Reinhard Heydrich Foundation

The Reinhard Heydrich Foundation was established as the Reich Foundation for Scientific Research on July 25, 1942 in Prague . It was named after the Deputy Reich Protector in Bohemia and Moravia, Reinhard Heydrich , who had been the victim of an assassination almost two months earlier . The Foundation was officially under the statutes the task "exploration of racial, cultural, political and economic conditions of Bohemia and Moravia and the peoples in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe" and stood from the beginning under the strong influence of the SS .

History, objectives and structure

In the Munich Agreement of September 29, 1938, Czechoslovakia had to cede the Sudetenland to the German Reich . Half a year later, in March 1939, Wehrmacht troops occupied the rest of the Czech Republic and the Nazi regime established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . Initially, the focus was on the economic exploitation of Czech industry and its workers for the German war industry. As early as the following year, 1940, plans were concretized to bring the scientific institutions of the Protectorate under German administration and to prepare "scientifically" for the Germanization planned after the war . A so-called “East or Southeast Research Institute” in Prague should take on this task.

Wilhelm Saure , since 1940 rector of the German Karl Ferdinand University and since September 1940 also "Special Representative of the Reich Protector for the Slavic Scientific Institutions in Prague", also administered the Czech scientific institutions in the Protectorate, which were closed in November 1939 after unrest. According to his ideas, a foundation for "scientific research into the intellectual, cultural and economic relationships between the German Empire and the various Slavic peoples" should deal primarily with the questions of the Germanization of the Bohemian countries, a special concern of sour as a representative of racial and Main settlement office (RuSHA).

The Deputy Reich Protector Heydrich, who was in office from the end of September 1941, described the importance of the armaments industry in the Protectorate as "maintaining peace and order as a short-term goal of German occupation policy and the Germanization of the Czech population as a long-term goal". To do this, he demanded a “ racial inventory ” from the research institute , because Germanization was only intended for “ racially suitable ” Czechs. Heydrich withdrew the foundation plans from the RuSHA, subordinated them to the Office Group for Volkstum (III B) of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) and commissioned Hans Joachim Beyer with the implementation. Saure then left Prague.

Hans Joachim Beyer had studied history, public law and ethnology and joined the SA in 1933 , the NSDAP in 1936 and the SS Security Service (SD) in 1938 . Promoted to SS-Obersturmführer in 1940 , he marched into Galicia in June 1941 with Einsatzgruppe C , compiled lists of Polish intellectuals and took part in executions. In February 1942 he took over the chair for “Folk Education and Nationality Studies of Eastern Europe” at the Charles University and took care of the organizational structure of the foundation, which was only completed in May 1943 with the appointment of the institute directors. After the assassination attempt on Heydrich in May 1942, the previously unnamed institution was officially named Reinhard Heydrich Foundation. Beyer was promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer (September 1942) and the Second Class War Merit Cross (1943) for his work on building the foundation .

Alfred Buntru became the head of the foundation . The hydraulic engineer Buntru (member of the NSDAP since 1937 and the SS since 1938 and on behalf of the SD) taught at the Technical University in Prague from 1928 to 1936 and was its rector in 1935/36. After an interim position as a full professor for hydraulic engineering at the Technical University of Aachen (1936 to 1939 its rector) and spying for the SD, he was again professor at the TH Prague from 1939 to 1945 (again as rector between 1940 and 1945). In 1942/43 he was also appointed acting rector of the Tetschen-Liebwerd Agricultural University and the German Charles University in Prague. Buntru was also head of the Reinhard Heydrich Foundation. In 1943 he was appointed Gaudozentenführer Sudetenland and in 1944 Deputy Reichsdozentenführer . At that time, as SS-Oberführer he was confidante of the Sudeten German politician and SS-Obergruppenführer Konrad Henlein .

Structure and activity

The foundation was closely linked to the German university in Prague and consisted of eight institutes, including for

• "European Ethnology and Ethnic Psychology " under the direction of Hans Joachim Beyer and Rudolf Hippius ,
• " Social anthropology and folk biology" under Karl Valentin Müller ,
• " Eastern European intellectual history " under Eduard Winter ,
• " German Law in East Central Europe " under Wilhelm Weizsäcker and Franz Laufke ,
• " Folklore of Bohemia" under Josef Hanika and Edmund Schneeweis ,
• " Regional history of Bohemia and Moravia" under Heinz Zatschek , later Anton Ernstberger ,
• " Czech language and literature" under Eugen Rippl ,
• "Economics" under Ferdinand Ulmer (from July 1944),
• "Folk song and folk music" under Gerhard Gesemann ,
• "Oriental Institute" under Adolf Grohmann .

The directors of the institute were all lecturers at the German university and had a double function. They taught at the university and researched in the foundation and made their results available to the National Socialist authorities in Prague and Berlin. Hans Joachim Beyer was not formally the head of the Heydrich Foundation, but in addition to his institute management he also determined the scientific content of the entire institution.

