Archaeology in Troubled Times

Uta Halle. "Die Externsteine sind bis auf weiteres germanisch!": Prähistorische Archäologie im Dritten Reich. Bielefeld: Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, 2002. 608 S. EUR 49,00, gebunden, ISBN 978-3-89534-446-6. Reviewed by Gary Beckman Published on H-German (October, 2005) The Externsteine, a spectacular sandstone for‐ dentious one: it sought to demonstrate that the mation located near the small town of Horn in early Germans had possessed a culture at least Nordrhein-Westfalen (Kreis Lippe), is one of Ger‐ the equal of that of the Mediterranean peoples. Its many's natural wonders, significant enough to be adherents resented not only the idea that the Ro‐ included among the tourist attractions pictured mans had brought a higher civilization to the on the nation's Sehenswürdigkeiten series of de‐ Rhineland, but also the dominance of Classical ar‐ finitive postage stamps (Michel Katalog no. 1407). chaeologists in German universities and in the The outcropping is adorned with a bas-relief de‐ Deutsche Archäologische Gesellschaft (DAI). They picting the Descent from the Cross, which recent contemptuously referred to their rivals as "Röm‐ art-historical research has dated to the early ninth linge."[4] century of the Common Era.[1] Most prominent among the Germanomanes Already in the sixteenth century a local pas‐ concerned with the Externsteine was Wilhelm tor and antiquarian had identified the Extern‐ Teudt, a one-time clergyman turned amateur pre‐ steine as the site of one of the Germanic shrines historian who wrote widely on the site's putative reportedly destroyed by Charlemagne.[2] Given sacredness and Germanic character.[5] Teudt was that they are located in the heart of the Teutoburg also instrumental in the establishment in 1934 of district where, according to Tacitus, Arminius had the Externsteine-Stiftung, whose purpose was to defeated a Roman army, it is not surprising that raise funds for and administer a kind of Germanic the Externsteine assumed particular importance heritage park.[6] Joining Teudt on the board of the for those participants in the völkisch movement foundation was SS chief Heinrich Himmler. Under of the early twentieth century who focused their the patronage of this group, archaeological inves‐ enthusiasms on prehistory. The völkisch approach tigations were conducted in 1934 and 1935. to prehistory, as exemplified by the work of its The author of the volume under review, pro‐ founding father, Gustaf Kossinna,[3] was a ten‐ fessional archaeologist Uta Halle, conceived her H-Net Reviews project following a visit to the Landesmuseum Nachlass (p. 49, n. 175), led her to consider aban‐ Detmold in search of comparative material for a doning her study (p. 13). Thankfully, she pressed study of ceramics excavated at another medieval on. site (p. 11). In Detmold she not only came across Halle sets the stage with a consideration of the material recovered at the Externsteine in the the attitudes of leading National Socialist ideo‐ 1930s, which had never been scientifically pub‐ logues to the early past of their nation. Rosenberg lished, but she also learned that the local Staat‐ (pp. 60-62) and Himmler (pp. 62-66) were enthusi‐ sarchiv contained correspondence and other astic about what they thought their forefathers records generated by numerous archaeological had accomplished, while Hitler (pp. 57-60) was an enthusiasts of the area. She therefore undertook a admirer of ancient Rome[10] and referred to his double project--to detail the results of the neglect‐ Germanophile colleagues as "crazy apostles of ed digs, and to consider the interaction of politics early times (spinnige Jenseitsapostel)" (p. 59). The and science in the study of prehistory under the author reasonably concludes that there was no Third Reich. unified Nazi view of prehistory (p. 65). The frst subject, although taking up almost Chapter 5 is devoted to a sketch of the devel‐ 200 pages (chapter 7, catalogue, and plates), is of opment of prehistoric archaeology in Germany, only tangential interest to readers of this list. Suf‐ with special attention given to the rivalry be‐ fice it to say that Halle shows that the pottery and tween the followers of Kossinna and the experts other small fnds from the Externsteine were pro‐ on provincial Roman material active with the duced from the tenth through the nineteenth cen‐ Römisch-Germanische Kommission (RGK) (p. 102), tury of the Common Era (p. 341), and that neither a competition that would continue into the fnal these nor the architectural remains give any indi‐ year of the Third Reich. cation of a religious purpose for the site (p. 342). With the Machtergreifung of January, 1933, That is, there is no evidence that the Externsteine partisans of Germanic archaeology felt that their were ever a Germanic temple.