Ilse Schwidetzky

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Ilse Schwidetzky , from 1940 married Rösing (born September 6, 1907 in Lissa , Province of Posen , † March 18, 1997 in Mainz ) was a German anthropologist and university professor .

Life

Ilse Schwidetzky was the daughter of the second mayor of Lissa, a private scholar and chairman of the Society for Animal and Original Language Research, Georg Schwidetzky (1875–1952). She attended the municipal lyceum in Bromberg until the cession of large parts of the province of Poznan to the Polish Republic in 1920. When her family moved to Leipzig in 1920 , she continued her school career there at the municipal secondary school for girls. In 1924 she moved to the municipal college, where she finished her school career in 1927 with the Abitur. She then began studying physics, mathematics and biology at the University of Leipzig , which she briefly continued at the University of Gdansk . She later switched to the subjects of anthropology, history, geography and biology and finished her studies at the University of Wroclaw . In early January 1933 she became a research assistant at the Ethnological Institute in Breslau. In 1934 she was awarded a doctorate by Manfred Laubert in Breslau with the historical topic “The Polish election movement in Upper Silesia”. phil. PhD .

From the beginning of April 1935, she was the assistant to the anthropologist Egon von Eickstedt , one of the leading racial anthropologists of National Socialism, in Breslau . This was followed by collaboration on the anthropological survey of the land of Silesia. 1937 habilitation them with a thesis on racial science of ancient Slavs of Anthropology. She represented him during his second expedition to India . From 1939 she worked as a lecturer at the University of Breslau and gave lectures in the so-called "Oststudium". She was co-editor of the "Zeitschrift für Rassenkunde" and "Rasse, Volk und Erbgut in Schlesien" founded by Eickstedt.

In 1940 Ilse Schwidetzky married the businessman Bernhard Rösing. The marriage had three children, including the ethnologist Ina Rösing (formerly Spiegel-Rösing) and the anthropologist Friedrich W. Rösing . Her husband was killed in action in 1944 after a heavy bomb attack on Nuremberg.

After fleeing from Breslau and an intermediate stage in Leipzig, Schwidetzky moved to Mainz and became a lecturer at Eickstedt, who had headed the newly founded anthropological institute since 1946. In 1947 she received an extraordinary professorship in Mainz. At the instigation of the incumbent chairman Leopold von Wiese , who acted as a personal godfather, she was accepted into the German Society for Sociology .

Since 1949 she worked on the institute's newly founded magazine under the name "Homo", of which she later became the chief editor for many years. After von Eickstedts retired in 1961, she was appointed to his chair and became director of the Anthropological Institute in Mainz. In 1975 she retired, but continued to work scientifically into old age.

research

Schwidetzky's research focus was the population biology of living and historical populations. She played a leading role in several large-scale regional anthropological data surveys: in the 1930s in Silesia and in the 1950s to 1970s in Westphalia , Rhineland-Palatinate , the Canary Islands and Sardinia . In 1966 she organized a pioneering international symposium on the anthropology of the Neolithic . As a result, she founded the Mainz database for metric data on prehistoric populations in Europe and the Middle East. Together with Friedrich W. Rösing, she analyzed and published its data in several essays on the different epochs of Europe from the Neolithic to the modern era in the magazine "Homo". After the death of Karl Saller , she took over the publication of the " Rassengeschichte der Menschheit", in which 14 deliveries appeared from 1965 to 1993, for which she wrote the article about Germany and contributed to numerous other articles. Important publications by Schwidetzky are the "Grundzüge der Bevölkerungsbiologie" (1950), "Das Problem des Völkertode" (1956), a study on the anthropology of the Visigoths (1957), a textbook on "The concept of man in biology" (1959, 2nd ed . 1970), her “History of Anthropology” in the anthropology handbook by Rainer Knussmann (1988) and her scientific systems analysis of anthropology together with Ina Spiegel-Rösing (1992).

