry is annotated in Latin...
, reportedly since it contained images of the Germanic
FranksThe Franks or Frankish people were a West Germanic tribal confederation first attested in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul...
solidly defeating their enemies. In June 1941, they oversaw the transport of the tapestry from its home in the Bayeux Cathedral, to an abbey at
Juaye-MondayeJuaye-Mondaye is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northern France. It is most notable for its abbey.-See also:*Communes of the Calvados departmentIts postal code is 14250. The INSEE code is 14346....
, and finally to the Chateau de Sourches. In August 1944, after Paris was liberated by the
AlliesThe Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . The involvement of the Allies in World War II was either natural and inevitable they were invaded or under the direct threat of invasion by the Axis or compelled by concerns that the Axis powers...
, two members of the SS were dispatched to Paris to retrieve the tapestry which had been moved into the basement of the
LouvreThe Musée du Louvre or officially the Grand Louvre — in English, the Louvre Museum or Great Louvre, or simply the Louvre — is the largest national museum of France, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris, located on the Right Bank of the...
. Contrary to Himmler’s orders, however, they chose not to attempt to enter the Louvre, most likely because of the strong presence of the
French ResistanceThe French Resistance is the collective name used for the French resistance movements which fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and the collaborationist Vichy Regime during World War II...
in the historic area.
Tibet
In 1937 Himmler decided he could increase the Ahnenerbe’s visibility by investigating Hans F. K. Günther’s claims that early Aryans had conquered much of Asia, including attacks against
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
and
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in approximately 2000 BC, and that
Gautama BuddhaSiddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher in the north eastern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is regarded by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha of our age. The time of his birth and death are uncertain: most early 20th-century historians dated his lifetime as c...
was himself an Aryan offspring of the Nordic race. Walther Wüst would later expand upon this, stating in a public speech that Adolf Hitler’s ideologies corresponded with those of Buddha, since the two shared a common heritage.
Poland
After the
invasion of PolandThe Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II...
, Sievers wrote to Himmler about the need to appropriate exhibits from numerous museums.
The
Reich Main Security AdministrationThe RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his capacity as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS...
’s Standartenführer
Franz SixDr. Franz Alfred Six was a Nazi official who was appointed by Reinhard Heydrich to direct state police operations in Germany and an occupied Great Britain.-Academic career:...
oversaw SS-Untersturmführer Peter Paulsen, who was commanding a small team’s foray into
KrakówKraków , in English also spelled Krakow or Cracow and pronounced
, is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland and a popular tourist destination. Its historic centre was inscribed on the list of World Heritage Sites as the first of its kind...
, with the intent of obtaining the 15th century Veit Stoss altar.
Because the Poles had foreseen the German interest in the altar, they had disassembled it into 32 pieces which were shipped to different locations—however Paulsen was able to locate each piece, and on October 14, 1939, he returned to Berlin with the altar in three small trucks, and had it stored in the locked treasury of the
ReichsbankThe Reichsbank was the central bank of Germany from 1876 until 1945. It was founded on 1 January 1876 . The Reichsbank was a privately owned central bank of Prussia, under close control by the Reich government. Its first president was Hermann von Dechend...
. After conferring with Hitler, who had not initially been told of the operation to capture it, it was decided to send the altar to an underground vault in Nuremberg, for safety.
Reinhard HeydrichReinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich was an SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
, then head of RSHA, sent Paulsen back to Kraków in order to seize additional museum collections. But Göring had already sent a team of his own men, commanded by SS-Sturmbannführer Kajetan Mühlmann, to loot the museums. Mühlmann agreed to let Paulsen take the scientific items back to the Ahnenerbe, while keeping the artwork for Göring.
During the looting however,
Hans FrankHans Michael Frank was a German lawyer who worked for the Nazi party during the 1920s and 1930s and later became a high-ranking official in Nazi Germany. He was prosecuted during the Nuremberg trials for his role in perpetrating the Holocaust during his tenure as Governor-General of occupied Poland...
—leader of the German-controlled
Polish General GovernmentThe General Government refers to a part of the territories of Poland under German military occupation during World War II and that were a separate part of "Greater Germany"...
—issued a November 22, 1939 order prohibiting the “unapproved export” of Polish items. Paulsen obeyed the order, but his colleague Hans Schleif arranged for five freightcars of loot from the
Warsaw Archaeological Museum to be shipped to
PoznańPoznań is a city in west-central Poland with over 557,264 inhabitants . Located on the Warta River, it is one of the oldest cities in Poland, making it an important historical centre and a vibrant centre of trade, industry, and education. Poznań is Poland's fifth largest city and fourth biggest...
