Hermann Junker

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Hermann Junker (seated, right) in Arminna, around 1911/12

Hermann Junker (born November 29, 1877 in Bendorf / Rhein, †  January 9, 1962 in Vienna ) was a German Egyptologist .

Life

Pastoral activity

Hermann Junker was born in Bendorf in 1877 as the son of an accountant. In 1896 he entered the seminary in Trier . Already during his theology studies he showed a great interest in philosophy and oriental languages . After four years of study, Junker was ordained a priest and was appointed chaplain in Ahrweiler an der Ahr. But he also continued to conduct language studies and attended a beginners' college on the ancient Egyptian language with Alfred Wiedemann in Bonn one day a week .

Study of Egyptology

After his ordination, Junker studied with Adolf Erman in Berlin from 1901 . The special role that Junkers Catholic localization played in the practice of his science has become apparent in recent research. As part of the project of the dictionary of the Egyptian language , he dealt with the youngest ancient Egyptian language level, the texts from Ptolemaic and Roman times and received his doctorate in 1903 with the thesis "On the writing system in the temple of Hathor in Dendera". In 1906 Junkers' habilitation thesis "Grammar of Denderatexte" appeared, which enabled him to apply for the vacated chair for Egyptology in Vienna. In 1907 he was appointed private lecturer at the University of Vienna. In 1908 he traveled to Egypt for the first time to work on the documentation of the Temple of Philae for the Prussian Academy of Sciences . A year later he was appointed associate professor for Egyptology at the University of Vienna. As a member of the Egyptian Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Junker was officially proposed as head of the excavation.

First excavation work

Pottery from the excavation in Tura in the KHM

Junker tried to close gaps in the holdings of Egyptian collections and museums through targeted excavations. With this in mind, too, in the winter of 1909/10 he carried out the first official Austrian excavation in the small town of Tura near Cairo, where rich prehistoric finds ideally complemented the holdings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien . In the following winter he led excavations in el-Kubanieh north of Aswan, where not only prehistoric graves but also cemeteries from the Middle Kingdom and the so-called Nubian C-group came to light. The interest in the Nubian population structure drew Junkers attention to the place Toschke in central Cubia. There he was able to excavate further cemeteries from the Middle Kingdom, the C group, the Moroite period and the early Christian period in the winter of 1911/12.

The results of this work brought him in 1912 the appointment as full professor of Egyptology at the University of Vienna.

Excavations in Giza

Dismantling of the cult chamber of the mastaba of Kaninisut
Aerial view of the Cheops pyramid (left), Chephren pyramid (right) and the Westfriedhof in between.

The extensive burial ground west of the Cheops pyramid was divided into three narrow sections running from east to west in 1902, for each of which excavation concessions were granted to the USA, Italy and Germany. Under the German concession, Georg Steindorff from the University of Leipzig carried out three excavation campaigns between 1903 and 1907, which were financially supported by the German patron Wilhelm Pelizaeus and who set up his own museum in Hildesheim for his collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. At the opening of the "Pilzaeus Museum" on July 29, 1911, Georg Steindorff and Hermann Junker met, who at that time was still carrying out excavations in Nubia. A "barter deal" was agreed: Steindorff had been interested in an excavation site in Nubia for a long time, while Junker had long wanted to be active in archaeological research in Giza. In 1911, the Austrian Academy of Sciences officially took over the German concession in Giza. This consisted of the median of the so-called west cemetery of the Great Pyramid and the section south of the Great Pyramid. These excavations continued to be financially supported by Wilhelm Pelizaeus.

Junker's intention was to "systematically uncover" the excavation area. The work began in January 1912 and during three campaigns up to 1914 an area of ​​15,000 m² and more than 600 graves could be archaeologically examined. On January 10, 1913, Hermann Junker and his colleagues discovered the mastaba des Kaninisut . A little later, the decision was made to buy the cult chamber for the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna in order to be able to present the typical grave architecture of the Old Empire there.

The fourth campaign for 1914/15 was already being planned when the political events of a Europe prevented further participation by Austrian archaeologists in Egypt. Even after the First World War , the economic situation in Austria and the political situation in Egypt, which remained a British protectorate until 1922, prevented excavations from being resumed soon.

It was not until 1925 that a larger sum could be approved again, which led to the excavation being resumed. In the fourth campaign from January 1926, all unfinished business on the western concession was examined and recorded. The work there was completed in 1927. In 1928 and 1929 excavations took place on the south side of the Great Pyramid. After a total of seven campaigns, the Giza project officially ended. In 1929 the first volume of the large-scale Giza work was published. During the 1930s Junker carried out several follow-up investigations in Giza with an Austrian concession, which served to back up a specific theory of an alleged 'Nordic' origin of the pyramid builders.