After German anthropology and many leading anthropologists, especially the Berlin school around Eugen Fischer , were heavily burdened by their involvement in National Socialism , Schwidetzky, together with von Eickstedt, played a large part in the resurgence of German anthropology after the war and its reintegration into the international science, where her language skills and contacts with many foreign colleagues helped her. Schwidetzky has many domestic and foreign students. Of these, Rainer Knußmann became professor in Hamburg and Wolfram Bernhard was her successor in Mainz.

She was the “central figure in German post-war anthropology. As the author of influential apologetic treatises on the history of science in anthropology, she played a decisive role in the fact that the scientifically outdated race classification, which is in the tradition of Eickstedt, was maintained ”.

Quotes

  • “With the planned support of the Führer and his co-workers, racial science begins its triumphal march into the already decaying world of liberalism and gives it the fatal blow with its penetrative power. Because of its ideological importance, one can not only assign the value of any new field of knowledge to racial science, but rather it must be regarded as a science of the greatest political and educational expansion. "(1933)
  • “National Socialism has repeatedly been accused of demagoguery in its racial doctrine, especially on the Jewish question. And yet with a thorough and deep study of this question one arrives at a result which makes the official standpoint of the NSDAP perfectly understandable. "(1933)

Honors and memberships

Ilse Schwidetzky was a member and honorary member of numerous scientific committees and societies. So in:

  • Permanent Council of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (1974 Vice President)
  • Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz
  • Société d'Anthropologie de Paris
  • Anthropological Society in Vienna
  • Société Royale Belge d'Anthropologie
  • Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa
  • Sociedad Española de Antropologia Biologica
  • Academy for Population Science Hamburg
  • Herder Research Council in Marburg ( Historical Commission for Silesia )
  • German Society for Anthropology and Human Genetics (1968–1970 Chair)

For many years Schwidetzky was a reviewer for the German Research Foundation and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation . In 1990 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Crete in Heraklion .

Fonts

Monographs

  • Racial studies of the ancient Slavs . Stuttgart 1938
  • Racial studies of north-eastern Upper Silesia. (Kreuzburg, Rosenberg, Guttentag districts). From the Anthropological Institute of the University of Wroclaw. Series: Rasse, Volk, Erbgut in Schlesien booklet 2. Priebatsch's bookstore, Breslau 1939
  • Fundamentals of ethnology . Stuttgart 1950 (Spanish translation 1953: Ethnobiologica)
  • The problem of the death of nations. A study of historical population biology . Enke, Stuttgart 1954
  • Biology's concept of man Results and problems of scientific anthropology . G. Fischer, Stuttgart 1959 (2nd edition 1970)
  • The pre-Hispanic population of the Canary Islands . Supplement to Homo. Göttingen 1963 (Spanish translation 1963)
  • together with Hubert Walter: Studies on the anthropological structure of Westphalia. Munster 1967
  • Main problems of anthropology. Population biology and human evolution . Rombach, Freiburg i.Br. 1971
  • Basics of the racial system . BI, Mannheim 1974
  • Race and race education in humans . Fischer, Stuttgart 1979
  • together with I. Spiegel-Rösing: Mouse and Snake. Studies on the situation in German anthropology. Oldenbourg, Munich 1992

Publication of magazines and compilations

  • together with G. Heberer and G. Kurth: Fischer-Lexikon Anthropologie . Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 1959 (2nd edition together with G. Heberer and H. Walther 1970; also in Italian, Portuguese and (greatly changed) English translation)
  • together with A. Remane, R. Knußmann and H. Walter: Die neue Rassenkunde . G. Fischer, Stuttgart 1962
  • Race history of mankind, 14 deliveries, Oldenbourg, Munich 1968–1993 (editor of the first volume was Karl Saller)
  • together with Brunetto Chiarelli and Olga Necrasov: Physical Anthropology of European Populations . The Hague 1980
  • together with Kurt Gerhard and Wilhelm E. Mühlmann: magazine Homo (from 1956 to 1989)