, which was outside Frank’s control. In return, Schleif was appointed as a trustee for
WarthelandReichsgau Wartheland was a Nazi German Reichsgau annexed in 1939 from the Second Polish Republic. It comprised the Greater Poland and adjacent areas, and only in part matched the area of the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen...
. Paulsen later tried to take credit for the freightcars' contents in his report to RSHA, but was reassigned.
Crimea
After the German army conquered the
CrimeaCrimea or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the only autonomous republic of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name.The territory of Crimea was conquered and controlled many times throughout its history...
in early July 1942, Himmler sent Dr. Herbert Jankuhn, as well as Karl Kersten and Baron Wolf von Seefeld, to the region in search of artifacts to follow up the recent displaying of the
KerchKerch is a city on the Kerch Peninsula of eastern Crimea, is an important industrial, transport and tourist centre of Ukraine.-Ancient times:...
“Gothic crown of the Crimea” in Berlin.
Jankuhn met with senior officers of
Einsatzkommando 11, part of Einsatzgruppe D, while waiting at the field headquarters of the 5th SS Panzer Division. Commander
Otto OhlendorfOtto Ohlendorf was a German SS-Gruppenführer and head of the interior division of the SD. He was convicted of and executed for war crimes committed during World War II.-Early life:...
gave Jankuhn information about the Crimean museums.
Traveling with the 5th SS Panzer, Jankuhn’s team eventually reached
MaikopMaykop or Maikop may refer to:*Maykop, capital of the Republic of Adygea, Russia*Maykop culture, prehistoric culture of the northern Caucasus, ca. 3500 BCE–2500 BCE...
, where they received a message from Sievers that Himmler wanted an investigation of Manhup-Kale, an ancient mountain fortress. Jankuhn sent Kersten to follow up on Manhup-Kale, while the rest of the team continued trying to secure artifacts that had not already been taken by the Red Army. Einsatzkommando 11b’s commander Werner Braune aided the team in their efforts.
Jankuhn was ultimately unable to find Gothic artifacts denoting a German ancestry, even after receiving intelligence about a shipment of seventy-two crates or artifacts shipped to a medical warehouse. Unfortunately, the area had been ravaged by the time the team arrived, and only twenty crates remained—but they contained Greek and stone-age artifacts, rather than Gothic.
Ukraine
In June 1943, 27-year-old Untersturmführer
Heinz BrücherHeinz Brücher was a member of special science unit SS Ahnenerbe, PhD in botany.In June 1943, 27-year-old Untersturmführer Brücher was tasked with an expedition to the Soviet Union. Hauptsturmführer Konrad von Rauch and an interpreter identified as 'Steinbrecher' were also involved in the expedition...
, who held a
PhDPHD may refer to:* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian reform organization* PHD, a track on The Crystal Method album Tweekend* PHD finger, a protein sequence* PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company...
from Tübingen in
botanyBotany, plant science, phytology, or plant biology is a branch of biology and is the scientific study of plant life and development...
, was tasked with an expedition to the Ukraine and Crimea.
HauptsturmführerHauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
Konrad von Rauch and an interpreter identified as “Steinbrecher” were also involved in the expedition.
In February 1945, Brücher was ordered to destroy the 18 research facilities that were being studied, to avoid their capture by advancing Soviet forces. He refused, and after the war continued his work as a botanist in
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
and
TrinidadTrinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the country of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just 11 km off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of 4,768 km² it is also the fifth...
.
Italy
In 1937 the Ahnenerbe sent to
Val CamonicaVal Camonica is one of the largest valleys of the central Alps, in eastern Lombardy, about 90 km long. It starts from the Tonale Pass, at 1883 metres above sea level and ends at Corna Trentapassi, in the comune of Pisogne, near Lake Iseo...
the archaeologist
Franz AltheimFranz Altheim was a German historian, best known for his trip with Erika Trautmann funded by the Ahnenerbe and Hermann Göring.-Early life:...
and his wife photographer Erika Trautnann to study
prehistoric rock inscriptionsThe stone carvings of Val Camonica constitute one of the largest collections of prehistoric petroglyphs in the world and were the first World Heritage recognized by the Unesco in Italy . Unesco has recognized more than 140,000 figure , but new discoveries have progressively increased the total...
