Difficult Heritage or Objects of Science?: The Material Legacy of Nazi German Rock Art Research in Sweden
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| Title: | Difficult Heritage or Objects of Science?: The Material Legacy of Nazi German Rock Art Research in Sweden |
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| Authors: | Legnér, Mattias, Professor, 1973 |
| Source: | The problematic legacy of Nazi German cultural research in 1930s Sweden: Herman Wirth's casts of rock art. European University Legacies. :197-220 |
| Subject Terms: | Herman Wirth rock art nazism ahnenerbe germany national socialism archaeology racism museums collections heritage sweden, Kulturvård, Conservation |
| Description: | The aim of this contribution is to analyse how the expeditions of the Dutch-German scholar Herman Wirth have been received and rembered in Sweden. In the 1930s he collaborated with the German Nazi organisation SSand was even one of the founders of its scientific branch "Ahnenerbe". As a scholar of ancient symbols and cults, Wirth was convinced there were remains of ancient sun cult to be found in Sweden and Norway. If these symbols, consisting mainly of petroglyphs but also runes, were correctly interpreted the secrets of this forgotten but superior culture would be unveiled. The next step after that would have been to use these secrets to strengthen Germanic culture by returning to some of its imagined roots. In 1935 and 1936 Wirth headed two expeditions to western Sweden in order to identify and document petroglyphs. Swedish authorities were involved in giving him access to these sites and allowing him to work on them. Wirth was also in contact with Swedish scholars in order to receive support and acceptance of his controversial ideas. This article is based on previous research and some of the existing archives in Sweden documenting how Wirth’s work was presented by himself and others, and how it was received and discussed in the Swedish context. After the end of the war Wirth spent an ample amount of time working in Sweden. Evidently, he met resistance mainly from the academic community but increasingly also from the authorities that were in charge of managing archaeological sites. For some time, though, he seems to have been able to collaborate with a few scholars in Sweden. The chapter concludes with a discussion on how Swedish authorities and scholars have related to Wirth and the work of SS in the 1930s, and encourages further research on the memory of SS led expeditions in the Scandinavian countries.Mattias Legnér is Professor in Conservation at Uppsala University and Docent in History. Among his research interests is how heritage becomes entangled in armed conflicts. His most important recent work is a monograph dealing with the use and abuse of heritage in Scandinavia in the period c. 1930–1945: Värden att värna. Kulturminnesvård som statsintresse i Norden vid tiden för andra världskriget (Makadam: Göteborg, 2022). |
| File Description: | electronic |
| Access URL: | https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-558481 https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-european-university-legacies.html |
| Database: | SwePub |
Nájsť tento článok vo Web of Science | Abstract: | The aim of this contribution is to analyse how the expeditions of the Dutch-German scholar Herman Wirth have been received and rembered in Sweden. In the 1930s he collaborated with the German Nazi organisation SSand was even one of the founders of its scientific branch "Ahnenerbe". As a scholar of ancient symbols and cults, Wirth was convinced there were remains of ancient sun cult to be found in Sweden and Norway. If these symbols, consisting mainly of petroglyphs but also runes, were correctly interpreted the secrets of this forgotten but superior culture would be unveiled. The next step after that would have been to use these secrets to strengthen Germanic culture by returning to some of its imagined roots. In 1935 and 1936 Wirth headed two expeditions to western Sweden in order to identify and document petroglyphs. Swedish authorities were involved in giving him access to these sites and allowing him to work on them. Wirth was also in contact with Swedish scholars in order to receive support and acceptance of his controversial ideas. This article is based on previous research and some of the existing archives in Sweden documenting how Wirth’s work was presented by himself and others, and how it was received and discussed in the Swedish context. After the end of the war Wirth spent an ample amount of time working in Sweden. Evidently, he met resistance mainly from the academic community but increasingly also from the authorities that were in charge of managing archaeological sites. For some time, though, he seems to have been able to collaborate with a few scholars in Sweden. The chapter concludes with a discussion on how Swedish authorities and scholars have related to Wirth and the work of SS in the 1930s, and encourages further research on the memory of SS led expeditions in the Scandinavian countries.Mattias Legnér is Professor in Conservation at Uppsala University and Docent in History. Among his research interests is how heritage becomes entangled in armed conflicts. His most important recent work is a monograph dealing with the use and abuse of heritage in Scandinavia in the period c. 1930–1945: Värden att värna. Kulturminnesvård som statsintresse i Norden vid tiden för andra världskriget (Makadam: Göteborg, 2022). |
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