Herbert Jankuhn
Herbert Jankuhn (born August 8, 1905 in Angerburg in East Prussia , † April 30, 1990 in Göttingen ) was a German prehistorian . He decisively shaped the methods of modern settlement archeology . During the National Socialist era , Jankuhn was a leading member of the SS Ahnenerbe . After the Second World War he was a professor at the University of Göttingen and co-editor of the Reallexikons der Germanischen Altertumskunde .
Life until 1933
The name Jankuhn is derived from the Lithuanian "Jankunas" ("son of John"). Grandfather Wilhelm Jankuhn attended Karalene , a teacher training college for Lithuanian-speaking primary school teachers, and then taught in Memelland . He has received a contribution to the German Language Atlas, a Wenker sheet for the town of Trakseden, in Lithuanian. Herbert Jankuhn was born as the son of Hugo Jankuhn, who later became a student. His mother was born Jedamski and came from Masuria . According to Jankuhn's own statements, he grew up in a nationally oriented, conservative family.
Jankuhn attended the Royal Litthau Provincial School in Tilsit and then studied history, prehistory, German studies, philosophy and physical exercise in Königsberg, Jena and Berlin. His most important teacher was Max Ebert , with whom he studied both in Königsberg and in Berlin. Even Carl Schuchardt influenced him significantly. In 1931 he received his doctorate at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Berlin with a thesis on the belt fittings of the older Roman Empire in Samland . He was mainly instructed in excavation techniques by Wilhelm Unverzagt and Schuchhardt, who recommended him to the Kiel Museum of Patriotic Antiquities in 1930 , for which Jankuhn took over the management of the excavations in Haithabu the following year .
1931 Jankuhn joined the by Alfred Götze , from 1933 by Hans Reinerth conducted Society of German history when, the entity which will be in 1934 in the Reich Federation of German history transformed. After a short break in 1932/33, during which he traveled to the Balkans and the Orient as a travel grant from the Archaeological Institute of the German Reich and took part in excavations in Egypt as an excavation director, he returned to Kiel in 1933 to once again take charge of the To take over excavations in Haithabu.
In National Socialism
Career until 1937
Immediately after his return, Jankuhn joined the SA and became a member of the “Prehistory Section” in the ethnically-minded, anti-Semitic “ Combat League for German Culture ”, which was later transferred to the “Reich Association for German Prehistory”. The following year Jankuhn joined the NSD lecturers' association . At the same time he got into a violent conflict with Peter Paulsen , the head of the Kiel section of the Reichsbund, and Hans Reinerth , who dragged on until 1936. Both expressed doubts about his National Socialist sentiments, which Jankuhn was able to dispel in a meeting with the university management. The rector of Kiel University and the Gaudozentenführer finally forbade Paulsen to speak negatively about Jankuhn.
From 1934 on, the excavations in Haithabu were under the patronage of Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler .
In 1935, Jankuhn completed his habilitation on the defense systems of the Viking Age between Schlei and Treene and received a teaching position for European prehistory at Kiel University . From 1936 he was together with Gustav Schwantes editor of the trade journal Offa .
Entry into the SS and impact
In the summer of 1936 Jankuhn applied for admission to the Schutzstaffel , at the end of 1936 he was classified as "suitable for the SS" . Accordingly, on March 1, 1937, he was transferred from the SA to the SS (membership number 294,689), to which he initially belonged as an SS man on the staff of SS Section XX. At the same time Jankuhn joined the NSDAP (membership number 3,970,135). The following year he became a member of the SS “Ahnenerbe” , in which he was appointed deputy head of the “Excavation teaching and research facility” when he joined. The excavations in Haithabu were officially taken over by the SS and the Ahnenerbe. Half a year later, with Himmler's support, Jankuhn was appointed the new director of the Kiel Museum of Prehistoric Antiquities and shortly afterwards at the 1938 Nazi Party Congress on Himmler's instructions as SS-Untersturmführer. After Jankuhn had given a lecture at the joint annual meeting of the Association of Friends of Germanic Prehistory and Ancestral Inheritance in 1938 , he organized the first independent annual meeting of the ancestral inheritance for Pentecost 1939. After Hans Schleif left the company in 1940, he finally became head of the "teaching and research center for excavations" of the SS Ahnenerbes. At the same time, with the support of Ahnenerbes, he was appointed adjunct professor at Kiel University. By then he had already been promoted to SS-Sturmbannführer . He initially headed the research group that examined the Bayeux Tapestry , among other things . He spoke to a group of Himmler's friends on April 14, 1941, and again in August 1943, in front of the German Academy in Stettin, about this 11th-century pictorial work, which thematizes the conquest of England by the Normans.