. The two returned to Germany claiming they found traces of Nordic runes on the rocks confirming that ancient Rome was originally of Nordic descent.
Also an expedition of SS-Ahnenerbe was planned in
SardiniaSardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . The area of Sardinia is . The nearest land masses to the island are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia, and the Spanish Balearic Islands...
, in the 30's, but the reasons of it are still unknown.
Bolivia
After winning 20,000
ReichsmarkThe Reichsmark was the currency in Germany from 1924 until June 20, 1948. The Reichsmark was subdivided into 100 Reichspfennig.-History:...
in a writing contest,
Edmund KissEdmund Kiss was a German archaeologist and writer best known for his writings on Tiwanaku in Bolivia.-Early life and writings:...
traveled to Bolivia in 1928 to study the ruins of temples in the
Andes mountainsThe Andes are the world's longest exposed mountain range. They lie as a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America...
. He claimed their similarity to ancient European construction indicated they were designed by Nordic migrants, millions of years earlier.
He also claimed that his findings supported the
World Ice TheoryWelteislehre , also known as Glazial-Kosmogonie is a cosmological theory proposed by Hans Hörbiger, an Austrian engineer and inventor and respected steam engine designer, whose invention of the Hörbiger valve made him a wealthy man.Hörbiger did not arrive at his theory through research, but said...
, which claimed the universe originated from a cataclysmic clash between gigantic balls of ice and glowing mass.
Arthur PosnanskyArthur Posnansky , often called "Arturo", was a Bolivian engineer, explorer and archaeologist. He best remembered for popularizing the archaeological site of Tiwanaku. He was born in Vienna on April 13, 1873 and died in La Paz, Bolivia in 1946....
had been studying a local site called
TiwanakuTiwanaku is an important Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia. Tiwanaku is recognized by Andean scholars as one of the most important precursors to the Inca Empire, flourishing as the ritual and administrative capital of a major state power for approximately five hundred years...
, which he also believed supported the theory.
After contacting Posnansky, Kiss approached Wüst for help planning an expedition to excavate Tiwanaku and a nearby site, Siminake. The team would consist of twenty scientists and would excavate for a year as well as explore
Lake TiticacaLake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Peru and Bolivia. It sits 3,812 m above sea level, making it one of the highest commercially navigable lakes in the world. By volume of water it is also the largest lake in South America....
, take aerial photographs of ancient Incan roads they believed had Nordic roots. By late August 1939, the expedition was nearly set to embark, however the
September first invasionFall Weiss was a German strategic plan for the Invasion of Polandprepared before 1939 and put into action on 1 September 1939.- Plan details :...
of
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is 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...
saw the trip postponed indefinitely.
Behistun
In 1938, Ahnenerbe president Walther Wüst proposed a trip to
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
to study the
Behistun InscriptionThe Behistun Inscription is a multi-lingual inscription located on Mount Behistun in the Kermanshah Province of Iran, near the city of Kermanshah in western Iran.The inscription includes three versions of the same text, written in three different cuneiform...
, which had been created by order of the Achaemenid
ShahShah is a Persian term for a king that has been adopted in many other languages.-Word history:"Shāh" was the title of Iranian kings including the Achaemenid dynasty which unified Persia and created a vast intercontinental empire...
Darius IDarius I or Darius the Great , was a Zoroastrian Persian Shahanshah of Persia...
—who Wüst believed to have been of
Nordic originThe Nordic race was one of the racial subcategories into which white people were divided by anthropologists in the first half of the 20th century. The debates about this topic are nowadays mostly not considered scientific, but ideological...
. The inscriptions were recorded atop steep cliffs using
scaffoldingScaffolding is a temporary frame used to support people and material in the construction or repair of buildings and other large structures. It is usually a modular system of metal pipes , although it can be made out of other materials...
that was removed after the inscriptions were made. Unable to afford the cost of erecting new scaffolds, Wüst proposed that he, his wife, an
amanuensisAmanuensis [ipa: əˌmænjuˈɛnsɪs] is a Latin word adopted in various languages, including English, for certain persons performing a function by hand, either writing down the words of another or performing manual labour...
, an Iranian student, a photographer, and an experienced
mountaineerMountaineering is the sport, hobby or profession of walking, hiking, backpacking and climbing mountains. In Europe it is also referred to as alpinism, while in the Americas the term refers to a particular style of mountain climbing, that involves a mixture of ice climbing, rock climbing, mixed...
be sent with a balloon-mounted camera. The onset of the war however, saw the trip postponed indefinitely.
