....Ahnenerbe Connection
...furthermore,
...furthermore,
In 1938 the Ahnenerbe financed an expedition to the Middle East under Dr. Franz Altheim and his research partner Erika Trautmann. The Ahnenerbe also undertook studies in different parts of Germany and France. In 1937 Himmler decided he could increase the Ahnenerbe's visibility by investigating Hans F. K. Günther's (Hans Friedrich Karl Günther was a German race researcher and eugenicist in the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. He was also known as Race Günther / Rassegünther or Race Pope / Rasse-papst. He is considered to be a major influence on National Socialist racialist thought) claims that early Aryans had conquered much of Asia, including attacks against China and Japan in approximately 2000 B.C., and that Gautama Buddha was himself an Aryan offspring of the Nordic race. Therefore a large expedition to Tibet was launched. Walther Wüst would later even state in a public speech that Adolf Hitler's ideologies corresponded with those of Buddha, since the two shared a common heritage. The Ahnenerbe was also involved in the so called Master Plan East, a plan for three large German colonies in the eastern occupied territories. Leningrad, northern Poland and the Crimea were the focal points of these colonies intended to spread the Aryan race. The Crimean colony was called Gotengau (Goth District) in honor of the Goths who had settled there and were believed to be Aryan ancestors of Germans. Himmler estimated that the Aryanization of the region would take twenty years, first expelling all the undesirable populations, then re-distributing the territory with appropriate Aryan populations. It was also intended to plant oak and beech trees to replicate traditional German forests, as well as plant new crops brought back from Tibet. In 1943, following the Royal Air Force's firebombing of Hamburg Himmler ordered the immediate evacuation of the main Ahnenerbe headquarters in Berlin. The extensive library was moved to a castle in Ulm while the staff was moved to the tiny village of Waischenfeld near Bayreuth, Bavaria. Under the umbrella of the Ahnenerbe researchers also undertook medical experiments.
After 1945 some of the former members of the Ahnenerbe (especially those who were involved in medical experiments) were charged with several years of imprisonment but the majority, including the Ahnenerbe president, Walther Wüst, were considered "fellow travelers" and released shortly after the war.
The Ahnenerbe organization was the inspiration for the Nazi archaeologist villains in Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones" films.
After 1945 some of the former members of the Ahnenerbe (especially those who were involved in medical experiments) were charged with several years of imprisonment but the majority, including the Ahnenerbe president, Walther Wüst, were considered "fellow travelers" and released shortly after the war.
The Ahnenerbe organization was the inspiration for the Nazi archaeologist villains in Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones" films.
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