Essays

  • Entangled complexion as a racial characteristic. In: Zeitschrift für Rassenkunde. Volume 13, 1942, pp. 81-94.
  • New feature maps of Central Europe. In: Zeitschrift für Rassenkunde. Volume 14, 1943, pp. 1-30.
  • The city type: status and tasks of causal analysis. In: Zeitschrift für Rassenkunde. Volume 14, 1944, pp. 190-208.
  • Type systems as a heuristic method. In: Homo. Volume 1, 1950, pp. 149-154.
  • Man as a source of history. In: Historical regional studies and universal history. Festival ceremony for Hermann Aubin. Hamburg 1951, pp. 11-23.
  • The question of location types in anthropology. In: Journal for Human Heredity and Constitutional Science. Volume 30, 1952, pp. 635-645.
  • Review of the regional anthropological study of Silesia. In: Yearbook of the Silesian Friedrich Wilhelms University in Breslau. Volume 1, 1955, pp. 112-132.
  • On the population biology of the Spanish Visigoths. In: Homo. Volume 8, 1957, pp. 157-165.
  • The gracilization problem. A bridge between race history and constitution research. In: Homo. Volume 13, 1962, pp. 188-195.
  • together with R. Knußmann and H. Walter: Differences between morphological and serological characteristics in the pace of geographical differentiation. In: Journal of Morphology and Anthropology. Volume 56, 1964, pp. 96-105.
  • together with R. Knussmann, W. Bernhard u. a .: Comparative statistical studies on the anthropology of the Neolithic. In: Homo. Volume 18, 1967, pp. 133-230.
  • Gracilization and Degrazilization. Characteristic statistical studies on the anthropology of the Neolithic. In: Homo. Volume 20, 1969, pp. 160-174.
  • Comparative statistical studies on the anthropology of the Iron Age (last millennium BC) In: Homo. Volume 23, 1972, pp. 245-272.
  • Race evolution in humans. In: Gerhard Heberer (ed.): The evolution of organisms. Volume 3, Stuttgart 1974, pp. 518-571.
  • together with R. Knussmann, V. Chopra u. a .: Anthropological studies in Rhineland-Palatinate. In: Homo. Volume 26, 1975, pp. 2-60.
  • together with Friedrich W. Rösing: Comparative statistical studies on the anthropology of Roman times (0–500 C.E.). In: Homo. Volume 26, 1975, pp. 193-218.
  • together with Friedrich W. Rösing: Comparative statistical studies on the anthropology of the early Middle Ages (500–1000 CE) In: Homo. Volume 28, 1977, pp. 65-115.
  • together with D. Ferenbach and M. Stloukal: Recommendations for age and gender diagnosis on the skeleton. In: Homo. Volume 30, 1979, pp. 1-31.
  • Racial History of Germany. In: Racial History of Mankind. Delivery 7, 1979, pp. 45-101.
  • together with Friedrich W. Rösing: Comparative statistical studies on the anthropology of the high Middle Ages (1000–1500 CE) In: Homo. Volume 32, 1981, pp. 211-251.
  • Racial history and evolution. In: Herbert Wendt, Norbert Loacker (Ed.): Kindler's Enzyklopädie Der Mensch. Zurich 1982, pp. 339-380.
  • Paleo-Population Genetics: An Introduction. In: Homo. Volume 33, 1982, pp. 65-69.
  • together with Friedrich W. Rösing: Comparative statistical studies on the anthropology of the modern age (after 1500). In: Homo. Volume 35, 1984, pp. 1-49.
  • History of anthropology. In: Rainer Knußmann (Ed.): Anthropologie. Handbook of Comparative Human Biology. Volume 1 / I, Stuttgart 1988, pp. 47-126.
  • together with Friedrich W. Rösing: Comparative statistical studies on the anthropology of the Neolithic and Bronze Age. In: Homo. Volume 40, 1990, pp. 4-45.
  • Ethnogenetic-anthropological problems in the Neolithic and Bronze Age. In: Homo. Volume 40, 1989, pp. 105-109.
  • Descriptive characters of the face in population comparisons. In: Homo. Volume 42, 1991, pp. 265-286.
  • History of Biological Anthropology in Germany. International Association of Human Biologists. In: Occasional Papers. Volume 3, No. 4, (Newcastle upon Tyne) 1992.