Canary Islands
Early travelers to the
Canary IslandsThe Canary Islands are a Spanish archipelago which, in turn, forms one of the Spanish Autonomous Communities and an Outermost Region of the European Union. The archipelago is located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the disputed border between Morocco and the...
had described the
GuancheGuanche may refer to:*Guanches, a people of the Canary Islands*Guanche language, extinct language, used to be spoken by the Guanches until the 16th or 17th century...
natives as having golden-blond hair and white skin, and mummies had been found with blond tresses—facts which Wirth believed indicated that the islands had once been inhabited by
NordicsThe Nordic race was one of the racial subcategories into which white people were divided by anthropologists in the first half of the 20th century. The debates about this topic are nowadays mostly not considered scientific, but ideological...
. His colleague Dr.
Otto HuthOtto Huth was a German ethnologist, archeologist and an expert on folklore. He was an early member of the Ahnenerbe.- Ahnenerbe Activity :In 1935 Otto Huth met Herman Wirth who at that time was in charge of Ahnenerbe. Otto Huth became Wirth's disciple and together studied German folklore...
proposed a Fall 1939 expedition to study the ancient islanders’ racial origins, artifacts and religious rites. At the time, the Canary Islands were under the control of
FrancoFrancisco Franco Bahamonde, commonly known as Francisco Franco , or simply Franco, was a military general and dictator of Spain from October 1936, and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in 1975...
’s Spain. Because Franco refused to side with the Axis when the war started however, the trip was cancelled.
Iceland
Dr.
Bruno SchweizerBruno Schweizer was a German linguist, best-known for his work with the Nazi Ahnenerbe division.Schweizer was a personal believer in the theory that a Germanic Langobard stronghold in northeaster Italy gave rise to the Cimbrians, during the Middle Ages before and after it's alleged end in 774.On...
had already traveled to
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
three times in 1938 when he proposed an Ahnenerbe expedition with seven others to the country in order to learn about their ancient farming practices and architecture, record folksongs and dances, and also collect soil samples for pollen analysis.
The first setback for the expedition was the ridicule of the Scandinavian press, publishing stories in February 1939 claiming the expedition was based on false ideas about Icelandic heritage and sought old church records which did not even exist. An enraged Himmler publicly shut down the trip completely, but after calming down he allowed the planning of the trip to be secretly continued. The final setback occurred when Himmler’s personal staff was unable to get enough
Icelandic crownsThe króna is the currency of Iceland. The króna is technically subdivided into 100 aurar , but in practice this subdivision is no longer used....
—Iceland’s currency. Not being able to quickly solve this problem, the trip was rescheduled for the summer of 1940. In May 1940, the British invaded neutral Iceland, but when the war had started the expedition had already been shelved.
In 1940, following the British occupation of Iceland, the Ahnenerbe-funded Dr. Bruno Kress, a German researcher who was in the country at the time, was rounded up along with other German nationals present on the island. Kress was interned in
RamseyRamsey is a town in the north of the Isle of Man. It is the second largest town on the island after Douglas. Its population is 7,309 according to the 2006 census . It has one of the biggest harbours on the island, and has a prominent derelict pier, called the Queen's Pier. It was formerly one of...
on the
Isle of ManThe Isle of Man , or Mann , is a self-governing British Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Britain and Ireland. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Crown is represented by a Lieutenant Governor...
, but was allowed to correspond with Sievers through letters.
http://www.george-broderick.de/ns_docs/ns-kress_letters.doc Kress’s
Grammar of Icelandic was eventually published in East Germany in 1955. Kress also later worked for the East German
Staatssicherheit (Stasi).
Master Plan East
After being appointed Commissioner for the Strengthening of the German Race, Himmler set to work with Konrad Meyer on developing a plan for three large German colonies in the eastern occupied territories.
LeningradSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd and Leningrad...
, northern Poland and the
CrimeaCrimea or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the only autonomous republic of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name.The territory of Crimea was conquered and controlled many times throughout its history...
would be the focal points of these colonies intended to spread the Aryan race. The Crimean colony was called Gotengau, or “Goth district” in honor of the
GothsThe Goths were a heterogeneous East Germanic tribe. The historian Jordanes claimed that the Goths arrived from semi-legendary Scandza, believed to be somewhere in modern Götaland , and that a Gothic population had crossed the Baltic Sea before the 2nd century, lending their name to the region of...
who had settled there and were believed to be Aryan ancestors of Germans.