The denationalization and depoliticization of the population was the guideline of the “Czech Studies” on “Germanization”. The centuries-old German influence should be proven in all areas and the importance of the Czech population as an ethnic unit should be suppressed. In addition, they wanted to legitimize the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia at a later date. To make it easier to eliminate the Czechoslovak nationality, the Slovak part of the country had been separated as a German satellite state ( First Slovak Republic ) and the Czech part was separated into the two historical parts of Bohemia and Moravia .

Expansion of the field of activity

As the main beneficiary of the concepts and research, the SS security service was also interested in work beyond the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, in particular in its population theories , which became important in the further course of the war with the occupation of other Eastern European regions such as Yugoslavia and Ukraine . This led to an expansion of the Reinhard Heydrich Foundation's field of activity and was important for many scientific employees who were able to bring in the Germanization methods and processes developed in the institutes. For example, Eduard Winter dealt with the Orthodox Church , which then provided valuable arguments for the policy of occupation and oppression in Ukraine.

In order to adapt to the war needs, some institutes were closed towards the end, but some were able to continue working. The rule was always to continue work that was important to the war effort. In the worsening war situation in the course of 1944, the foundation dealt with " Bolshevism research ". The aim was to mobilize the population of the German-occupied countries for a common European defense against the Soviet Union .

After the Second World War

In the Reinhard Heydrich Foundation in Prague, the SS security service brought together the most active Nazi national fighters . However, after the war, participation in the plans for resettlement and Germanization did not have any disadvantages for the researchers, because almost everyone in Germany was allowed to continue working at universities and in science and to continue their careers without a transition. This is another example of the continuities of Nazi elites in both post-war German states .

• Hans Joachim Beyer (1908–1971) as full professor at the University of Education in Flensburg.
• Karl Valentin Müller (1896–1963), with the support of Lower Saxony's minister of education, Adolf Grimme , set up an “Institute for Gifted Research” in Hanover (since 1949 Institute for Empirical Sociology ) and also worked at the Academy for Spatial Research and Regional Planning . 1955 Chair for Sociology and Social Anthropology at the University of Economics and Social Sciences in Nuremberg . Appointment as a so-called “ 131 professor” (“ displaced university professor” according to Article 131 of the Basic Law ). 1954 to 1959 General Secretary of the Institut International de Sociologie and at the same time member of the board of the German Society for Population Sciences . Müller maintained contacts with functionaries of the Nazi era . Richard Korherr , author of Korherr report to the " final solution ", formerly a senior research associate and confidant of the " Reichsführer SS " Heinrich Himmler had the winter semester 1959/60 and summer semester 1962 a lecturer in "Methods of Social Research" and demography of of the University of Economics and Social Sciences in Müller's chair.
• Wilhelm Saure (1899–1951) was a member of the Hessian state parliament in 1950/1951.
• Eduard Winter (1896–1982): 1947 Chair of Eastern European History at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and its Rector from 1948 to 1951. From 1951 until his retirement in 1966 he taught at the Humboldt University in Berlin , where he headed the Institute for the History of the Peoples of the USSR . From 1955 full member of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin and headed the historical department of the Institute for Slavic Studies from 1955 to 1959, from 1956 to 1959 the working group History of the Slavic Peoples at the Institute for History and from 1961 to 1965 the department for German- Slavic scientific relations. 1963 first corresponding and four years later full member of the Académie internationale d'histoire des sciences in Paris.
• Wilhelm Weizsäcker (1886–1961): worked from 1945 to 1949 in Munich as legal and administrative advisor to the main committee for refugees and deportees in Bavaria and for the Sudeten German Economic Aid. In 1948, denazified as a "fellow traveler" by the Munich Chamber X against a fine of 300 DM. Employee of the German legal dictionary . 1950 honorary professor in Heidelberg . Involvement in the Adalbert Stifter Association , the "East German Cultural Council", in the "Historical Commission of the Sudetenland", in the "Palatinate Society for the Promotion of Science", in the Collegium Carolinum and in the Herder Research Council . Formed a scientific network with the Johann Gottfried Herder Research Council in Marburg, together with Bruno Schier , Eugen Lemberg , Hermann Aubin , Josef Hanika and Kurt Oberdorffer . He received the 1955 Distinguished Service Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany . In 1958 he received the legal status of a full professor emeritus according to § 78a of the law regulating legal relationships in Heidelberg.
• Josef Hanika († 1963 in Munich) was arrested by a Czech commando, was taken to a labor camp and was deported to Bavaria. 1948 Managing Director of the Bavarian State Association for Homeland Care in Munich; founded the Institute for Cultural and Social Research in 1950; received a teaching post in 1951 and became associate professor in 1955 and full professor for German and comparative folklore in 1959 at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich; Member of numerous scientific associations.
• Edmund Schneeweis († 1964 in Berlin): After the end of the war, initially interpreter and teacher in Glauchau ; 1946 Professor of Slavic Philology at the University of Rostock and from 1950 at the Humboldt University in Berlin ; Retired in 1955, continued teaching in Berlin until 1962.
• Franz Laufke († 1984 in Würzburg): After release from captivity, initially private scholar and night watchman; 1948 professorship in Kiel (acting deputy); 1949 private lecturer at the Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg ; shortly thereafter professor for commercial, civil and civil procedural law.
• Heinz Zatschek († 1965 in Friedrichshafen): Zatschek returned to Austria, became a lecturer at the University of Vienna in 1955 and was director of the Army History Museum in Vienna from 1957 until his death in 1965 .
• Anton Ernstberger († 1966 in Erlangen): Fled from a Czech internment and labor camp to Bavaria in 1945, taught at the Philosophical and Theological Universities of Regensburg and Bamberg and from 1947 to 1961 was a full professor of modern and recent history at the University of Erlangen , where in 1954 and 1955 he was dean of the philosophical faculty. In 1955 he became a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich.
• Alfred Buntru († 1974 in Aachen): With the help of letters of discharge for his personal denazification procedure , he was given another teaching position in Aachen in 1949 for hydrology , commercial hydraulic engineering and hydraulics , which he held until his retirement in 1962. In 1958 he was made an honorary senator of RWTH Aachen University.

