History 1938 - 1945

The Prehistoric Institute of the University of Vienna during the Nazi era

by Otto H. Urban (translated)

The participation in a panel discussion on the topic of "Science under pressure - research and teaching in the years 1938 to 1945", which took place on April 23rd, 1997 in the Museum of Modern Art by the Club of the University of Vienna, provided an opportunity to take a closer look at the people who worked in Vienna during these years. It soon became evident that the works and articles available to date hardly took into account the personal background, worldview and political activity of the main protagonists of this period, but rather, in addition to a schematic list of habilitations and appointments, "only a eulogy for F. Hancar, who had 'saved the library housed in the basement ... from the grasp of the occupying forces' [...]" (PUSMAN 1991, 283).

Three men shaped prehistoric research in Vienna during these years: Oswald Menghin, chairman and director of the Prehistoric Institute, who succeeded the late Moritz Hoernes in 1918, as well as Eduard Beninger, the head and director of the Prehistoric Department in the Natural History Museum and Kurt Willvonseder, the head of the Department of Archaeological Antiquities, the predecessor organization of today's Department of Archaeological Monuments in the Federal Monuments Office.

Oswald Menghin, who came from a Tyrolean family, moved to Vienna to study in 1906, joined the C.V. association Rudolfina and had close contact with R. v. Kralik. From at least 1919 to 1926, Menghin was also a member of the „Deutschen Gemeinschaft“ ("German Community"), where he met A. Seyß-Inquart. Menghin is considered a national Catholic; some of his works, such as "Geist und Blut" ("Spirit and Blood") (especially the chapters "Über Volkstum" ("On Ethnicity") and "Die wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen der Judenfrage" ("The Scientific Foundations of the Jewish Question")) from 1933 appear racist and anti-Semitic. The fact that this book was described in 1958 as "a source of inspiration and reflection that is always welcome" and in 1993 as "written by the author in a factual, scientific and objective manner" is hardly surprising, but it is disturbing. Two years after the book was published, Menghin was elected Rector of the University of Vienna for the 1935/36 academic year; in 1936 (after several unsuccessful attempts) he was elected a full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. From July 1936 to June 1937 he was also a member of the leadership council of the Vienna Fatherland Front. In his application for NSDAP membership, he described these years as follows: "1935 to 1936 as rector of the university and then tireless intervention for the reprimanded National Socialists (not only students, but also others), January 1937 leading role in collecting signatures for the planned association of the national opposition, member of the Committee of Seven, constant political work for the NSDAP [...]" (ÖStA). "This application bears the handwritten signature of the then Gauleiter Globotschnig, who confirms that Menghin made himself completely available to the demands of the NSDAP and its orders and that his statements are correct" (ÖStA). On March 11, 1938, he became Minister of Education in the so-called "annexation cabinet" of Seyß-Inquart. His term of office, which lasted until the end of May, saw not only the annexation law, but also the so-called "purge" of the university. A numerus clausus of 2% was introduced for Jewish students and around 40% of the teaching staff were dismissed because of "Jewish descent" or for "political reasons". R. Pittioni also had to give up his venia legendi at that time. Menghin did not carry out this "purge" himself, of course, but he bears political responsibility for these events and can therefore be seen as an example of a "compliant scientist" whose mindset allowed him to place himself at the disposal of the Nazis. In August 1938, Menghin returned to the university. After the war, as a member of the Seyss-Inquart government, he was placed on the "First List of War Criminals". However, he was not charged, but was sent to American internment camps, where he gave lectures. In 1948, he managed to cross over to Argentina, where he became an associate professor in Buenos Aires. In 1956 the proceedings against him were discontinued, in 1958 he received a commemorative publication and in 1959 he became a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He died in Argentina in 1973 at a very old age. His main work, "Weltgeschichte der Steinzeit" ("World History of the Stone Age"), is now in many ways outdated following the collapse of Father W. Schmidt's theory of cultural circles. The numerous archaeological investigations and material documents are of lasting value, particularly on the prehistory of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, but also on other topics, such as Roman burial mounds.

Eduard Beninger was a so-called "illegal" and regional director of the Reich Association for German Prehistory, which was directed by H. Reinerth and was subordinate to the Rosenberg office. He was appointed "Lecturer for Germanic Prehistory and Early History" in 1940, but never gave a lecture because he had already been called up to the Vienna Military District Command as a captain in the same year. He was adjutant to the then city governor of Vienna, General Stümpfl, and from 1944 he was the local commander of Michalovce in Slovakia. After the war he was sentenced to three years in prison for "violation of human dignity". In 1957 he was given his doctorate again and from 1958 he also received a pension. He died in Vienna in 1963. The majority of his main works are dedicated to the Germanic peoples. In the article "Ideas for German prehistoric research at adult education centers" (MAG 69, 1939, [2-6]), published in 1939, he clearly shows his ideological and Germanophile views, in contrast to his archaeological studies of finds.