Himmler estimated Aryanization of the region would take twenty years, first expelling all the undesirable populations, then re-distributing the territory to appropriate Aryan populations. In addition to changing the demographics of the region, Himmler also intended to plant
oakAn oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 400 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
and
beechBeech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.The leaves of beech trees are entire or sparsely toothed, from 5–15 cm long and 4–10 cm broad...
trees to replicate traditional German forests, as well as plant new crops brought back from Tibet. To achieve the latter end, Himmler ordered a new institution set up by the Ahnenerbe and headed by Schäfer. A station was then set up near the Austrian town of
GrazGraz , with a population of 291,574 as of 2009 , is the second-largest city in Austria after Vienna and the capital of the federal state of Styria....
where Schäfer set to work with seven other scientists to develop new crops for the Reich.
The final piece of the puzzle fell in place after Hitler read a work by
Alfred FrauenfeldAlfred Eduard Frauenfeld was an Austrian Nazi leader. An engineer by occupation, he was associated with the pro-Nazi Germany wing of Austrian Nazism.-Activism in Austria:...
which suggested resettling inhabitants of South Tyrol, believed by some to be descendants of the Goths, to the Crimea. In 1939 the South Tyrolean were ordered by Hitler and
Benito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
to vote on whether they wanted to remain in Italy and accept assimilation or alternatively emigrate to Germany. Over 80% chose the latter (for details see:
South Tyrol Option Agreement). Himmler presented Master Plan East to Hitler and received approval in July, 1942.
Full implementation of the plan was not feasible because of the ongoing war, but a small colony was in fact founded around Himmler’s field headquarters at Hegewald, near
KievKiev or Kyiv , is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300...
. Starting on October 10, 1942, Himmler’s troops deported 10,623 Ukrainians from the area in cattle cars before bringing in trains of ethnic Germans (
volksdeutscheVolksdeutsche is a historical term which arose in the early 20th century to describe ethnic Germans living outside of the Reich. This is in contrast to Imperial Germans , German citizens living within Germany...
) from northern Ukraine. The SS authorities gave families needed supplies as well as land of their own, but also informed them of
quotaQuota may refer to:A level business* Quota samplingAffirmative action* Racial quota* Reservation in India* Quotas in PakistanComputing* Disk quota* Bandwidth cap, the quota for upload or download of dataElectoral systems...
s of food they needed to produce for the SS.
Failed seizure of Tacitus' writings
The Ahnenerbe had tried to gain possession of one of the best-known copies of
TacitusPublius 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...
'
GermaniaThe Germania , written by Gaius Cornelius Tacitus around 98, is an ethnographic work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire....
, since it was an early description of the German people, and favourably described them as a modern and moral society. Although
MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
had originally promised it as a gift in 1936, it remained in an aristocratic library outside
AnconaAncona is a city and a seaport in the Marche, a region of central Italy, population 101,909 . Ancona is situated on the Adriatic Sea and is the center of the province of Ancona and the capital of the region....
, where the Ahnenerbe tried to obtain it after Mussolini was deposed.
Headquarters relocation
On July 29 1943, the
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
's firebombing of Hamburg led Himmler to order the immediate evacuation of the main Ahnenerbe headquarters in Berlin. The extensive library was moved to a castle in
UlmUlm is a city in the German Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and traditions...
while the staff was moved to the tiny village of Waischenfeld near
Bayreuth, BavariaBayreuth is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Frankish Alb and the Fichtelgebirge...
. The building selected was the 17th century
Steinhaus. While much of the staff was not ecstatic about the primitive conditions, Sievers seems to have embraced the isolation.
Financing
Originally funded with modest grants from the German Research Foundation and the Reich Agricultural Organization, the Ahnenerbe began needing more resources. To meet this end, they created the
Ahnenerbe Foundation, which sought out private donations to help fund the research. One of the largest donations, approximately 50,000
ReichsmarkThe Reichsmark was the currency in Germany from 1924 until June 20, 1948. The Reichsmark was subdivided into 100 Reichspfennig.-History:...