War effort
On his own initiative, Jankuhn worked for the SS in Norway in 1940. From this time comes a note to the leading authorities of the SS about the Norwegian archaeologist Anton Wilhelm Brøgger , who in Norway referred to the dangers of National Socialism in Germany. Jankuhn described him as “not friendly to Germany”, which probably contributed to Brøgger's arrest. He also denounced the “Jewish art historian and architect Harry Per Fett ”, then a Norwegian imperial antiquarian. Jankuhn suggested that he be replaced by a "reliable Norwegian". In 1942 Jankuhn became a professor at the University of Rostock . Two years later he was promoted to Obersturmbannführer of the General SS and promoted to Sturmbannführer in the personal staff of the Reichsführer SS .
In the winter semester 1941/42 Jankuhn held lectures on ideologically relevant prehistoric and protohistoric topics at the leadership school of the security police and the SD in Berlin-Charlottenburg as part of the "Lectures for the RSHA by special professors" in Berlin.
In 1941, Jankuhn proposed to the SS “Ahnenerbe” the formation of the so-called “Sonderkommando Jankuhn”, in the course of which the objects in the various Soviet museums were to be examined with regard to a “Germanic colonization of the southeast region”. The "investigations" often led to the "salvage" of the interesting objects and their transport to Germany. For his work, Jankuhn was promised a promotion to SS-Sturmbannführer "Fachführer" of the Waffen SS . In 1942 he was assigned to the 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking" after volunteering . Various documents are available from this period that prove the confiscation of library and museum holdings, i.e. actions that were prohibited under the Hague Land Warfare Regulations . The operation ended in 1943 after the Wiking armored division had to retreat from the Cherkassy pocket.
In the period that followed, Jankuhn was the third general staff officer (Ic) of the IV. SS Panzer Corps under Herbert Otto Gille , for which he was awarded the Iron Cross First Class on November 9, 1944 .
post war period
Jankuhn was arrested in 1945 and released from prison in 1948. He forced his denazification with false statements. He said that he only joined the SS under duress and was never a member of the NSDAP. He received support from Schwantes, who stated that Jankuhn only "entered into a loose relationship with the SS, of which he never belonged".
In 1949, Jankuhn received a research contract from the Schleswig-Holstein state government that enabled him to resume excavations in Haithabu. In 1952 he became a visiting professor at the University of Kiel. In 1956 he was appointed associate professor and director of the Prehistory and Protohistory Department at the University of Göttingen, three years later the professorship was converted into a full professorship, which Jankuhn held until his retirement in 1973.
The "Working Group of Prehistory and Early History Researchers in Lower Saxony", which he co-founded in 1960, was transformed into the " Archaeological Commission for Lower Saxony " in 1970 , which he subsequently also chaired. From 1961 Jankuhn was a member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen. In 1968 he was awarded the Great Cross of Merit of the Lower Saxony Order of Merit in recognition of his services to Lower Saxony Antiquity . In 1980 he became an honorary member of the "Union international d'archéologie Slave". However , he was refused a planned guest appearance at the University of Bergen in 1968 because he was resented by his uncritical approach to his own past in Norway.
Jankuhn was a member of the mutual aid community of the members of the former Waffen SS . In addition, until his death on April 30, 1990, he was, along with David Irving , Marija Gimbutas and others, a member of the patronage committee of the magazine Nouvelle École , an organ of the right-wing groupement de recherche et d'études pour la civilization européenne . Alain de Benoist recognized him posthumously as one of the “fathers” of this magazine. It has not yet been clarified to what extent the contact with the Nouvelle École is an active contribution on his part or rather a claim on his scientific reputation by de Benoist.
Appreciation
The history of science reception of Jankuhn in the research history literature is relatively clear, Jankuhn profited from the National Socialist apparatus of power and achieved a steep career that carried him to the highest levels of various SS units. The evaluation of Jankuhn by his student Heiko Steuer is viewed critically. With reference to Kater , he admits that Jankuhn was not an opportunist, but a staunch National Socialist. On the other hand, he systematically belittles Jankuhn's role and evaluates the presence of Nazi ideology in Jankuhn's work as "due to the zeitgeist" without the latter really believing in it.