Merimde-Benisalame and director of the German Institute for Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo

After Giza, Junker turned back to a prehistoric site. In the western delta, the Vienna Academy acquired a concession for the Merimde-Benisalame site . In seven campaigns from 1929 to 1939, the Austrian archaeologists uncovered an extensive Neolithic settlement that is one of the most important sites of this era. However, the Second World War brought the company to an abrupt end. In more recent research, Junkers' folkish models of thought behind this excavation undertaking became apparent, with references also to his excavations in Giza.

In 1929 Junker took over the management of the German Institute for Egyptian Antiquity , the Cairene department of the German Archaeological Institute , which he headed until 1945. According to his own statement, he accepted the post because he had been given the prospect of any financial support for excavations and publications. So he was able to continue working on behalf of the Vienna Academy in Merimde-Benisalame.

In addition, Junker followed a call to Cairo University in 1929 , where he taught from 1934 to 1939 as a full professor of Egyptology and was director of the Archaeological Institute of Cairo University. His successor was his student Wilhelm Czermak .

Since the outbreak of World War II surprised him while on vacation, he was allegedly unable to secure the scientific material in Egypt. The Cairo department of the DAI was moved first to Berlin and in 1943 to Vienna. During the war Junker continued to work on the publication of the giza material. and had revisionist plans for the time after the war. He never returned to Egypt.

Junker wanted to leave the war years and “the gloomy times after spring 1945” “blank” in his memoirs. Instead, it was reconstructed from the files. Accordingly, Junker tried to evade his responsibility as an active party member by fleeing to Argentina.

Anti-Semitic network at the University of Vienna

Hermann Junker belonged to the influential anti-Semitic professors' group “ Bärenhöhle ”, which operated in secret, and which tried to prevent habilitations and appointments from Jewish or leftist scholars through interventions and agreements.

Role during National Socialism

In the older research literature, a letter from Georg Steindorff, who emigrated to the USA in 1939, was the focus of Junker's role during National Socialism. This letter in the archives of the Oriental Institute of Chicago is also known in research as the Steindorff List . It contains a list of Egyptologists who assessed their behavior during National Socialism. Georg Steindorff judged Hermann Junker:

"Dr. Hermann Junker, formerly professor of Egyptology at the University of Vienna, later director of the German Institute for Egyptian Antiquity in Cairo. It is very difficult to describe the character of this man because he has none. I have heard that it was rumored in England that Junker acted as a spy in Egypt. I do not believe it. He was too clever to compromise himself by such activity. He played safe. However, he used his position and the State Institute to promote Nazi propaganda. The Institute was always available for Nazi meetings, Junker's house was always open to Nazi guests, chiefly Austrian. Every Nazi found a cordial reception in the German Institute in Cairo. I appreciate Junker as a scholar of first order. More than that, I am sorry I cannot say. At best, his actions and opinions have always been ambiguous.
(German: Dr. Hermann Junker, former professor of Egyptology at the University of Vienna, later director of the German Institute for Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo. It is very difficult to describe the character of this man because he doesn't have one. I heard that It was rumored in England that Junker was acting as a spy in Egypt. I don't believe it. He was too smart to be harmed by such activities. He gambled safely. However, he used his position and the state institute to promote Nazi propaganda . The institute was always available for Nazi meetings, Junkers house was always open to Nazi guests, especially Austrians. Every Nazi was warmly welcomed at the German Institute in Cairo. I value Junker as a first-rate scholar. More than that, it does I'm sorry, I can't say. At best, his actions and opinions were blurred. "

- Letter from Georg Steindorff to John Wilson, June 1945

On the basis of this part of the letter, doubts were expressed about Junker's account that he had joined the NSDAP under duress .

In the course of Susanne Voss' systematic review of the history of the Cairo department of the DAI during the National Socialist era, Junker's turn to National Socialism, his political activities as DAI director in Cairo during the Nazi era and his subject-specific national theories have now been reconstructed in detail. There is no longer any doubt about Junkers' political involvement during the so-called Third Reich. Nor did he join the NSDAP under duress.

In the older literature, the most prominent visit to the German Institute in Cairo is cited by the Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels on April 8, 1939, which included a guided tour of Giza by Junkers. This visit is documented on film recordings for a newsreel.

According to the files, however, Goebbels did not visit the Cairo DAI Institute, but was only run in Giza and served tea there in the Austrian excavation house. He was also not in Cairo on April 8, 1939, but from April 6 to 7, 1939. The tour took place on April 7. In connection with Junkers' political burden as the DAI department director, the tourism visit of the Propaganda Minister in Cairo is actually only a marginal note.

