Walther Wüst

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Lecture by Walther Wüst on March 10, 1937 in front of the SS in the Hackerkeller in Munich on the subject: "The Führer 's book' Mein Kampf 'as a mirror of the Aryan worldview!" Image from the Federal Archives

Walther Wüst (born May 7, 1901 in Kaiserslautern ; † March 21, 1993 in Munich ) was a German Indo-Europeanist and Indologist as well as one of the most active National Socialist science functionaries and SS brigad leaders .

Life

Wüst studied Indology (among other subjects) in Munich , worked in particular on the Vedas and made a quick career as early as the Weimar Republic : he received his doctorate at 22 , the topic of the dissertation was the key phrase in Rigveda , a collection of the oldest gods -Hymns of Indo-European and Indian literature. At the age of 25 he became a private lecturer and in 1932, at the age of only 31, received the title of professor .

Wüst was in 1933 a member of the Nazi Party and was since 1934 as confidant (undercover agent) for the SD business. - Because of his ideological tint, he was called "Rassen-Wüst" among students.

As early as 1935 he became a full professor for "Aryan culture and linguistics" and dean of the Philosophical Faculty in Munich. In 1936 Wüst was admitted to the SS (last rank: Standartenführer ) and in 1937 President of the Research Association of German Ahnenerbe and thus its actual director under the official curator, Reichsführer SS Himmler . From 1939 the roles were reversed: now Himmler traded as the “President” of the “Research and Teaching Association”. As a curator, Wüst was “scientifically responsible” for him, and thus also for personnel policy.

Wüst was also co-editor of the journal Der Biologe , the central organ of the Reichsbund für Biologie published by the Volkischer Verlag JF Lehmanns.

On October 5, 1936, Wüst held the ceremonial address in Detmold in honor of Wilhelm Teudt , an esoteric and German believer , in order to celebrate the award of the town's honorary citizenship ; at the same time, a "care center for Germanic studies " was opened. In the spring of 1939, Himmler instructed Wüst to entrust the 30-year-old Rascher with the research task “Early diagnosis of cancer ” . Wüst was also involved in the 1943 Nazi propaganda in the Arab region when Hitler was to be portrayed as an eschatological figure of Islam in order to gain support there.

Wüst played a leading role in the organization of the sciences serving the Nazi state . During his tenure as rector of the University of Munich (1941–1945), the Scholl siblings were arrested in the main building there, in which Wüst was personally involved. As early as 1942 he was appointed a full member of the Philosophical-Historical Class of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

In 1945 Wüst was arrested by the occupation authorities and held in the Dachau internment camp until 1948 . He was released from the University of Munich in 1946. With the judgment of the Main Chamber of Munich on November 9, 1949, Wüst was classified as a victim in the denazification procedure and sentenced to three years in a labor camp, which he had already served with internment. As a result of the proceedings, he also lost the right to exercise his profession freely, but was later able to publish again on the subject of Indology. Wüst had been a reuse professor since 1951 , but was no longer given a chair at a German university.

literature

  • Michael Grüttner : Biographical lexicon on National Socialist science policy. Synchron, Heidelberg 2004, p. 187.
  • Michael H. Kater : The “Ahnenerbe” of the SS 1935–1945. A contribution to the cultural policy of the Third Reich , Oldenbourg, Munich, 2nd edition 1997 (Studies on Contemporary History, Volume 6), ISBN 3-486-55858-7 . (several new editions; 4th edition 2006, extracts online ).
  • Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945? Fischer, Frankfurt 2003, ISBN 3-10-039309-0 , pp. 688-689.
  • Karla Poewe: New Religions and the Nazis . Routledge, New York 2006, ISBN 0-415-29024-4 (Hardback), ISBN 0-415-29025-2 (Paperback).
  • Maximilian Schreiber: Walther Wüst. Dean and Rector of the University of Munich 1935-1945 . Herbert Utz, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8316-0676-4 , series: Contributions to the history of the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich 3. At the same time: Univ. Dissertation Munich 2006 ( excerpts (PDF; 193 kB), review ).
  • Цибулькін В. В., Лисюк І. П. СС-Аненербе: розсекречені файли. - Київ-Хмельницький: ВАТ "Видавництво" Поділля ", 2010. - С. 205–206.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Text of the speech see web links. See also: Joachim Lerchenmueller, Gerd Simon: Mask change. How SS-Hauptsturmführer Schneider became the FRG university rector Schwerte and other stories about the agility of German science in the 20th century. Tübingen 1999 ISBN 3-932613-02-3 )
  2. ^ Writer: Walther Wüst. Dean and Rector of the University of Munich 1935–1945 , p. 30.
  3. ↑ Franz Josef Strauss: The memories. Siedler, 1989, p. 34.
  4. ^ Ernst Klee: German Medicine in the Third Reich. Careers before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-10-039310-4 , pp. 141 f.
  5. ^ Honorary citizen title on May 27, 2010 (sic) revoked by this very city
  6. ↑ examination of Sievers , NOR 1, pp 5737-5738 G. - In: Zamecnik: That was Dachau , Luxembourg, 2002, p 263rd
  7. ↑ Source: Federal Archives NS 21/37
  8. ↑ Prof. Dr. Walther Wüst , members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences
personal data
SURNAME Wüst, Walther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Indo-Europeanist, National Socialist science functionary
DATE OF BIRTH May 7, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Kaiserslautern
DATE OF DEATH March 21, 1993
Place of death Munich