Wilhelm Koppers
Wilhelm Koppers (born February 8, 1886 in Menzelen , † January 23, 1961 in Vienna ) was a German Catholic priest and ethnologist . He belonged to the Vienna School of Culture and was a member of the Steyler Missionaries (Societas Verbi Divini).
Life
From 1913, Koppers was a close collaborator of Father Wilhelm Schmidt , SVD. In 1921/22 he accompanied Father Martin Gusinde , SVD, on an expedition to the Tierra del Fuego Indians. In 1928, Koppers was appointed professor of ethnology and head of the newly founded Institute for Ethnology at the University of Vienna . In 1938 he lost his job, presumably because of his vehement criticism of the idea of a Nordic origin of the 'Indo-European race', preferred by the National Socialists. From 1940 to 1944 Koppers lived in Switzerland.
His research focus was on the Bhil tribes in central India.
He saw elements of the Near East in the Indo-European religion, such as the god of thunder . In his opinion, other elements, such as the cow sacrifice ( Ymir ), come from an agricultural southern (Caucasian-ancient oriental) culture. Koppers followed Otto Schrader in assuming a northern Pontic original home of the Indo-Europeans.
Publications
- Among the Tierra del Fuego Indians: A research trip to the southernmost inhabitants of the earth with M. Gusinde. Strecker and Schröder, Stuttgart 1924.
- The Indo-European Question in the Light of Historical Ethnology. St. Gabriel / Mödling near Vienna 1935.
- (Ed.) The Indo-European and Germanic question: New ways to their solution. Publisher Anton Pustet, Salzburg 1936.
- Secrets of the Jungle: A Research Trip to the Primitive Tribes of Central India 1938–39. J. Stocker, Luzern 1947 ( table of contents ).
- The Bhil in central India. F. Berger, Horn / Vienna 1948 (theses regarding the origin of the Bhil have been disputed).
- Primitive man and his worldview. Herold, Vienna 1949.
literature
- Johannes Madey : Wilhelm Koppers. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 4, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-038-7 , Sp. 509-511.
Web links
- Literature by and about Wilhelm Koppers in the catalog of the German National Library
- Entry on Wilhelm Koppers in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
- Utz Maas : Persecution and emigration of German-speaking linguists 1933-1945
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gerald Gaillard, "The Routledge Dictionary of Anthropologists," Routledge, April 15, 2013, p. 46
- ^ Dorothy Spencer , in: American Anthropologist. Vol. 51/3, p. 477.
- ↑ Wolfram Eberhard , in: Oriens. Vol. 2 (1949), pp. 163-165.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Koppers, Wilhelm |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Catholic priest and ethnologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 8, 1886 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Menzelen |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 23, 1961 |
| Place of death | Vienna |