Richard Wolfram

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Richard Wolfram , (born September 16, 1901 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary , † May 30, 1995 in Traismauer ) was an Austrian folklorist and Scandinavian .

Life

Richard Wolfram was born into an educated middle class family. From 1920 to 1926 he studied German , Scandinavian and art history at the University of Vienna , where in 1926 he did a thesis on “Ernst Moritz Arndt and Sweden. The history of German North longing " doctorate was. In 1934 he completed his habilitation in Germanic Folklore and New Scandinavian Studies with Rudolf Much at the University of Vienna. During his habilitation there were problems due to suspicion of Nazi activities, but the habilitation apparently took place anyway, because in 1936 Wolfram submitted his thesis on sword dance and the men's association.

From 1928 to 1938 he was a lecturer for the Swedish language at the University of Vienna, but between 1934 and 1939 he spent more time in Scandinavia . From the winter semester of 1937/38 he taught at the University of Vienna, where in 1939 he was appointed as a scheduled extraordinary university professor for Germanic-German folklore. He held this position until his dismissal in 1945 by the US military government. From 1945 to 1954 he worked as a freelance folklorist. After his rehabilitation, he regained the venia legendi as a lecturer at the University of Vienna in 1954 , was reappointed extraordinary university professor there in 1959 and was appointed full professor in 1963. In 1972 he retired .

Role in National Socialism

Wolfram had been a member no. 1,088,974 of the NSDAP , which was banned in Austria from 1934, without interruption since June 1, 1932 , and he was very involved in the SS during the entire period of National Socialism . In 1938 Heinrich Himmler appointed him head of the teaching and research facility for Germanic-German folklore within the south-east branch of the SS-Ahnenerbes in Salzburg . Wolfram was extremely active for the SS Ahnenerbe and took on numerous tasks across Europe, such as B. 1940–1941 as head of the Customs and Folk Faith working group of the top secret Culture Commission South Tyrol, which was set up by Heinrich Himmler specifically to organize the resettlement of South Tyroleans as part of the option in South Tyrol in accordance with the Hitler - Mussolini Agreement and important things about this To receive 'Volksgut'. Despite his far-reaching entanglements with National Socialism, Wolfram has received numerous national and international awards and honors.

Awards (selection)

Fonts (selection)

  • Sword Dance and Men's Association , 3 volumes, 1936–37
  • Folk dances in Austria and related dances in Europe , 1972
  • Customs and popular beliefs in Gottschee , 1980
  • South Tyrolean folk drama and gaming customs , 1987

Secondary literature

  • Olaf Bockhorn / Helmut Fielhauer , Cultural Heritage and Appropriation . Festschrift, 1982 (each with a list of publications).
  • Olaf Bockhorn: "Viennese Folklore 1938-1945". In: Helge Gerndt (ed.): Folklore and National Socialism. Lectures and discussions at a conference (= Munich Contributions to Folklore, Volume 7). Munich 1987. pp. 229-237.
  • Olaf Bockhorn: "The fight for the" Ostmark ". A Contribution to the History of National Socialist Folklore in Austria ”. In: Compliant Science. The University of Vienna 1938-1945 . Eds. Gernot Heiß, Siegfried Mattl , Sebastian Meissl, Edith Saurer and Karl Stuhlpfarrer (= Austrian texts on social criticism 43) Vienna 1989, pp. 17–38.
  • Olaf Bockhorn / Helmut Eberhart: “Folklore in the Reichsgau Salzburg. Institutions - People - Trends ”. In: Walburga Haas (ed.): Folklore and Customs Care in National Socialism in Salzburg. Conference report . (Salzburg contributions to folklore 8) Salzburg 1996., pp. 57–80
  • James R. Dow / Hannjost Lixfeld (eds.): The Nazification of an Academic Discipline. Folklore in the Third Reich . Indiana University Press, Bloomington Indianapolis 1993.
  • James R. Dow / Olaf Bockhorn (eds.): The Study of European Ethnology in Austria . Ashgate MPG Books Progress in European Ethnology XIV, Aldershot / Burlington 2004.
  • Helmut Fielhauer (ed.): Folklore and folk culture. Festschrift , 1968.
  • Helge Gerndt (ed.): Folklore and National Socialism. Lectures and discussions at a conference . Munich Contributions to Folklore 7, Munich 1987.
  • Alfred W. Höck: “The folklorist Richard Wolfram and the long shadow of the German-ethnic world of myths”, in: Waltraud Froihofer (ed.), Folk dance between the times. On the cultural history of folk dance in Austria and South Tyrol , Weitra: Bibliothek der Provinz 2012, pp. 617–644.
  • Alfred W. Höck: “On the image documents in Richard Wolfram's estate”, in: Waltraud Froihofer (ed.), Folk dance between the times. On the cultural history of folk dance in Austria and South Tyrol , Weitra: Bibliothek der Provinz 2012, pp. 645–653.
  • Wolfgang Jacobeit / Hannjost Lixfeld / Olaf Bockhorn (eds.): Völkische Wissenschaft. Forms and tendencies of German and Austrian folklore in the first half of the 20th century , Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 1994.
  • U. Kammerhofer-Aggermann: "In memoriam Richard Wolfram (1901-1995)", in: Mitteilungen der Anthropologische Gesellschaft in Wien , Volume 125/126, Vienna 1995/96, pp. 317-318; the same in: Walburga Haas (ed.): Folklore and Customs Care in National Socialism in Salzburg. Conference report (Salzburg contributions to folklore, vol. 8), Salzburg 1996, p. 399f.
  • U. Kammerhofer-Aggermann: "Wolfram, Richard", in: A. Haslinger and P. Mittermayr (eds.), Salzburger Kulturlexikon , Salzburg 2001, p. 566f.
  • K. Köstlin: "Richard Wolfram 1901-1995". In: Journal of Folklore . Volume 4. Vienna 1995. pp. 480-483.
  • KJ Kuhn: “Networks, identity politics and a narrative of demarcation. On the history of knowledge of the relationships between “völkisch” and Swiss folklore ”, in: Journal for Folklore - Contributions to Cultural Research , 113/1, Münster etc .: Waxmann 2017, pp. 42–63.
  • Hannjost Lixfeld: Folklore and Fascism. The Reich Institute for German Folklore , ed. And transl. By James R. Dow. Indianda University Press. Bloomington and Indianapolis 1994.
  • M. Lackner-Kundegraber: “Univ.-Prof. Dr. Richard Wolfram died ”, in: Gottscheer Zeitung , September / October 1995, p. 15.
  • O. Moser: “Richard Wolfram. Obituary". In: Almanac of the Austrian Academy of Sciences . 145th year. Vienna 1995. pp. 525-534.
  • Elsbeth Wallnöfer :: "The scientific legitimacy of the folk dance Richard Wolfram", in: Waltraud Froihofer (ed.), Folk dance between the times. On the cultural history of folk dance in Austria and South Tyrol , Weitra: Bibliothek der Provinz 2012, pp. 654–671.
  • Alfred Werner Höck: Richard Wolfram (1901-1995). "We have a star that we followed" . In: Karel Hruza (ed.): Austrian historians. CVs and careers 1900–1945 , Vol. 3, Vienna a. a .: Böhlau 2019, ISBN 978-3-205-20801-3 , pp. 479-526.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Willi Mai
personal data
SURNAME Wolfram, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian folklorist and New Scandinavian
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 1995
Place of death Traismauer