Heinz Gau – A Greifswald Prehistorian in National Socialist Germany
Published: 2013-01-01 | DOI: 10.54799/YJLC3139
Abstract
The History of German Prehistoric Archaeology during the »Third Reich« and the relation of Prehistoric Archaeologists towards the Nazi system have been reclaimed increasingly during the past 20 years. In the majority of cases however, scientists have been the centre of attention, who collaborated in a particularly committed way with the Nazi regime and usually – if they survived the Second World War – again found employment in the different faculties. Younger scientists, whose archaeological careers started aft er 1933 and found an early end by their deaths in the course of the years of war from 1939 to 1945 have hardly been taken into account by recent studies. The biography of such a young scientist in Nazi Germany will be exemplified by a Prehistoric Archaeologist from Greifswald, Heinz Gau. Attention will be drawn especially towards his course of studies, his short scientific career and the interdependency with different political forces of the »Third Reich«. By analyzing Gau’s texts it will be surveyed what kind of ideological position he had embraced at the time his papers were produced.