Wilhelm Teudt

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Wilhelm Teudt, around 1938

Wilhelm Teudt (born December 7, 1860 in Bergkirchen ( Schaumburg-Lippe ), † January 5, 1942 in Detmold ) was a folkish lay researcher who tried to find archaeological evidence for a Germanic high culture. His theses, which he summarized in his main work Germanic Sanctuaries (1st edition 1929), were rejected from the outset by specialist science. But they still influence esoteric and neo-pagan circles today . Teudt's main interest was in the area southwest of Detmold. He saw a Germanic cult site or a so-called solar observatory in the Externsteine located there .

Life

Teudt studied Protestant theology in Berlin, Leipzig, Tübingen and Bonn . Since Michaelmas 1883 Teudt was a member of the Leipzig University Choir of St. Pauli Leipzig (today's Leipzig University Choir of St. Pauli in Mainz ( German Choir )). In 1885 he became pastor in what was then the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe . In 1895 he took over the management of the Inner Mission in Frankfurt am Main. In 1908, Teudt resigned his pastoral office and in the same year became managing director of the Keplerbund, founded in 1907 to promote the knowledge of nature , an association of predominantly Protestant academics and citizens who were strongly anti - Darwinist . In 1909 he published a book in which he attacked Haeckel's theories as flawed and accused him of falsifications. In 1914 the federal government is said to have had a good 8,000 members, including 72 speakers. The book had a lasting impact. The counterfeit allegations were discussed in numerous regional and national newspapers at the time, and they still appear as an argument in creationist circles today .

At the First World War Teudt participated despite his age as a volunteer. After he moved to Detmold in 1921 due to the occupation of the Ruhr , he founded the Cheruskerbund there , the Lippe subgroup of the paramilitary organization Escherich . From the spring of 1922 the association had a paramilitary department, the Nothung, and in 1923 had around 1,100 members. At that time, Teudt was also a member of the DNVP . In addition, Teudt had been district lord of the Detmold local group of the anti-Semitic German Federation since 1928/29 .

From the mid-1920s onwards, Teudt turned to "volkic Germanic studies ", with a particular interest in uncovering Germanic places of worship. Teudt first appeared in public with two articles in the prehistoric journal Mannus . Teudt gathered a group of like-minded people and founded the Association of Friends of Germanic Prehistory in 1928 , which from 1929 published the magazine Germanien . Also in 1929, Teudt published his main work Germanic Sanctuaries , which was to have four editions by 1936. Teudt's theses met with rejection from the outset in the specialist field.

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists in 1933, Teudt was shown benevolent interest by the state and party. The association initially joined the Reichsbund für Volkstum und Heimat ( Reich Association for Ethnicity and Homeland) , headed by Rudolf Hess , an umbrella organization for folklore, heritage, nature conservation and similar areas. Teudt had been a member of the NSDAP since May 1, 1933 or not until 1935 . Furthermore, Alfred Rosenberg and Hans Reinerth tried to establish contact with Teudt with the Reich Association for German Prehistory , and Heinrich Himmler with the Research Association of German Ahnenerbe .

Finally, Teudt turned to Himmler, not least because many of Teudt's critics had gathered in Rosenberg's Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur . As early as 1933, Teudt suggested redesigning a room southwest of Detmold, including the Externsteine, into a “holy memorial grove ” under the name Osninghain . Himmler later took up this suggestion and declared the entire Detmold area to be the "ideological sphere of interest of the SS". In 1936, Teudt actually incorporated his association of friends of Germanic prehistory into the Research Association of German Ahnenerbe, handed over the journal Germanien to the Ahnenerbe and himself became head of department at the Ahnenerbe. This arrangement was only superficially advantageous for Teudt. One of his closest co-workers later described this process critically: "In doing so, he smashed the unification, squandered Germania and eliminated himself." Teudt got caught up in the power struggles between Himmler and Rosenberg. When Rosenberg set up a high school for the NSDAP , but Himmler's friend Walther Wüst wanted to get hold of the topic for himself and his University of Munich , the name Teudt was used to plot against Wüst:

“The attempt here was obvious: to take the wind out of the sails of the upcoming institute of the high school from the start. If it (sc. The schemer) Dr. If it should be desolate, I would recommend investigating your own activity, like old Dr. Teudt, the researcher of the Externsteine, by Dr. His life's work, his scientific society and his bank account have been ruined. That would clearly shed light on the way in which science is 'promoted' in places today with pure means of power. "

- Rosenberg to Martin Bormann , August 20, 1941, in the Federal Archives (Germany) BA NS 8/186, pages 134-138, Register K (Munich)

The break had already occurred in February 1938: Himmler released Teudt from the Ahnenerbe. In doing so, Himmler complained in particular to Teudt's alleged "lack of objectivity and pathological way of seeking arguments".

