Joseph Alfs

Joseph Alfs (born November 25, 1910 in Essen , † December 16, 1943 died near San Pietro near Montecassino ) was a German provincial Roman archaeologist .

Life

Alfs attended high school in Essen and, after graduating from high school in Easter 1933, studied classical archeology, classical philology and ancient history at the University of Münster from the summer semester 1933 to the summer semester 1934 . From the winter semester 1934/35 to the summer semester 1935 he studied at the University of Berlin , where he also took prehistory. He then returned to Münster, where he took the doctoral examination with Friedrich Matz on May 12, 1937 .

He then did museum and excavation work in Mainz ( RGZM ), Wiesbaden (burial mound excavation in the Westerwald ), Frankfurt ( Roman-Germanic commission , excavation at Zugmantel fort ) and Trier. From November 1, 1938 to March 31, 1939 he was temporarily acting director of the Saalburg Museum , from April 1, 1939 he was employed at the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe , where he was responsible for the antiquities department and the prehistoric and early historical collection but were soon taken to the depot for air protection reasons. In addition, he dealt scientifically with Roman monuments in Baden and carried out excavations in Laufenburg and Oberbronn near Hagenau .

Since September 8, 1942 he was a soldier in the Wehrmacht . For 1943/44 he was awarded the travel grant of the German Archaeological Institute , which he could not take due to the war, he had been drafted into the Wehrmacht since September 1938. He was killed in the fighting for San Pietro near Montecassino in December 1943.

Publications

• The gems of the Alsen type and their relatives in Hildesheim , in Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 70, 1938, pp. 18-23.
• The movable metal armor in the Roman army. The history of its origin and development , in: Journal for historical weapons and costume studies 7, 1941, pp. 69–126 (= dissertation Münster 1937).
• Prehistoric and early history, Roman monuments , in: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Baden-Baden , Die Kunstdenkmäler des Großherzogthums Baden Vol. 11, 1, Karlsruhe 1942, pp. 25–46.
• The cut stones on the church treasures in Hildesheim , in Niedersächsisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte 19, 1942, pp. 1–39.

literature

• Friedrich Garscha: Joseph Alfs , in Badische Fundberichte 18, 1948–1950, pp. 10–11 (with picture).
• L'archéologie en Alsace et en Moselle au temps de l'annexion (1940–1944) , Strasbourg 2001, p. 29. 203.