Ferdinand Kutsch

Ferdinand Kutsch (born January 1, 1889 in Burg-Gemünden , †  April 30, 1972 in Wiesbaden ) was a German prehistorian and Roman provincial archaeologist .

Youth and Early Activities

Kutsch was born on January 1st, 1889 in Burg Gemünden (at that time the district of Alsfeld in Upper Hesse) as the son of a chief forester. After graduating from high school in Darmstadt in 1907 , he studied classical archeology , classical philology , German studies and prehistory at the universities of Tübingen, Munich, Berlin and Gießen until 1912 . This was followed in 1913 with a doctorate on the philological topic “Attic healing gods and healing heroes” with Rudolf Herzog in Gießen.

After a short stay as a scholarship holder in the Rome department of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), he worked for the Roman-Germanic Commission of the DAI in Frankfurt until 1919 , interrupted by his military service with the artillery in the First World War . He then worked as an assistant in the State Museum of Nassau Antiquities in Wiesbaden (today part of the Museum Wiesbaden ). In 1927 he succeeded Emil Ritterling as director of the museum and remained so until his retirement in 1956, again interrupted by military service from 1941–44 as captain of the air force in France and Germany. At the same time he took over the post of director, he was appointed shop steward for cultural and historical soil antiquities in the Wiesbaden district.

Kutsch worked from prehistory through Roman times to the Middle Ages over all relevant archaeological epochs. He was particularly interested in researching prehistoric ramparts.

In addition to his work in the museum and the preservation of monuments, Kutsch was involved in historical clubs and associations. Since 1931 he was chairman of the Association for Nassau Antiquities and Historical Research and the West and South German Association for Antiquity Research .

Activity during the Nazi regime

Kutsch took over the West and South German Association in difficult times. First of all, it was economic difficulties that meant that the annual association meetings could not take place (1934) or only to a limited extent (1932 in Hanau , 1933 together with the Northwest German Association for Antiquity Research in Groningen ). In addition, Hans Reinerth tried since 1934 to integrate the association into the Reich Association for German Prehistory or to bring it into line. Reinerth succeeded in this in 1934 in the case of the East German , the Central German Association for Antiquity Research and the pan-German umbrella organization of all associations. Reinerth sent a circular to the members of the West and South German Association, bypassing Chairman Kutsch, asking them to join the Reichsbund. Reinerth probably chose this path because as a representative of the Rosenberg Office he lacked the legal basis for compulsory integration.

At the association conference in Fulda in 1935 , Reinerth tried again to apply for integration through an envoy, which Kutsch thankfully refused, as the Northwest German Association had done shortly before. The association had in the meantime received support from a side that one would not necessarily have expected: The Ahnenerbe association, led by Heinrich Himmler and closely related to the SS , held its hand protectively over the association. Alexander Langsdorff , archaeologist and SS leader, took part in the conference in Fulda as a representative of the "Reichsführer-SS" . The SS was probably seen as the lesser evil compared to Reinerth.

Reinerth thus got into a complicated triangular relationship and must have been very angry, because at the "Second Reichstag of the Reichsbund für German Prehistory" in September 1935 in Bremen, he let his tirades run free. The Bremer Zeitung reported the content of Reinerth's speech as follows:

"Then Prof. Reinerth took the floor on a fundamental settlement with the opponents of the völkisch prehistory [...] Finally, the third group of researchers was the most dangerous [...] It was the Roman-Germanic circle around Ludwig Lindenschmit that was responsible for this development from the north to the south and thereby asserted the primacy of the southern cultures over the Germanic [...] Even today there are representatives of this direction who must necessarily be opponents of the völkisch prehistory [...] The federal leader rejected [...] reactionary attacks [...] and, on the basis of a strange meeting of reactionary circles that took place recently in Fulda, described the work of those powers that still today, in common fraternization with Judaism and political Catholicism, are trying to sabotage the work that the Reichsbund [...] is doing. "

Participants from Halle at the Fulda conference even mentioned that "Heil Hitler was seldom greeted, party badges were hardly to be seen, [...] and it even happened that Heil Hitler's greeting was answered with a hello."