literature

• Ota Konrád: The humanities at Prague University (1938 / 39–1945). In: Karen Bayer, Frank Sparing , Wolfgang Woelk (Hrsg.): Universities and colleges during National Socialism and in the early post-war period. Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-515-08175-5 , pp. 219–248, here p. 235 (section: University policy under Heydrich).
• Ota Konrád: "Because the inappropriateness of the Slavic ethnic group no longer needs any proof". The “Sudeten German Science” and its integration into contemporary discourses 1918–1945. In: Judith Schachtmann, Michael Strobel, Thomas Widera (eds.): Politics and science in prehistoric archeology. Perspectives from Saxony, Bohemia and Silesia (= Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarian Research . Reports and Studies. No. 56). V&R unipress, Göttingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-89971-741-9 , pp. 69–97, here p. 85, ( limited preview in the Google book search).
• Hans Lemberg (Hrsg.): Universities in national competition. On the history of Prague universities in the 19th and 20th centuries. Lectures at two conferences of the Historical Commission for the Bohemian Lands (formerly: the Sudetenland) in 1996 and 1997 (= publications of the Collegium Carolinum. Vol. 86). Oldenbourg, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-56392-0 .
• Robert Luft: Germans and Czechs in the Bohemian countries. Traditions and changes in a branch of West German history. In: Christiane Brenner , K. Erik Franzen, Peter Haslinger , Robert Luft (eds.): History of the Bohemian countries in the 20th century. Scientific traditions - institutions - discourses. Lectures at the meetings of the Collegium Carolinum in Bad Wiessee from November 21 to 23, 2003 and from November 12 to 14, 2004 (= Bad Wiesseer Meetings of the Collegium Carolinum. Vol. 28). Oldenbourg, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-486-57990-8 , pp. 367-431, here p. 382 .
• Dirk Rupnow : Destroy and Remember. Traces of National Socialist memory politics. Wallstein, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89244-871-X , p. 129, ( limited preview in the Google book search).
• Andreas Wiedemann: The Reinhard Heydrich Foundation in Prague (1942–1945) (= Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism. Reports and Studies. No. 28). Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarian Research eV at the Technical University of Dresden, Dresden 2000, ISBN 3-931648-31-1 , digitized version (PDF; 920.72 kB) .

Web links

• Andreas Wiedemann: Short version of the treatise on the Reinhard Heydrich Foundation , 2000
  • dsb., overview and results of his research, Ostmitteleuropa-Lexikon OME of the University of Oldenburg , 2000
• Marco Zimmermann: Reinhard Heydrich Foundation Prague: Science in the service of Nazi ideology Radio Prague June 16, 2012 on the 70th anniversary of the assassination attempt on the then deputy Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia Reinhard Heydrich

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} see web link Andreas Wiedemann: Short version of the treatise on the Reinhard Heydrich Foundation
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} see web link Marco Zimmermann: Reinhard Heydrich Foundation Prague
3. ^ See literature Karen Bayer, Frank Sparing, Wolfgang Woelk (ed.): Universities and colleges in National Socialism and in the early post-war period
4. ↑ see literature Christiane Brenner (Hrsg.): History of the Bohemian countries in the 20th century ...
5. ↑ see literature Judith Schachtmann: Politics and science in prehistoric archeology
6. ↑ see literature Dirk Rupnow: Vernichten und Erinnern