Archaeologia Polona

Prehistoric archaeology and German Ostforschung: the case of the excavations at Zantoch

Hubert Fehr

Contrary to a wide spread opinion, the systematic state exploitation of prehistoric archaeology in Germany did not start only in the year 1933. Rather the National-Socialist "seizure of power" continued and radicalised a development which started already at the end of World War I. During the period of the Weimar Republic, the scientific and institutional networks of the so-called Ostforschung provided an important source for the political radicalisation of those archaeologists working in the Eastern parts of the German Reich. The excavations at the Early Medieval site of Zantoch (Santok) are taken as an example of an archaeological project of the Ostforschung during the first half of the 1930s.

Keywords: Early Medieval archaeology, German-Polish relationships, history of archaeology, Inter-war period, Ostforschung, Santok

Language: English