On the advice of Langsdorff and Hans Joachim Apffelstaedt , regional councilor and head of the cultural department of the Rhenish provincial association, Kutsch initially remained calm. Then he took a daring escape: on October 13, 1935, he made an official complaint to the Gestapo and asked “for the protection of the state against defamation of the institutions, museums and associations associated with him by Mr. Reinerth. "

The petition remained without consequences for both sides and the Rosenberg Office continued its attempts to align. In January 1936 Reinerth sent another letter to all member associations, bypassing Kutsch, with the request not to withdraw from the “National Socialist unification”. Kutsch responded to this with a confidential circular in which he asked the clubs to comment. He attached a list of Reinerth's misconduct, an extract from the Bremer Zeitung and a copy of his report to the Gestapo. The latter was not entirely safe for him, as it showed that the Gestapo had not responded and Kutsch was on his own. Numerous positive responses to this letter show that Reinerth's behavior was also a thorn in the side of the member associations.

The Northwest German Association had in the meantime joined the Reichsbund, but the members soon regretted this. They no longer felt bound by these decisions made in Bremen and invited the West and South German Association to the 1936 annual conference in Bonn. Shortly before this conference, Hitler apparently decided, despite Himmler's reservations against Reinerth, to entrust him with the newly created Reich Institute for Archeology and Prehistory . Kutsch therefore accelerated the founding of a West German umbrella organization, which was decided in Bonn. The leadership was transferred to the governor of the Rhine province Heinrich Haake , for whom Apffelstaedt was more likely to work, party leader was the Essen Gauleiter Josef Terboven . The umbrella organization had the rather defensive task of protecting the associations from Reinerth's attacks. This was achieved through the involvement of high-ranking NSDAP officials . In practice, it hardly appeared.

In the following years the association's activities became less. In 1937 it was considered right not to meet in order to avoid the big row. Kutsch himself sums up the events from 1936 until the outbreak of war in the following words: “In 1936, at a joint conference in Bonn, the NW-German and our association tried to remain capable of action by founding a loose umbrella organization under the aegis of the Rhineland governor. But it seemed impractical to meet again in 1937, the Siegfried Line came in 1938 and the war in 1939. "

Nevertheless, in 1938 Kutsch succeeded in founding the “State Office for Cultural and Historical Soil Antiquities”, a forerunner of the Archaeological and Paleontological Preservation Department of the State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse .

Kurt Böhner , successor as chairman of the West and South German Association, stated in an obituary about this time that Ferdinand Kutsch "spared neither effort nor danger at that time to protect research into prehistory from political patronizing."

post war period

Kutsch returned to Wiesbaden before the end of the war and resumed his position as museum curator on December 30, 1944. He initially devoted himself to the continued existence of the museum and the state office for cultural and historical soil antiquities. He did succeed in convincing the first American cultural officer to let the Wiesbaden museums and scientific associations continue to work. In addition, he also managed to save the Roman-Germanic Commission and the Saalburg at the Ministry of Culture . However, a dispute arose over the West and South German Association about the establishment of a new company and the lack of a statute. He continued to regard himself as chairman of the West and South German Association for Antiquity Research, although it was not able to resume work until 1949 with a conference in Regensburg . It was particularly important to him to be able to welcome foreign colleagues again in Regensburg. He tried hard to reconnect lost contacts after the war and conscientiously organized the annual association meetings.

In 1956 he retired as a museum curator. After more than three decades, Ferdinand Kutsch resigned in 1962 for health reasons from the two offices in the West and South German Association for Antiquity Research and the Association for Nassau Antiquity and Historical Research, but was elected honorary chairman in each case by return of post. The Hanau History Association also made him an honorary member, as he has been associated with it since he started working on the Hanau Museum Catalog (published in 1926).