, came from
Deutsche BankDeutsche Bank AG is an international Universal bank with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. The bank employs more than 81,000 people in 76 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets.Deutsche Bank has offices in major financial centers,...
boardmember Emil Georg von Strauss’ associates, including
BMW, is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company. Founded in 1916, it is known for its performance and luxury vehicles. It owns and produces the MINI brand, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.-Company history:...
and
Daimler-BenzDaimler-Benz AG was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motor vehicles, and engines which was founded in 1926. An Agreement of Mutual Interest—which was valid until year 2000—was signed on May 1 1924 between Karl Benz's Benz & Cie. and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, which had been founded by...
.
In 1936, the SS formed a joint company with Anton Loibl, a machinist and driving instructor. The SS had heard about reflector pedals for bicycles, that Loibl and others had been developing. Assuring that Loibl got the patent himself, Himmler then used his political weight to ensure the passing of a 1939 law requiring the use of the new reflective pedals—of which the Ahnenerbe received a share of the profits, 77,740 Reichsmark in 1938.
Medical experiments
The
Institut fuer Wehrwissenschaftliche Zweckforschung ("Institute for Military Scientific Research"), which conducted extensive medical experiments using human subjects, became attached to the Ahnenerbe during World War II. It was managed by
Wolfram SieversWolfram Sievers was Reichsgeschafsführer, or General Secretary, of the Ahnenerbe from 1935 to 1945.-Early life:...
. Sievers had founded the organization on the orders of Himmler, who appointed him director with two divisions headed by
Sigmund RascherSigmund Rascher was a German SS doctor.His deadly experiments on humans, planned and executed in the Nazi concentration camp of Dachau, were judged inhumane and criminal during the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life and career:Rascher was born the third child of Hanns-August Rascher, a doctor, and...
and
August HirtAugust Hirt , an SS-Hauptsturmführer , served as a chairman at the Reich University in Strasbourg during World War II....
, and funded by the
Waffen-SSThe Waffen-SS was the combat arm of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside the Wehrmacht Heer regular army, but was never formally part of it...
.
Dachau
Dr. Sigmund Rascher was tasked with helping the
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air...
determine what was safe for their pilots—because aircraft were being built to fly higher than ever before. He applied for and received permission from Himmler to requisition camp prisoners to place in vacuum chambers to simulate the high altitude conditions that pilots might face.
Rascher was also tasked with discovering how long German airmen would be able to survive if shot down above freezing water. His victims were forced to remain out of doors naked in freezing weather for up to 14 hours, or kept in a tank of icewater for 3 hours, their pulse and internal temperature measured through a series of electrodes. Warming of the victims was then attempted by different methods, most usually and successfully by immersion in very hot water, and also less conventional methods such as placing the subject in bed with women who would try to sexually stimulate him, a method suggested by Himmler.
Rascher also experimented with the effects of Polygal, a substance made from
beetThe beet is a plant in the amaranth family. It is best known in its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is probably the red root vegetable known as the beetroot or garden beet...
s and apple
pectinPectin is a structural heteropolysaccharide contained in the primary cell walls of terrestrial plants. It was first isolated and described in 1825 by Henri Braconnot...
, on coagulating blood flow to help with
gunshot woundsThe field of wound ballistics largely comprises the study of the physiology and medical effects of projectile weapons on humans or animals...
. Subjects were given a Polygal tablet, and shot through the neck or chest, or their limbs amputated without anaesthesia. Rascher published an article on his experience of using Polygal, without detailing the nature of the human trials and also set up a company to manufacture the substance, staffed by prisoners.
Similar experiments were conducted from July to September 1944, as the Ahnenerbe provided space and materials to doctors at Dachau to undertake “seawater experiments”, chiefly through Sievers. Sievers is known to have visited Dachau on July 20, to speak with Ploetner and the non-Ahnenerbe Wilhelm Beiglboeck, who ultimately carried out the experiments.
Skulls
Walter Greite rose to leadership of the Ahnenerbe’s
Applied Nature Studies division in January 1939, and began taking detailed measurements of 2,000 Jews at the Vienna emigration office—but scientists were unable to use the data. On December 10, 1941, Beger met with Sievers and convinced him of the need for 120 Jewish skulls. During the later
Nuremberg TrialsThe Nuremberg trials were a series of trials, or tribunals, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after its defeat in World War II....
, Dr.
Friedrich HielscherFriedrich Hielscher was a poet/philosopher with connections to the German Nazi party in pre-WWII years, during which period he edited the journal Der Vormarsch . But long before Hitler and the NSDAP came to power he started to organise his intellectual circle in a secret resistance organisation...
testified that Sievers had initially been repulsed at the idea of expanding the Ahnenerbe to human experimentation, and that he had “no desire whatsoever to participate in these.” (v:II pg:37)
Beger collaborated with Dr.