After 1945

After 1945 the publication of the giza material was Junker's life. Without a fixed income, he initially lived in a secluded life in Rodaun near Vienna. In the mid-1950s, the German Archaeological Institute granted him a pension. Since a transfer abroad was not yet possible, he moved his residence to Trier.

In 1957 he received two festschrifts for his 80th birthday.

In 1959 he received the Federal Cross of Merit First Class at the instigation of the Diocese of Trier.

Hermann Junker died in Vienna on January 9, 1962. He was buried at Rodaun Cemetery .

Honors

Publications (selection)

See the list of publications in Festschrift dedicated to Hermann Junker on the 80th birthday of his friends and students.

  • Report on the excavations of the academy d. Sciences in Vienna in the cemeteries of el-Kubanieh, winter 1910/11 . Vienna 1919.
  • From the Egyptian architecture of the Old Kingdom . Vienna 1928.
  • Investigations in the west cemetery near the Great Pyramid of Gise . 12 volumes. DAWW / DÖAW 69-75, 1929–1955.
  • The Egyptians. In: The peoples of the ancient Orient. Freiburg 1933.
  • The pyramid era. The essence of the ancient Egyptian religion . Zurich 1949.
  • The social position of the Egyptian artists in the Old Kingdom . Vienna 1959.
  • Life and work in self-expression. (= Meeting reports of the philosophical-historical class. 242.5). Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1963 (with a bibliography of his works, pp. 51–59).