Teudt has received a number of state honors since 1935: in 1935 he was appointed professor and became an honorary citizen of the city of Detmold . In 1940 he was awarded the Goethe Medal for Art and Science .

After the break with Himmler, Teudt had lost its resources to the Ahnenerbe. But Teudt remained uncomfortable and founded the Osningmark Society with his followers in 1939, based in Detmold, which was affiliated to the Reich Association for German Prehistory, headed by Hans Reinerth. After Teudt's death, the Osningmark Society was renamed the Wilhelm Teudt Society and worked until 1944/1945. In addition, a Wilhelm Teudt Foundation was set up as a foundation under public law with its seat in Detmold in 1943 , but was unable to develop any more activities due to time restrictions.

Grave site in the "Old Cemetery" in Detmold

An excerpt from the party official funeral address after Teudt's death in 1942 reveals that Teudt had long since done his duty for the goals of the National Socialists:

“It is essential that Teudt created Germanic sanctuaries in the hearts of countless Germans [...] through his enthusiastic appeal. Therein lies Teudt's undying merit for the German renewal [...] We are certainly not lacking in bright minds, but brave hearts should be more common in science. "

In 2010, Teudt was symbolically denied honorary citizenship by the Detmold City Council.

to teach

Teudt's fundamental thesis on the Germanic prehistory states that the Germanic tribes living in the area of ​​what was later to become Germany had their own high-class culture even before they came into contact with the Romans and Western Franks. Teudt assumes the following:

  • With Christianization, i.e. in Saxony around the year 800, there was a cultural break . This was accompanied by the destruction of culture by Christianity, which from today's perspective makes it difficult to see the time before.
  • The Germanic culture was a wood culture . This is the reason why there are hardly any art monuments from Germanic prehistory.

In regional terms, Teudt was primarily concerned with the area southwest of Detmold, the Osningmark . Several Germanic sanctuaries and other facilities can be found there:

  • The Externsteine were said to have been a Saxon Irminsul cult site, and the “Höhenkammer” there was a solar observatory.
  • The Gierke farm in Oesterholz was a cult castle or school of scholars . The site of the Hethi monastery can also be found there. After Saxony had been conquered by Charlemagne , this monastery was established under Ludwig the Pious in 815 and moved to Corvey in 822 .
  • In Langelau near Oesterholz, a stadium-like arena can still be seen today.
  • The barrows east of the Langelau should be classified as an important three hill sanctuary .
  • The Hünnenkirche in Kohlstädt is of Germanic origin. Possibly it is the tower of the seer Veleda named by Tacitus .

effect

Teudt's teachings were rejected by specialist science. But they still influence esoteric and neo-pagan circles today .

In the local and regional historical literature that has been published since 1945, there is almost nothing left to read about Teudt's theses. Nevertheless, according to Roland Siekmann, “the contents of his 'Oesterholzer thesis' are still subficially virulent and clouded by the breath of 'secret knowledge'.” With regard to Teudt's theory of a so-called solar observatory on the Externsteinen, Martin Kuckenburg even writes: “Even the thought Against the background of the discoveries of Goseck and Nebra, one will no longer so vehemently and from the outset reject a cult space used for solar observation as has sometimes happened from the archaeological side in the past decades. "

In the meantime, Teudt's activity has become the subject of historical research. The archaeologist Uta Halle wrote herself in several writings, especially in her under the title “The Externsteine ​​are Germanic until further notice!”. Prehistoric Archeology in the Third Reich , which deals with Teudt's commitment to the Externsteine.

