Ferdinand Seitz

Ferdinand Seitz (born May 29, 1894 in Wolnzach ; died April 11, 1973 in Detmold ) was a German sculptor , author and lay researcher on the Externsteine in the Teutoburg Forest.

Seitz learned the craft of wheelwright in his father's business and from 1909 to 1913 attended the technical school for wood carving in Partenkirchen . He then found employment in handicrafts in Munich and attended the arts and crafts school there. As a volunteer, he sustained an injury to his head during World War I. After the war he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich . After the marriage in 1921, he moved to Detmold in Lippische in 1923 , where he took over the management of the development department at Temde-Leuchten in 1924 , which he held until his early retirement in 1946 due to war injuries.

In addition to his professional activity, Seitz was involved in the regional art scene, including over a decade as chairman of the Lippischer Künstlerbund eV , and himself as a visual artist (sculptures). In addition, after the Second World War he appeared as a researcher on the Externsteine ​​and other evidence of regional prehistory and early history. Seitz found himself in the vicinity of the successor to the völkisch research of Wilhelm Teudt . He published his writings in right-wing extremist publishers ( Grabert-Verlag and Verlag Hohe Warte ) of the neo-pagan right-esoteric Ludendorff movement ( Bund für Gotterwissennis ) and in the journal Forschungsfragen der Zeit, published / co-founded there by Bernhard Kummer . Furthermore, in connection with the Externsteins, he gave lectures at (local) events of right-wing extremist organizations such as a solstice celebration of the German Cultural Association of European Spirit .

Works

Monographs

• The changeable picture book, (1950)
• Riddle about the Externsteine, (1951; 4th edition 1962)
• The Irminsul in the rock relief of the Externsteine. Critical examination of a symbol in prehistoric pictorial work, (1953; 3rd edition 1962)
• The creutz change at Oesterholz. Contributions to the solution of a controversial question, (1954)
• "Stone certificates" on the Externsteinen. New decisive findings to clarify the Externsteine ​​problem, (1959)
• The Externsteine. Brief guide sheet through a venerable cultural monument from pre-Christian and Christian times, (5th edition 1970)

Contributions, essays

• A German memorial and its creator, ( Tannenberg , 3.1935)
• On the " Oesterholz " problem , ( Research questions of our time . 5.1958, Lfg. 1)
• The "Köterberg" in Lippe / Westphalia, ( Research questions of our time . 6.1959, Lfg. 2/3)
• The "Regenstein" near Blankenburg am Harz and the "Externsteine" in the Teutoburg Forest, ( Research questions of our time . 11.1964, serial 1)
• The Externsteine ​​playground for swarming spirits? Statement on the writing of the archive director Dr. Erich Kittel, ( People and Measure . Pähl / Obb. 5.1965, F. 10)
• The name "Externstein", ( research questions of our time . 13.1966, Lfg. 1/2)

literature

• Uta Halle : “Drifting as in the Nazi era ...” Continuities of the Externstein myth after 1945. In: Uwe Puschner , G. Ulrich Großmann (ed.): Völkisch und national. On the topicality of old thought patterns in the 21st century . Darmstadt 2009, pp. 195-213.
• Stefanie Haupt: Walther Machalett and the creation of the “Externsteine ​​research group”. In: Rosenland. Journal of Lippe History. No. 15, 2013, pp. 77-102 ( full version ).
• Erich Kittel : The Externsteine ​​as a playground for swarming spirits and in the judgment of science. In: Lippische Mitteilungen aus Geschichte und Landeskunde Volume 33, 1964. Again as an unchanged reprint, NHV , Detmold 1965. ( digitized version )

Obituaries

• Käthe Paulsdorff: Ferdinand Seitz died. In: Bulletin of the Society for Pre- and Early History (Bonn) . No. 4, 1973.
• Gisela Lienau-Kummer: Personal thoughts on the Externsteinen and thanks to Ferdinand Seitz. In: Research questions of our time . Volume 19, 1973.

Web links

• Entry on Seitz in the "Lippische Autorlexikon" (Lippische Landesbibliothek, accessed on April 7, 2017)