literature

  • Wilhelm Emil Mühlmann : Ilse Schwidetzky for her 65th birthday. In: Homo. 23, 1972, pp. 298-303. (with bibliography until 1972)
  • Wolfram Bernhard , Rainer Knußmann , Friedrich W. Rösing: Ilse Schwidetzky 9/6/1907–3/18/1997. In: Homo. 48, 1997, pp. 205-212. (with bibliography from 1973)
  • Wolfram Bernhard: Obituary for Ilse Schwidetzky-Rösing (1907–1997). In: Communications from the Anthropological Society in Vienna. 128, 1998, pp. 179-181.
  • AG gegen Rassekunde (Ed.): Your bones - your reality. Texts against racist and sexist continuity in human biology. Hamburg, Münster 1998.
  • Veronika Lipphardt: The "black sheep" of the life sciences . Marginalization and Rehabilitation of Racial Biology in the 20th Century. In: Dirk Rupnow (Ed.): Pseudoscience . Conceptions of non-scientific nature in the history of science. Frankfurt am Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-518-29497-0 .
  • Heidrun Kaupen-Haas , Christian Saller (ed.): Scientific racism. Analysis of continuity in human and natural sciences. Frankfurt am Main / New York 1999, ISBN 3-593-36228-7 [1]
  • Dirk Preuß: “Anthropologist and research traveler”: Biography and anthropology of Egon Freiherr von Eickstedts (1892–1965). Utz, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-8316-0872-0 , pp. 132-134.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Hans-Christian Harten, Uwe Neirich, Matthias Schwerendt: Rassenhygiene as an educational ideology of the Third Reich. Bio-bibliographical manual , Berlin 2006, p. 471
  2. ↑ Schwidetzky family at www.schwidetzky.de
  3. ↑ a b Dirk Preuß: “Anthropologist and research traveler”: Biography and anthropology of Egon Freiherr von Eickstedts (1892–1965) , Munich 2009, p. 132f.
  4. ↑ Dirk Preuß: "Anthropologist and research traveler": Biography and anthropology of Egon Freiherr von Eickstedts (1892-1965) , Munich 2009, p. 134f.
  5. ↑ cf. Dirk Preuß: "Anthropologist and research traveler": Biography and anthropology of Egon Freiherr von Eickstedts (1892–1965) , Munich 2009, p. 134
  6. ↑ Henning Borggräfe, Sonja Schnitzler: The German Society for Sociology and National Socialism. Association-internal transformations after 1933 and after 1945 , in: Michaela Christ, Maja Suderland (editors), Sociology and National Socialism: Positions, Debates, Perspectives . Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2014, pp. 445–479, here p. 462.
  7. ↑ a b c Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich , Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 574f
  8. ↑ Hubert Fehr: Teutons and Romanes in the Merovingian Empire , Berlin / New York 2010, p. 120
  9. ↑ Selected photographs on the racial studies of the German people, 1933 booklet, 2nd edition, p. 5. Edited by Eickstedt, scientifically responsible I. Schwidetzky.
  10. ↑ Selected photographs on racial studies of the German people, 1933 booklet, 2nd edition, p. 19. Edited by Eickstedt, scientifically responsible I. Schwidetzky.
  11. ^ Fifty Years of the Historical Commission for Silesia . In: Yearbook of the Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau, Volume 17, 1972, list of members p. 416.
personal data
SURNAME Schwidetzky, Ilse
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schwidetzky-Roesing, Ilse
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German anthropologist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Lissa (Province of Poznan)
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 1997
Place of death Mainz