[7] This disappoint‐ time had come, and indeed under the National So‐ ing result may well account for the failure of cialists new chairs in prehistory were established Julius Andree, who directed the 1934 excavations, in many German universities. Among the eager to document his work fully or indeed to produce a applicants for these posts was prehistorian Hans proper publication (pp. 195, 299). In his brief note Reinerth,[11] who was, however, shunned by in a popular publication and in his public lec‐ many in the feld because they (probably mistak‐ tures, Andree supported the völkisch fantasy enly) believed that he was responsible for the about the site, but avoided giving details that opening of an investigation into peculation by his would allow this shaky interpretation to be chal‐ mentor, R. R. Schmidt. Shut out of university lenged.[8] posts, Reinerth insinuated himself with Alfred The remainder of Halle's book is devoted to a Rosenberg, becoming his advisor on disciplinary history of Vorgeschichte under the Vorgeschichte. From his post on the Amt Rosen‐ National Socialist regime. Like the practitioners of berg, Reinerth goaded his master to importune many other scholarly felds,[9] in the postwar Hitler for the creation of a Reichsinstitut für years German prehistorians were loath to exam‐ deutsche Vorgeschichte, an institution that the of‐ ine their record and that of their discipline during ficers of the DAI and RGK perceived as a threat to the Nazi period. Indeed, the resistance the author their position and worked hard to forestall (pp. encountered in the 1980s and 1990s, including the 447-448), enlisting in this effort Himmler and the refusal of Teudt's family to grant access to his SS-Ahnenerbe. Thus partisans of differing views 2 H-Net Reviews as to the future of German archaeology, the Young [12] It mattered not at all that Reinerth had later Turk Germanic prehistorians on the one hand denounced some of the same associates and had and traditional Classicists on the other, involved helped engineer their dismissal from their posts. two of the most ambitious Nazi Bonzen in their He was imprisoned for several years after the war struggle. In Halle's considered opinion, it was the and became a scapegoat for the sins of prehistori‐ scholars who attempted to make use of the influ‐ ans under the Third Reich (p. 513). Conversely, ence of the Party in this dispute, rather than the Reinerth's initial condemnation as "a guilty party National Socialists who intervened in an academ‐ (Schuldiger)" in his denazification trial of 1949 ic dispute on their own initiative (p. 188; cf. p. was overturned by a Freiburg court in 1953 on 390). the grounds that he had resisted the "fantastic Another front in the struggle between Rosen‐ Germanic doctrine (phantastische Germanen‐ berg and Himmler encompassed the excavation lehre)" of Himmler![13] He was active in the run‐ and administration of the Externsteine. After ning of open-air prehistoric museums until his re‐ Reinerth early in 1933 had exerted the influence tirement in 1973. of the Amt Rosenberg over the local antiquarian Halle concludes that neither the Amt Rosen‐ society in Lippe, Teudt turned to Himmler as a berg nor the SS-Ahnenerbe really controlled the counterweight and guarantor of his own interests excavations of the Externsteine (p. 508), and that in the supposed Germanic temple (pp. 250-251), on the contrary, the real scandal surrounding the and had him appointed to the governing body of study of this monument is that the archaeologists the Externsteine-Stiftung. In turn, Teudt was co- brought about "a displacement of a technical opted into the Ahnenerbe. scholarly problem into the political arena (eine Characteristically, the Reichsleiter soon as‐ Verlagerung eines fachwissenschaftlichen Prob‐ sumed total control of the foundation, comment‐ lems auf die politische Ebene)" (p. 509). ing "Whoever has a problem with this will be shot This book is exhaustively researched, with ex‐ (Wer jetzt noch dagegen meckert, wird er‐ tensive quotation of original records and facsimi‐ schossen)" (p. 253). By 1935 Teudt had lost his po‐ le reproductions of many key documents. The au‐ sition on the Externsteine board (p. 265), and in thor's evenhandedness and willingness to con‐ February, 1938 he was dismissed from the front an embarrassing chapter in the history of Ahnenerbe. He died in 1942. Despite this shabby her own discipline is to be commended. treatment at the hands of the Nazi authorities, Notes Halle judges that the old man had made a real [1]. Walther Matthes and Rolf Speckner, Das contribution to the triumph of the National Social‐ Relief an den Externsteinen: Ein karolingisches ists by preparing the way for the acceptance of a Kunstwerk und sein spiritueller Hintergrund (Ost‐ significant aspect of their ideology in his writings fildern: edition tertium, 1997), pp. 184-187. A (p. 485). beautiful photo of the Byzantine-influenced relief Reinerth's fate was ironic and contradictory. is found on p.

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