August HirtAugust Hirt , an SS-Hauptsturmführer , served as a chairman at the Reich University in Strasbourg during World War II....
, of the Reich University of Strassburg, in creating a Jewish bone collection for research. The bodies of 79 Jewish men, 30 Jewish women, two Poles, and four Asians were ultimately collected and
maceratedMaceration is a bone preparation technique whereby parts of a vertebrate corpse are left to rot inside a closed container at near-constant temperature, to get a clean skeleton. It is a form of controlled putrefaction, the decomposition of a corpse by bacteria in anaerobic conditions. The...
.
Trials
- Wolfram Sievers: In Waischenfeld American troops captured a slew of documents that would be used in the case against Sievers which would be a part of the Doctors' Trial
Not to be confused with the Doctors' Plot.The Doctors' Trial was the first of 12 trials for war crimes that the United States authorities held in their occupation zone in Nuremberg, Germany after the end of World War II. These trials were held before U.S...
. Sievers was charged for aiding in the skeleton collection and human medical experiments at Dachau and Natzweiler. In his defense, Sievers claimed he had helped a resistance group since 1929, which was supported by testimony from Dr. Friedrich HielscherFriedrich Hielscher was a poet/philosopher with connections to the German Nazi party in pre-WWII years, during which period he edited the journal Der Vormarsch . But long before Hitler and the NSDAP came to power he started to organise his intellectual circle in a secret resistance organisation...
on April 15, 1947. Sievers was nevertheless found guilty on all four counts on August 21, 1947 and sentenced to death. He was hanged on June 2, 1948 at Landsberg Prison Landsberg Prison is a penal facility located in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about 65 kilometers west of Munich and 35 kilometers south of Augsburg....
. A Tibetan chant was performed upon his corpse.
- Richard Walther Darré: An Ahnenerbe founder, Darré was tried in the Ministries Trial
The Ministries Trial was the eleventh of the twelve trials for war crimes the U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Nuremberg after the end of World War II. These twelve trials were all held before U.S...
. He received seven years imprisonment after being found not guilty on more serious charges.
- Edmund Kiss: His Bolivia trip having been cancelled, Kiss would serve in the armed forces the rest of the war, taking command of SS men at Wolfschanze near the end. While interned in the Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The city of Darmstadt was founded by the Counts of Katzenelnbogen in 1330, though settlement in the area is known to have been present as early as the late 11th century...
camp after the war, he was released in June 1947 due to severe diabetes but classified as a “major offender”—a classification which allowed him to only take a manual labor job. Following this decision, Kiss hired a lawyer to protest this decision, a major component of his case being he had never been a member of the Nazi party. After somewhat renouncing his past, Kiss was reclassified as a “fellow traveler” in 1948 and fined 501 DM.
- Walther Wüst: Although the president of the Ahnenerbe from 1937 until the end of the war, Wüst’s claims that he was unaware of any medical experiments were acknowledged, and in 1950 he was classified as a “fellow traveler” and released, returning to the University of Munich as a professor-in-reserve.
- Bruno Beger: In February 1948, Beger was classified as “exonerated” by a denazification
Denazification was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of any remnants of the Nazi regime. It was carried out specifically by removing those involved from positions of influence and by disbanding or rendering impotent the...
tribunal unaware of his role in the skeleton collection. In 1960, an investigation in LudwigsburgLudwigsburg is a city in Germany, about north of Stuttgart's city center, near the river Neckar. It is the capital of the Ludwigsburg District , and belongs to the Stuttgart Region in the Administrative region of Stuttgart.- History :The middle of Neckarland, in which Ludwigsburg lies, was...
began investigating the collection, and Beger was taken into custody on March 30, 1960. He was released four months later, but the investigation continued until coming to trial on October 27, 1970. Beger claimed that he was unaware the Auschwitz prisoners he measured were to be killed. While two others indicted in the trial were released, Beger was convicted on April 6, 1971, and sentenced to three years in prison for being an accomplice in the murder of 86 Jews. Upon appeal however, his sentence was reduced to three years of probation.
Report of mass grave
In 2002,
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
announced the discovery of a mass-grave containing dozens of Nazi soldiers in the southern region of the country. Some had been
trepannedTrepanation is a medical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull, exposing the dura mater in order to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases. It may also refer to any "burr" hole created through other body surfaces, including nail beds...
