The SS-Ahnenerbe Research on the "Germanic Heritage" in East Prussia. The Example of the Excavations in Alt Christburg and Altstadt. Lecture

17 May 2023, 6 pm

The SS-Ahnenerbe Research on the "Germanic Heritage" in East Prussia. The Example of the Excavations in Alt Christburg and Altstadt

Lecture in English

Evening lecture open to the public by Dr Seweryn Szczepański, University of Allenstein, as part of the annual conference of the Historical Commission for East and West Prussian Regional Research.

The settlement in Alt-Christburg (Stary Dzierzgoń) appears in 1312 in documents on the borders between the villages of Altstadt and Alt-Christburg. The alde burgwal mentioned in these documents and the settlement have been described several times since the 19th century. The first excavation was carried out by Count Richard zu Dohna-Schlobitten. His grandson, Prince Alexander zu Dohna-Schlobitten, persuaded Heinrich Himmler to conduct archaeological investigations in the fortress of Alt-Christburg. The excavations carried out by the SS-Ahnenerbe from 1935 to 1937 were primarily aimed at proving the territorial rights of the Germans in Prussia, Pomerelia and further east. They exemplify how the "Third Reich" used archaeology for its own purposes.

Admission free

An event in cooperation with the historical commission for East and West Prussian regional research and the Institute for Culture and History of the Germans in North-Eastern Europe (IKGN), Lüneburg.

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