Hermann Bunjes

Hermann Bunjes (born September 1, 1911 in Bramsche ; † July 25, 1945 in Trier ) was a German art historian at the time of National Socialism .

Studies, occupation, political activity and university career

After graduating from high school, Bunjes studied art history from 1930 to 1935 at the State Art Academy in Düsseldorf and the universities of Bonn, Cologne, Paris and Marburg. From the beginning of April 1933 to the end of March 1935 he worked as a research assistant at the art history seminar at the University of Marburg. In October 1935. doctorate he in Marburg at Friedrich Wachtsmuth and Richard Hamann Dr. phil. His dissertation was published in 1938. From mid-January 1936 to early January 1940, he worked as an assistant in the inventory of monuments in the Rhine Province. After completing his habilitation at Stange in Bonn in mid-January 1939he taught initially as a private lecturer and from mid-August 1939 as a lecturer at the Art History Institute of the University of Bonn. On November 22, 1944, he was appointed adjunct professor at the University of Bonn.

Politically, he became involved in National Socialist activities early on: During his studies, he was a member of the National Socialist Student Union and joined the SA in 1933 when power was handed over to the National Socialists . Since 1938 he was a member of the NSDAP and SS .

Second World War - Head of the KHF in Paris

During the Second World War , after the French campaign, from the autumn of 1940 he was a war administrator and commissioner for the protection of art in the military administrative district of Paris. Bunjes then headed the Art History Research Center (KHF), which was set up at the beginning of January 1942 in Rue Bonaparte 18 (house of the former Czech colony) at the German Institute in Paris and was also referred to as a department or base . The KHF, which was founded on Stange's initiative and was subordinate to the Federal Foreign Office, not only served research, but also had a cultural-political function. The focus of her research was the alleged superiority of the German-Germanic culture over the French. The coordination of photo campaigns in Wehrmacht- occupied France and related research were also part of the KHF's field of work. In his function as head of the KHF and his central position in the Parisian art life, Bunjes was also a consultant and middleman for the art collection of Hermann Göring . In addition, he was Göring's liaison to the task force Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR). Göring Bunjes took over from the military administration at the end of 1942 to join the Luftwaffe , where he was entrusted with the area of ​​"Protection of architectural and art monuments in the occupied and combat areas". In 1942 he was appointed Government Councilor of the Air Force . Due to his in-depth knowledge of the Parisian cultural landscape, he was an ideal informant for the security police and the SD for French cultural and research institutions. In this context he was also promoted to SS-Obersturmführer in 1942 in order to cooperate with the commander of the security police and the SD in Paris on all matters of French cultural life.

End of war and suicide

Before the liberation of Paris by the Allies , Bunjes went to live with his family in the Trier area in the summer of 1944, where he stayed. After the Allies entered Trier, Bunjes handed over the files to "Field Marshal Göring" to members of the US Army . The American military administration did not intern Bunjes. After handing over the territory to the French occupying power but was taken into custody immediately and committed in the Trier prison on July 25, 1945 suicide .

Fonts (selection)

• The high Gothic stone altarpieces and the state of Gothic sculpture in the Île-de France around 1300 , Darmstadt 1937 (also Marburg, Phil. Diss., 1938).
• The parish church of S [ank] t Gangolf zu Trier , Schwann, Düsseldorf 1938.
• The Church of Our Lady in Trier, Schwann , Düsseldorf 1938.
• The former collegiate church, now the parish church S [ank] t Paulin zu Trier , Schwann, Düsseldorf 1938.
• Benedictine abbey and Catholic parish church S [ank] t Matthias , Schwann, Düsseldorf 1938.
• Trier Cathedral , Schwann, Düsseldorf 1939.
• The secular monuments of the city of Trier (= The art monuments of the Rhine province ), unpublished typescript, Trier city library .

literature

• Nicola Doll: politicization of the mind. The art historian Alfred Stange and Bonn's art history in the context of the National Socialist expansion policy . In: B. Dietz, H. Gabel, U. Tiedau Ed .: Griff nach dem Westen. The “West Research” of the national and ethnic sciences on the north-west European area (1919–1960) series: Studies on the history and culture of north-west Europe 6, vol. 1, Waxmann, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-8309-1144-0 . Pp. 979-1015.

Web links

• Literature by and about Hermann Bunjes in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Life data according to Ernst Klee : Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich . Who was what before and after 1945 . 2nd Edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 . , P. 85
2. ↑ ^{a b} Hans-Joachim art, Heiko Laß, Dirk Richardt, Michael H. Sprenger, Judith Tralles, Birgit Walbe, Jürgen Wittstock: The history of the art history seminar 1933–1945 . In: In: Kai Köhler et al. (Hrsg.): German and art studies in the “Third Reich”. Marburg developments. 1920-1950 (= Academia Marburgensis. Vol. 10). Saur, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-598-24572-6 , p. 59 f.
3. ↑ Michael H. Sprenger: Richard Hamann and Marburg Art History between 1933 and 1945 . In: History of Art at Universities during National Socialism. Art and Politics, Yearbook of the Guernica Society, Volume 5. Göttingen 2003, p. 90
4. ↑ ^{a b} Nicola Doll: Patronage and art sponsorship under National Socialism. Werner Peiner and Herrmann Göring. VDG, Weimar 2009, p. 177.
5. ↑ Ruth Heftrig: Facets of Bonn Art History in National Socialism . In: Thomas Becker (ed.): Between dictatorship and a new beginning: The University of Bonn in the Third Reich and in the post-war period . Bonn 2008, p. 154.
6. ^ Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 85.
7. ↑ Wilhelm Treue: The “Bargatzky Report” (PDF; 5.99 MB) in the quarterly issue of contemporary history , 3/1965, p. 308
8. ^ Frank-Rutger Hausmann: "Even in war the muses are not silent": the German Scientific Institutes in World War II . Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2001 ISBN 3-525-35357-X , p. 101.
9. ↑ ^{a b} Ruth Heftrig: facets of the Bonn Art History in National Socialism . In: Thomas Becker (ed.): Between dictatorship and a new beginning: The University of Bonn in the Third Reich and in the post-war period . Bonn 2008, p. 152.
10. ↑ http://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/veroeffnahmungen_beschluesse/2008/2008_02_28-Handreich-Umsetzung-Rueckgabe-Kulturgutes.pdf
11. ↑ Christina Kott: "Keeping the damage within limits ...". German art historian and monument conservator as art administrator in occupied France, 1940–1944 . In: Art history in the “Third Reich”: theories, methods, practices. Edited by Ruth Heftrig, Olaf Peters , Barbara Schellewald, Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-05-004448-4 , p. 372.
12. ↑ Nicola Doll: Politicization of the mind. The art historian Alfred Stange and Bonn's art history in the context of the National Socialist expansion policy. , Münster 2003, p. 1012
13. ↑ Bundesarchiv, Josef Henke: Personal Staff Reichsführer SS: inventory NS 19 , Volume 57, Part 1, Bundesarchiv, 1997, p. 103.
14. ^ Alois Thoma: Art Protection and Art Alienation in the War 1939 to 1945 in France . In: Josef Ruland (Ed.): Festschrift for Franz Graf Wolff Metternich , Verlag Gesellschaft f. Buchdruckerei AG, Neuss 1973, p. 31.