Fonts

  • National settlement and housing reform . o. O. (Frankfurt) 1899 (together with Jakob Latscha ).
  • In the interests of science. Haeckel's fakes and the 46 zoologists . Scientific publishing house of the Keplerbund , Godesberg 1909. ( Digitized version of the work in the German Central Library for Medicine )
  • German objectivity and the world war. A contribution to ethnology. Godesberg 1917.
  • Germanic sanctuaries. Contributions to uncovering the prehistory, based on the Externsteine, the Lippequellen and the Teutoburg . Eugen Diederichs, Jena 1929–1936 (4 editions). Reprint of the 4th edition: Facsimile-Verlag, Bremen 1982.
  • Gottlieder for German people. 75 songs of God for German people, in 150 psalms , freed from Jewish clasps, strains and warping . Köhler & Amelung, Leipzig 1934.
  • Wilhelm Teudt fighting for Germanic honor. A selection of Teudt's writings . Velhagen & Klasing , Bielefeld 1940.

literature

  • Uta Halle: "The Externsteine ​​are Germanic until further notice!" Prehistoric archeology in the Third Reich . Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 2002.
  • Michael H. Kater : The "Ahnenerbe" of the SS 1935-1945. (= Studies on Contemporary History, Volume 6). 4th edition, R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-486-57950-5 .
  • Harald Lönnecker : Between esotericism and science. The circles of the "völkisch Germanenkundler" Wilhelm Teudt . In: Then and Now, Yearbook of the Association for corp student Historical Research 49, 2004, pp 265-294 full text (PDF, 180 kB).
  • Iris Schäferjohann-Bursian: Wilhelm Teudt in Detmold in the 1920s: his search for orientation . In: Hermann Niebuhr & Andreas Ruppert (eds.): War - Revolution - Republic. Detmold 1914-1933. Bielefeld 2007, ISBN 3-89528-606-0 , pp. 415–458.
  • Jürgen Hartmann: Against the Jews and against the Republic! The anti-democratic right in Detmold 1914 to 1933 . Ibid. Pp. 263-298.
  • Jürgen Hartmann: From the "völkisch pioneer" to the National Socialist "down to the bone". The political career of the "German scientist" Wilhelm Teudt . In: Rosenland. Zeitschrift für Lippe History, 11, 2010, pp. 23–36 full text (PDF; 594 kB)
  • Roland Siekmann: Weird Senne . On the cultural history of the perception of a peripheral landscape . In: Lippische Studien. Vol. 20. Institute for Lippe Regional Studies, Lemgo 2004, pp. 276–293.
  • Julia Schöning: Wilhelm Teudts' German studies. Methodology and objectives of ideologically motivated lay science . In: Lippische Mitteilungen aus Geschichte und Landeskunde, Vol. 81, 2012, pp. 243-258.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Seidel, Walter / Sichler, Willmar: List of the members of the Association of the Old Paulines in Leipzig 1937, page 51.
  2. ↑ Iris Schäferjohann-Bursian: Wilhelm Teudt in Detmold in the 1920s - his search for orientation. In: War - Revolution - Republic. Detmold 1914-1933. Bielefeld 2007, p. 446.
  3. ↑ Uta Halle: "The Externsteine ​​are Germanic until further notice!" Prehistoric archeology in the Third Reich . Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 2002, p. 72.
  4. ↑ Wilhelm Teudt: The Osningmark as a sacred reminder grove . In: Germania. Monthly booklets for prehistory. 1933, pp. 183-185.
  5. ↑ Uta Halle: "The Externsteine ​​are Germanic until further notice!" Prehistoric archeology in the Third Reich . Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, Bielefeld 2002, p. 379, fn. 171.
  6. ↑ This honorary citizenship of the city was revoked on May 27, 2010 (sic, no typo). On October 5, 1936, Walther Wüst held the keynote address in Detmold for the award; at the same time a "nursing home for Germanic studies" was opened
  7. ↑ Circular from the Wilhelm Teudt Society No. 1/1943, p. 1.
  8. ↑ Roland Siekmann: Strange Senne. On the cultural history of the perception of a peripheral landscape . Lippe studies vol. 20. Institute for Lippe regional studies, Lemgo 2004, p. 291.
  9. ^ Martin Kuckenburg: Places of worship and sacrificial sites in Germany. Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, p. 94.
personal data
SURNAME Teudt, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German folkish lay researcher
DATE OF BIRTH December 7, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH Bergkirchen
DATE OF DEATH January 5, 1942
Place of death Detmold