Kurt Willvonseder is probably the least politically committed of this triumvirate, despite his national-Catholic views. He qualified as a professor in 1937 and gave regular lectures until his conscription in 1943. Willvonseder joined the SS in 1938 in order, as he wrote in 1948, to "oppose the influence" of the Rosenberg Office "and thus also of the Reich Office Director Prof. Reinerth [...] in my capacity as a leading archaeological monument conservator [...]." At the end of the war, Willvonseder was "politically burdened" as an SS Obersturmführer. He was pardoned by the Federal President and was thus appointed director of the Salzburg Museum Carolinum Augusteum in 1954. He completed his habilitation again and taught at the University of Salzburg. In 1967, a year before his death, he was given the title of extraordinary university professor.

 In addition to Beninger and Willvonseder, F. Hancar and Chr. Pescheck were also lecturers at the Prehistoric Institute in Vienna. The assistants O. Seewald and S. Gutenbrunner, who only worked for Menghin for a short time in 1938 and 1939 respectively, were both "illegals". After the war, R. Pittioni returned to Vienna and took over Menghin's chair. Hancar lectured alongside him until 1967; Pescheck left Vienna in 1945 and taught in Göttingen from 1946, later in Würzburg.

If we go back to the Nazi era and try to grasp the dispute that was well-known and characteristic of the time between the Rosenberg office and the Reichsbund für Deutsche Vorzeit (RDV) under the leadership of H. Reinerth on the one hand and H. Himmler's "Ahnenerbe" on the other, it is easy to attribute E. Beninger as well as W. Schmid, who taught at the University of Graz (who incidentally wrote himself as Šmid in his early publications) to the RDV and Kurt Willvonseder to the "Ahnenerbe". Menghin's position is unclear; due to his strong ties to W. Schmidt and H. Koppers, he is unlikely to have had any influence within the NSDAP, with the exception of personal relationships (according to a report by the responsible local group leader from 1941, he was "close friends" with Gauleiter H. Jury). With his extremely national-Catholic worldview, he was, as stated in a ruling by the Vienna Gaugericht in September 1939: "The man caught between the fronts" (DÖW).

The following points should be noted: The majority of the men teaching prehistory and early history at the University of Vienna in the First Republic, the Corporate State and the Nazi era were national-Catholic. Some, quite prominent representatives, show evidence of racist worldviews, while others (few) can be attributed to the Catholic worldview. Socialists or socialist ideas are largely absent, and there are hardly any approaches to evolutionary or sociological considerations - in fact, they are clearly opposed. This should not be understood as a judgment, but merely to show the "glasses" or "filter" through which the works of this "Vienna School" must be read.

Literature:

• Arnold, B., The Past as Propagande: Totalitarian Archaeology in Nazi Germany. In: R. Preucel u. I. Hodder (eds.), Contemporary Archaeology in Theory, Social Archaeology, Oxford 1996, 549-569 (mit einigen falschen Angaben zu Menghin, so war er weder Minister bis 1945 noch hochrangiges NSDAP-Mitglied).
• Bollmus, E., Das Amt Rosenberg und seine Gegner: zum Machtkampf im nationalsozialistischen Herrschaftssystem, Stuttgart 1970.
• Botz, G., Nationalsozialismus in Wien, Buchloe 1988.
• Felgenhauer, F., Zur Geschichte des Faches „Urgeschichte“ an der Universität Wien. In: Studien zur Geschichte der Universität 3, Graz-Köln 1965, 7-27.
• Geehr, R. S., Oswald Menghin, ein Vertreter der katholischen Nationalen. In: Geistiges Leben im Österreich der Ersten Republik, Wiss. Komm. z. Erforschg. d. Gesch. d. Rep. Österr. 10, Wien 1986, 9-24.
• Haag, J., Marginal Men and the Dream of the Reich: Eight Austrian National-Catholic Intellectuals 1918-1938. In: Who where the Fascits, Bergen-Oslo-Tromsö 1980, 239-248.
• Heiß, G. et al. (Hg.), Willfährige Wissenschaft, Die Universität Wien 1938-1945, Österr. Texte z. Gesellschaftskritik 43, Wien 1989.
• Jakubovitsch, H., Die Forschungsgeschichte des Faches Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Universität Wien und Innsbruck im Überblick, Diss. Univ. Wien 1993.
• Pusman, K., Die Wiener Anthropologische Gesellschaft in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts, Diss. Univ. Wien 1991.
• Rosar, W., Deutsche Gemeinschaft, Seyss-Inquart und der Anschluß, Wien 1971.
• Urban, O. H., „Er war der Mann zwischen den Fronten“, Oswald Menghin und das Urgeschichtliche Institut der Universität Wien während der Nazizeit, ArchA 80, 1996 (1997), 1-24.