Jankuhn is considered to be one of the most important and influential prehistorians in Germany in the post-war period .
Fonts
- Belt sets from the earlier Roman Empire in Samland. Dissertation. University of Königsberg 1932. Leupold, Königsberg 1932.
- The fortifications of the Viking Age between Schlei and Treene. Prehistoric and early historical studies from the Museum of Prehistoric Antiquities in Kiel. Volume 1. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1937. (Publication of the 1935 habilitation thesis).
- Haithabu - an early Germanic city. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1937. Second expanded edition 1938.
- Community form and rule formation in early Germanic times. Writings of the Scientific Academy of the National Socialist Lecturer Association of the Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Volume 6. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1939.
- The excavations in Haithabu (1937–1939). Preliminary excavation report. Published by the research and teaching community Das Ahnenerbe . Series B, Scientific Investigations, Department: Works on Prehistory, Prehistory and Protohistory, Volume 3. Ahnenerbe-Stiftungsverlag, Berlin-Dahlem 1943.
- Haithabu - A trading post from the Viking Age. Third, completely revised edition. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1956.
- The Roman Empire and the Migration Period. On behalf of the Society for Schleswig-Holstein History as second volume, 5th delivery of the history of Schleswig-Holstein. Ed. Olaf Klose . Founded by Volquart Pauls . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1966.
- Introduction to settlement archeology. De Gruyter, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-11-004752-7 .
literature
- Michael H. Kater : The “Ahnenerbe” of the SS 1935–1945. A contribution to the cultural policy of the Third Reich . Stuttgart 1974.
- Henning Haßmann , D. Jantzen: "The German prehistory - an outstanding national science". The Kiel Museum of Prehistoric Antiquities in the Third Reich in: Offa 51, 1994, pp. 9–35.
- Christian Hufen: Gothic research and preservation of monuments. Herbert Jankuhn and the command companies of the 'Ahnenerbes' of the SS . In: Wolfgang Eichwede , Ulrike Hartung (Hrsg.): “Subject: Security”. Nazi art theft in the Soviet Union. Edition Temmen, Bremen 1998, ISBN 3-86108-326-4 , pp. 75-95.
- Ulrike Hartung: Deported and missing: a documentation of German, Soviet and American files on Nazi art theft in the Soviet Union (1941 - 1948). Temmen, Bremen 2000, ISBN 3-86108-336-1
- Anja Heuss : Art and cultural property theft. A comparative study on the occupation policy of the National Socialists in France and the Soviet Union. University Press C. Winter, Heidelberg 2000, ISBN 3-8253-0994-0 .
- Heiko Steuer : Herbert Jankuhn . In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , Volume 16, de Gruyter, Berlin - New York 2000. ISBN 3-11-016782-4 . Pp. 23-29.
- Wolfgang Pape: Ten prehistorians from Germany . In: Heiko Steuer (Ed.): An outstanding national science . Supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde Vol. 29. de Gruyter, Berlin 2001. ISBN 3-11-017184-8 . Pp. 55-88.
- Heiko Steuer: Herbert Jankuhn and his depictions of the Germanic and Viking ages . In: Derselbe (Ed.): An outstanding national science . Supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde Volume 29. de Gruyter, Berlin 2001. ISBN 3-11-017184-8 . Pp. 417-473.
- OS Johansen: Notes on archaeological activity in Norway in the years 1940–1945 . In: Achim Leube , Morten Hegewisch (ed.): Prehistory and National Socialism. Central and Eastern European Prehistory and Early History Research in the years 1933–1945 . Synchron Verlag der Wissenschaften, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 3-935025-08-4 , pp. 619–622.
- Heiko Steuer: Herbert Jankuhn - SS career and prehistory and early history. In: Hartmut Lehmann , Otto Gerhard Oexle (Hrsg.): National Socialism in the Cultural Studies. Volume 1: Subjects, milieus, careers (= publications of the Max Planck Institute for History. Volume 200). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-525-35198-4 , pp. 447-529.
- Katharina Krall: Prehistory in National Socialism - a comparison of the writings of Herbert Jankuhn and Hans Reinerth between 1933 and 1939 . Diploma thesis, Master thesis Konstanz 2005. ( PDF ).