literature

  • Festschrift dedicated to Hermann Junker on the occasion of his 80th birthday by his friends and students. (= Viennese magazine for the customer of the Orient. Volume 54). Oriental Institute, Vienna 1957.
  • Gertrud Thausing:  Junker, Hermann. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1974, ISBN 3-428-00191-5 , p. 692 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Hermann Pülske: Remembrance and thanks to the priest and scientist Prof. Dr. Hermann Junker . In: Heimatbuch for the Mayen-Koblenz district. 1996, p. 102 (uncritical).
  • Peter Jánosi: Austria in front of the pyramids: Hermann Junkers' excavations on behalf of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna at the great pyramid in Giza . Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2664-6 .
  • Clemens Gütl:  Hermann Junker. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 29, Bautz, Nordhausen 2008, ISBN 978-3-88309-452-6 .  ( Article / beginning of article in the Internet archive ) ( edited version 2010, PDF; 100 kB ).
  • Alois Pumhösel: Egyptologist, anti-Semite, far more than a follower. In: The Standard. February 19, 2013 (online) .
  • In the shadow of the pyramids. The Austrian excavations in Giza (1912–1929). An exhibition by the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, January 22nd to May 20th, 2013 . Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-99020-032-2 .
  • Susanne Voss: The long arm of National Socialism. On the history of the Cairo department of the DAI in the ›Third Reich‹. In: Susanne Bickel, Hans-Werner Fischer-Elfert, Antonio Loprieno, Sebastian Richter (eds.): Egyptologists and Egyptologies between the Empire and the founding of the two German states. (= Supplements to the magazine for Egyptian language and antiquity. 1). Berlin 2013, pp. 267–298.
  • Claus Jurman, Julia Budka: Hermann Junker. A German-Austrian researcher's life between pyramids, cross and swastika. In: Susanne Bickel u. a. (Ed.): Egyptologists and Egyptology between the Empire and the founding of the two German states . Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2013, pp. 299–331 (digitized version ) .
  • Susanne Voss: The history of the Cairo department of the DAI in the field of tension between German political interests. Volume 2: 1929 to 1966. (= People - Cultures - Traditions. Studies from the research clusters of the German Archaeological Institute. 8.2 ). Rahden / Westf. 2017, ISBN 978-3-86757-396-2 .
  • Clemens Gütl (Ed.): Hermann Junker. A search for traces in the shadow of Austrian Egyptology and African studies. Cuvillier, Göttingen 2017, ISBN 978-3-7369-9549-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Jánosi: Austria before the pyramids. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, p. 19.
  2. ^ Susanne Voss: The history of the Cairo department of the DAI in the field of tension between German political interests. Volume 2: 1929 to 1966. (= People - Cultures - Traditions. Studies from the research clusters of the German Archaeological Institute. 8.2 ). Rahden / Westf. 2017, ISBN 978-3-86757-396-2 , pp. 215–222.
  3. ↑ P. Jánosi: Austria before the pyramids. 1997, p. 20.
  4. ↑ P. Jánosi: Austria before the pyramids. 1997, p. 22.
  5. ↑ P. Jánosi: Austria before the pyramids. 1997, pp. 24-26.
  6. ↑ P. Jánosi: Austria before the pyramids. 1997, pp. 27-28.
  7. ↑ a b Regina Hölzl: The cult chamber of the Ka-ni-nisut in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. 2005, p. 11.
  8. ↑ R. Hölzl: The cult chamber of the Ka-ni-nisut in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. 2005, p. 9ff. and p. 31.
  9. ↑ P. Jánosi: Austria before the pyramids. 1997, pp. 42-58.
  10. ↑ P. Jánosi: Austria before the pyramids. 1997, pp. 58-77.
  11. ^ S. Voss: The history of the Cairo department of the DAI. Volume 2, 2017, pp. 42 and 61–63.
  12. ^ S. Voss: The history of the Cairo department of the DAI. Volume 2, 2017, pp. 16-19 and 41-63; Susanne Voss: Backgrounds of Knowledge ... - Egyptology as a national science along the legacy of Georg Steindorff. In: Susanne Voss, Dietrich Raue (ed.): Georg Steindorff and German Egyptology in the 20th Century. Backgrounds of knowledge and research transfers. (= Supplements to the magazine for Egyptian language and antiquity. 5). Berlin / Boston 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-046751-2 , pp. 105–332.
  13. ^ S. Voss: The history of the Cairo department of the DAI. Volume 2, 2017, passim .
  14. ^ S. Voss: The history of the Cairo department of the DAI. Volume 2, 2017, pp. 34–41 and 96.
  15. ^ S. Voss: The history of the Cairo department of the DAI. Volume 2, 2017, pp. 146–148.
  16. ↑ P. Jánosi: Austria before the pyramids. 1997, p. 80.
  17. ^ S. Voss: The history of the Cairo department of the DAI. Volume 2, 2017, pp. 148–151.
  18. ^ Clemens Gütl: Hermann Junker. Priest, Egyptologist, Africanist. 2010, p. 2 (PDF, accessed March 8, 2015) .
  19. ^ S. Voss: The history of the Cairo department of the DAI. Volume 2, 2017, pp. 157–159.
  20. ^ Kurt Ehrenberg: Othenio Abel's life path, using autobiographical records. Kurt Ehrenberg, Vienna 1975, p. 85 f., Evaluated by Klaus Taschwer: Secret thing Bärenhöhle. How an anti-Semitic professor cartel from the University of Vienna expelled Jewish and left-wing researchers after 1918. In: Regina Fritz, Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe, Jana Starek (eds.): Alma mater antisemitica: Academic milieu, Jews and anti-Semitism at the universities of Europe between 1918 and 1939. Volume 3, new academic press, Vienna 2016, p. 230 ( online) .
  21. ↑ Thomas Schneider: Egyptologists in the Third Reich: Biographical notes based on the so-called "Steindorff List". In: Thomas Schneider, Peter Raulwing: Egyptology from the First World War to the Third Reich. Ideology, Scholarship, and Individual Biographies. Brill, Leiden 2013, ISBN 978-90-04-24329-3 , p. 126; Letter from Georg Steindorff to John Wilson, June 1945.
  22. ↑ T. Schneider: Egyptologists in the Third Reich. 2013, p. 146.
  23. ↑ T. Schneider: Egyptologists in the Third Reich. 2013, p. 176.
  24. ^ Susanne Voss: The history of the Cairo department of the DAI in the field of tension between German political interests. Volume 2: 1929 to 1966. (= People - Cultures - Traditions. Studies from the research clusters of the German Archaeological Institute. 8.2 ). Rahden / Westf. 2017, ISBN 978-3-86757-396-2 .
  25. ↑ T. Schneider: Egyptologists in the Third Reich. 2013, pp. 176–177.
  26. ↑ They are also included in: Goebbels Experiment. Film by Lutz Hachmeister. Screenplay by Michael Kloft (2005). See Schneider: Egyptologists in the Third Reich. 2013, p. 177, note 235.
  27. ^ S. Voss: The history of the Cairo department of the DAI. Volume 2, 2017, pp. 103-109.
  28. ↑ P. Jánosi: Austria before the pyramids. 1997, pp. 80-81.
  29. ^ Grave site Hermann Junker , Vienna, Rodaun Cemetery, Part N, Group 1, No. 91.
  30. ↑ Herbert W. Duda (Ed.): Festschrift Hermann Junker on the 80th birthday of his friends and students. In: Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes (= Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes. Volume 54). Self-published by the Oriental Institute, Vienna 1957 ( digitized versionhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.gizapyramids.org%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2520library%2Fjunker_wzkm_54_1957.pdf~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D )
personal data
SURNAME Junker, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Egyptologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Bendorf , Rhine
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1962
Place of death Vienna