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"supporter of" is quite the understatement, he was a member of both the Nazi party and the SS, holding the rank of Oberstürmbannführer
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If you've not heard of Ahnenerbe (German for "ancestral heritage"), it was a German Nazi organisation specifically tasked with providing archaeological support for Nazi race science
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correction: Jankuhn's rank was Sturmbannführerhttps://twitter.com/cotarddeleuzian/status/1196171170724417536 …
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but he underwent denazification, surely that had an effect?pic.twitter.com/nM0Jqae6UE
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also that note in the middle calling his work highly innovative is from a book by IAN HODDER. Specifically "Archaeological Theory in Europe: The Last Three Decades", which I haven't read. Really hoping there's additional context given, because otherwise what the hell
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Jankuhn served as one if the editor for the "Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde", an encyclopedia of German prehistory and history which is to my knowledge well regarded these days.
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I make reference to an article from it in the master's thesis I'm writing right now. Or I was until right now, it's extraneous enough that I can remove it
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Jankuhn's coeditor Heinrich Beck died earlier this year. His article at German Wikipedia doesn't say anything about his political views or his actions during the war (he was born in 1929). None of the current editors worked with Jankuhn afaict but they all worked with Beck
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So, to recapitulate: A high-ranking Nazi who served as an SS officer during the war, who did archaeological excavations with Ahnenerbe, for the Nazi state, for express political purposes, in the post-war period went on to become AN IMPORTANT FIGURE IN GERMAN ARCHAEOLOGY.
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they basically let the guy who's the real life equivalent of the Nazi who gets his face melted by the Ark of the Covenant in Indiana Jones keep doing archaeology. In Germany. IN GERMANY! They held conferences in his honour in 1990 and 1991! what the fuck what the absolute fuck
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As an archaeologist who uses quite a bit of German language sources, as one who has been to academic conferences in Germany I'm utterly disgusted to find out how German archaeology community not only has failed to properly make amends for its role in Nazi atrocities
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but all the while allowing some of the very people responsible for these atrocities continue to work in the field, and hold positions of power within it. I feel sick
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I'm not excusing my own ignorance, I know German and this was not the least bit difficult to find out once I went looking for it. And I certainly don't mean to let Scandinavian archaeologists off the hook for their role in letting an unrepentant Nazi continue to work unchallenged
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I'm really disappointed in my teachers for not only failing to note the extent to which OPENLY GENOCIDAL RACISTS remain welcome within archaeology to this very day, but on top of that peddling a story of there having been some reflection on these matters in the aftermath of WW2
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to wrap up, as the song goes: So if you meet with these historians we'll tell you what to say Tell them that the Nazis never really went away They're out there burning houses down and peddling racist lies And we'll never rest again until every Nazi dieshttps://youtu.be/C4kM5KfGZlI
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End of conversation
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