Wilhelm Brepohl (sociologist)

Wilhelm Brepohl (born September 22, 1893 in Gelsenkirchen , † August 17, 1975 in Dortmund ) was a German folklorist and sociologist who headed the research center for folk culture in the Ruhr area in the 1930s , which was one of the nucleus of the social research center after 1945 Dortmund was. He was one of the founders of an "industrial folklore" which was at the service of National Socialist population policy.

Life

Brepohl was born in Gelsenkirchen in 1893 as the son of an engineer. He studied in Marburg , Paris , Heidelberg , Berlin and Münster and received his doctorate in Münster in 1922. phil.

From 1923 he was editor, from 1933 then chief editor (editor-in-chief; cf. Editor-in-Chief ) of the "Gelsenkirchener Allgemeine Zeitung". On May 1, 1933, he joined the NSDAP (membership number 2.165.298). In 1935 he became managing director of the research center for people in the Ruhr area, which he had founded, and together with Eberhard Franke created the racially disparaging "Polack type". In 1939 he was drafted as a soldier. He came as a captain to the propaganda troops and was deployed in various theaters of war. In 1943/44 he was "as a major national expert in northern France and participated in the racist evaluation of French people for inclusion in the German people's list ".

After the war he was denazified as a follower and from 1945 initially carried out scientific activities on behalf of the Westphalia Provincial Administration , before he was then head of department in 1947 at the social research center in Dortmund, which had been founded shortly before (1946) by Otto Neuloh . In 1948 he also received a teaching position at the University of Münster ; In 1957 he was appointed honorary professor there.

“From 1949 Brepohl was the chief editor of the magazine“ Soziale Welt ”. With the change of the institute management from Otto Neuloh to Helmut Schelsky , Brepohl's activity at the social research center ended in 1960. "

Brepohl and Eberhard Franke were both active within the Nazi organization DAF at the AWI ergonomic institute until 1945 . After 1945, Brepohl continued unconcerned as before:

“Brepohl continued his social anthropological studies in 1947 with superficial terminological retouching and in 1949, as chief editor of the magazine“ Soziale Welt ”, positively secured a strong position of power. Since his empirical studies were funded by the Rockefeller Foundation as part of the Dortmund Social Research Center and were obviously under the protection of the US military government , it was not a particular risk for him to show the flag at the level of the specialist organizations. Later Karl Heinz Pfeffer also joined the AWI. "

- Karl Heinz Roth, Intelligence, p. 37

Fonts

German spirit with Westphalian characteristics. Blood and Education in the History of a Tribe. Contemplation and studies , Cologne: Schroeder, 1936.
The construction of the Ruhr people in the course of the east-west migration. Contributions to the German social history of the 19th and 20th centuries , Recklinghausen: Bitter, 1948.
Industrial people in the change from agrarian to industrial form of existence shown in the Ruhr area . Mohr Siebeck , Tübingen 1957.
with Josef Lingnau: Population and settlement in the Wulfen area: Development, structures and tendencies 1824 - 1961 , Ruhr coal district settlement association, Essen 1967.

literature

Stefan Goch : Wilhelm Brepohl , in: Ingo Haar [Hrsg.]: Handbuch der Völkischen Wissenschaften , Munich: Saur 2008, ISBN 978-3-598-11778-7 , pp. 81–85.
Stefan Goch: The research center for the Volkstum in the Ruhr area , in: Ingo Haar [Hrsg.]: Handbuch der Völkischen Wissenschaften. Saur, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-598-11778-7 , pp. 182-187.
City of Gelsenkirchen, Institute for City History: Collection Wilhelm Brepohl, Findbuch . Edited by Marta Miller, Gelsenkirchen 2014 PDF file ( Memento from June 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
Karl Heinz Roth : Intelligence and Social Policy in the “Third Reich”. A methodological-historical study using the example of the Ergonomic Institute of the German Labor Front. Saur, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-598-11166-5 , again 2011, p. 37. (Readable online in Google books up to p. 179)

Web links

Literature by and about Wilhelm Brepohl in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e City of Gelsenkirchen, Institute for Urban History: Wilhelm Brepohl Collection, Finding aid , edited by Marta Miller, Gelsenkirchen 2014, PDF file ( Memento from June 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
^ Johannes Weyer: The research center for the people in the Ruhr area (1935-1941). An example of sociology in fascism. ( Memento from June 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: Soziale Welt 1984, Vol. 35: pp. 124–145.
^ Johannes Weyer: West German Sociology 1945-1960. German continuities and North American influence. Duncker & Humblot , Berlin 1984, p. 405, ISBN 3-428-05679-5 .

personal data
SURNAME	Brepohl, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German folklorist and sociologist
DATE OF BIRTH	September 22, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH	Gelsenkirchen
DATE OF DEATH	17th August 1975
Place of death	Dortmund

[samml-1] City of Gelsenkirchen, Institute for Urban History: Wilhelm Brepohl Collection, Finding aid , edited by Marta Miller, Gelsenkirchen 2014, PDF file ( Memento from June 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )

[Weyer_1984b-2] Johannes Weyer: The research center for the people in the Ruhr area (1935-1941). An example of sociology in fascism. ( Memento from June 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: Soziale Welt 1984, Vol. 35: pp. 124–145.

[Weyer_1984a-3] Johannes Weyer: West German Sociology 1945-1960. German continuities and North American influence. Duncker & Humblot , Berlin 1984, p. 405, ISBN 3-428-05679-5 .