, others had their spinal cords sawn lengthwise, or were missing their skulls.
PravdaPravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
reported it to be the aftermath of an Ahnenerbe experiment, although no further information was given. However,
Pravda has run several incorrect stories about the Ahnenerbe before, and the article contained factual errors about the origin of the organization.
Fantasy vs. reality
Much misinformation about the Ahnenerbe has circulated, due in part to adaptations of the group in fiction, and historically dubious conspiracy theories which sometimes confuse the Ahnenerbe with the roughly contemporaneous
Thule SocietyThe 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...
, or the historically unverified
Vril societyVril is a substance described in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1871 novel The Coming Race, which was later reprinted as Vril: The Power of the Coming Race. The novel is an early example of science fiction...
.
One of the most in-depth analyses of Ahnenerbe was historian Michael Wood's
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
(UK) documentary
Hitler's Search for the Holy Grail, part of its
Secret History series, broadcast in August 1999.
Ahnenerbe in fiction
- The Ahnenerbe organization was the basis for the Nazi archaeologist villains in Steven Spielberg’s "Indiana Jones
Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. is a fictional adventurer, OSS agent, professor of archaeology, and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
" films.
- The Hellboy
Hellboy is a comic book character created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. He has appeared in a number of eponymous miniseries and one-shots, as well as some crossovers.The character is a demon who fights for the U.S...
series of comics’ main antagonists are Project Ragna RokProject Ragna Rok is a fictional plan from Mike Mignola's Hellboy comics.It involved a secret team of Nazi scientists and occultists, headed by Rasputin, aiming at creating a doomsday weapon which could end World War II and bring about a victory for the Third Reich.It was named after the apocalypse...
, a fictionalized version of Ahnererbe who were focused on summoning supernatural aid to change the course of World War II.
- The Delta Green
Delta Green is a setting for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game created by Adam Scott Glancy, Dennis Detwiller, and John Tynes of the Seattle gaming house Pagan Publishing.-Premise:...
sourcebook for the Call of CthulhuCall of Cthulhu is a horror fiction role-playing game based on H. P. Lovecraft's story of the same name and the associated Cthulhu Mythos.The game, often abbreviated as CoC, is published by Chaosium.-Setting:...
role-playing game claims the Ahnenerbe spawned another organization, “Karotechia,” which practiced ritual magic.
- The video game Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a first person shooter video game published by Activision and originally released on November 19, 2001 for Windows. The single player game was developed by Gray Matter Interactive and Nerve Software developed its multiplayer mode...
portrays an organization (SS Paranormal Division) based on the Ahnenerbe practicing occult rituals and magic.
- Charles Stross
Charles David George "Charlie" Stross is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. His works range from science fiction and Lovecraftian horror to fantasy. Stross was born in Leeds....
features fictional Ahnenerbe activities in his novel The Atrocity ArchivesThe Atrocity Archives contains two stories by British author Charles Stross, consisting of the short novel The Atrocity Archive and The Concrete Jungle, which won the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Novella.The stories are Lovecraftian spy thrillers involving a secret history of the 20th century...
.
- The Ahnenerbe, led by Sievers, and former Grand Master of the Thule Society, Rudolf von Sebottendorf
Rudolf Freiherr von Sebottendorff was the alias of Adam Alfred Rudolf Glauer , who also occasionally used another alias, Erwin Torre. He was an important figure in the activities of the Thule Society, a post-World War I German occultist organization that influenced many members of the NSDAP...
, are portrayed as the driving force behind a secret holocaust of vampires in Nazi death camps in Juan Miguel de la Torre's novel Las Increíbles Aventuras de Rex Stark y el Holocausto Secreto.
- The Ahnenerbe was portrayed as the Nazi organization behind the development of the "1st SS Nazi Vampire Brigade Ostmark" in the Fantasy/Horror Short The Golden Nazi Vampire Of Absam 2.
- The video game Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a PlayStation 3 action-adventure video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the sequel to the 2007 game, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Officially announced in the December 2008 issue of Game Informer, the game was released in...
features a Ahnenerbe expedition in Tibet, lead by Karl Schäfer.
See also
- List of Ahnenerbe institutes
- Nazi mysticism
Speculation about National Socialism and Occultism has become part of popular culture since 1960. Aside from several popular documentaries, there are numerous books on the topic, most notably Le Matin des Magiciens and The Spear of Destiny ; The first examples of this literary genre appeared in...
- Reich Research Council
- 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...
External links