Fonts (selection)

• Attic healing gods and healing heroes , Gießen 1913 (= dissertation).
• The excavation in the Mainz legionary camp in 1919 (preliminary report) . In: Germania 4, 1920, pp. 25-30.
• Hanau. 1st part , Frankfurt a. M., 1923; Part 2 , Frankfurt a. M. 1926 ( catalogs of west and south German antiquity collections 5 ).
• The State Museum of Nassau Antiquities in Wiesbaden. A guide . Wiesbaden 1924.
• The ring wall on the "castle" near Rittershausen . In: Nassauische Annalen 47, 1926, 1-37.
• The Cistercian Abbey of Eberbach. Rhenish Art Books Volume 4, Wiesbaden 1927.
• The Roman "Burgus" near Niederlahnstein . In: Rheinische Heimatblätter 4, 1927.
• Michelsberger and Rössener finds near Schierstein . In: Nassauische Annalen 48, 1927, pp. 5–23.
• The prehistory and early history , in: Henche, The former district of Wiesbaden , 1930, pp. 42–86.
• On the history of the Limes at Holzhausen Castle . In: Nassauische Annalen 54, 1934.
• New finds on a Valentinian bridgehead in Mainz , in: Festschrift for August Oxé , 1938, pp. 204–206.
• Stratigraphically determined palaeolithic finds in Wiesbaden and the surrounding area . In: Nassauische Annalen 65, 1954, pp. 17-26.
• The Romanesque refectory in Eberbach Monastery in the Rheingau. 1. Findings after the excavations . In: Nassauische Annalen 71, 1960, pp. 201-204.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Reinhard Bollmus: The Office Rosenberg and his opponents: On the power struggle in the National Socialist system of rule. Studies on contemporary history, Stuttgart 1970, p. 178.
2. ↑ The "Ahnenerbe" did not have any influence on the association in the further course for reasons that can probably be found in the relationship between Himmler and Rosenberg. Bollmus p. 186.
3. ↑ Probably a mistake by the editor, because it should say from "south to north". What is meant is probably Ludwig Lindenschmit the elder .
4. ↑ Bremer Zeitung No. 271 of October 1, 1935.
5. ^ Letter from Dr. W. Butler to Kutsch, cited in Pinsker 2000, p. 56.
6. ^ Letter from Kutsch to the Gestapo, which he personally brought to Berlin. In contrast to his handwritten draft, however, he refrained from literally addressing Reinerth's allegations. Quoted in Pinsker 2000, p. 56.
7. ↑ Bollmus p. 183.
8. ↑ Kutsch's personal notes, cited in Pinsker 2000, p. 60.
9. ↑ Kurt Böhner: In memory of Ferdinand Kutsch . In: Prehistoric Journal 47, 1972, p. 3.

literature

• Kurt Böhner: In memory of Ferdinand Kutsch . In: Prehistoric Journal 47, 1972, pp. 1-4.
• Karl Dielmann. In: New Magazine for Hanau History 6, 1973, p. 8ff.
• Helmut Schoppa : Ferdinand Kutsch 1889–1972 retired museum director In: Nassauische Annalen 84, 1973, pp. 354–355.
• Heinz-Eberhard Mandera, Martina Mandera: List of publications by Ferdinand Kutsch . In: Nassauische Annalen 84, 1973, 355-363.
• Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann : In memory of Ferdinand Kutsch . In: Find reports from Hessen 17/18, 1977/78, (1980), pp. 491–492.
• Bernhard Pinsker, 100 years of the West and South German Association for Antiquity Research. Ferdinand Kutsch and the West and South German Association for Antiquity Research (1931–1962) . In: Archäologisches Nachrichtenblatt 5, 1, 2000, pp. 49-80.
• Bernhard Pinsker: Ferdinand Kutsch and the West and South German Association for Antiquity Research (1931–1962) . In: Nassauische Annalen 112, 2001, pp. 497-500.