- M. Eickhoff, Uta Halle : Instead of a review. Comments on the published picture via Herbert Jankuhn . In: Ethnographisch-Archäologische Zeitschrift 48, 2007, pp. 135–150
- Dirk Mahsarski: Herbert Jankuhn, single prehistorian i Schutzstaffel (SS). In: Terje Emberland , Jorunn Sem Fure (ed.): Jakten på Germania: fra nordensvermeri til SS-arkeologi. Humanist Forlag, Oslo 2009, pp. 152-179. ISBN 978-82-92622-54-4 .
- Dirk Mahsarski: Herbert Jankuhn (1905–1990). A German prehistorian between National Socialist ideology and scientific objectivity. Leidorf, Rahden, Westf. 2011, ISBN 978-3-89646-459-0 (Diss. Göttingen 2009).
- Martijn Eickhoff u. a .: The continuation of archaeological careers. In: Trench for Germania. Archeology under the swastika. Focke-Museum, Bremen State Museum for Art and Cultural History, March 10 to September 8, 2013. Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-8062-2673-7 , pp. 164–171.
- Wojciech Nowakowski: Masuria in the Roman Empire. Evaluation of the archive material from Herbert Jankuhn's estate (= studies on the history of settlements and archeology of the Baltic Sea regions. Volume 12). Wachholtz, Neumünster 2013, ISBN 978-3-529-01372-0 .
- Markus C. Blaich : Royal Palace Werla. Background and research history of the excavations from 1875 to 1964. In: Markus C. Blaich, Michael Geschwinde (Ed.): Werla 1 - The King's Palatinate. Their history and the excavations 1875–1964. (= Monographs of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum Mainz. Volume 126). Mainz 2015, pp. 73–160.
Web links
- Ulrich Müller: 1828–1990; Four Kiel archaeologists discover the world; Herbert Jankuhn. With a thirst for research and a thirst for adventure. Expeditions and research trips from Kiel scientists. In: Kieler workpieces A: 49. Oliver Auge, Martin Göllnitz, 2017, pp. 181–185 , accessed on August 27, 2018 .
- Anne Chr. Nagel : Review of: Mahsarski, Dirk: Herbert Jankuhn (1905-1990). A German prehistorian between National Socialist ideology and scientific objectivity. Rahden / Westf. 2011 , in: H-Soz-Kult , November 16, 2012.
- Literature by and about Herbert Jankuhn in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about Herbert Jankuhn in the German Digital Library
- Literature about Herbert Jankuhn in the state bibliography MV
- Entry on Herbert Jankuhn in the Catalogus Professorum Rostochiensium
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jankuhn 1977.
- ↑ Tax 2000, p. 23
- ↑ Jankuhn 1932.
- ↑ Pape 2001, p. 62.
- ↑ Pape 2001: 70
- ↑ Pape 2001: 68
- ↑ Mahsarski 2009: 157f.
- ↑ Jankuhn 1936.
- ↑ a b Pape 2001, p. 69, note 28.
- ↑ Mahsarski 2009: 158ff.
- ↑ Pape 2001, p. 66.
- ↑ Mahsarski 2009: 161-165.
- ^ Andrew Bridgeford: 1066, The Hidden History of the Bayeux Tapestry. London 2004, ISBN 1-84115-040-1 , p. 40.
- ↑ Johansen 2002, p. 619.
- ↑ Hagen 1985/86, p. 269; in Eickhoff / Halle 2007, p. 145.
- ↑ a b Johansen 2002, p. 621
- ↑ p. 52 (PDF; 670 kB)
- ↑ Eickhoff / Halle 2007, p. 142.
- ^ Tax 2004, p. 500.
- ↑ Pape 2001, p. 69, note 69.
- ↑ Heather Pringle: The Master Plan: Himmler's Scholars and the Holocaust . New York: Hyperion 2009, p. 312.
- ↑ Mahsarski 2011, p. 319.
- ^ Nouvelle École Vol. 46 Paris 1990.
- ^ Roger-Pol Droit, Rémi Brague, Les Grecs, les Romains et nous , Le Monde 1991, p. 222.
- ↑ Mahsarski 2011, p. 319.
- ↑ Pape 2001: 69 u. Note 28.
- ↑ Eickhoff / Halle 2007: 140
- ↑ Kater 1974: 157
- ↑ Tax 2004: 526
- ↑ Tax 2001: 439
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Jankuhn, Herbert |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German prehistoric and university professor |
DATE OF BIRTH | August 8, 1905 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Angerburg |
DATE OF DEATH | April 30, 1990 |
Place of death | Goettingen |