Ahnenerbe

  • Ancestral heritage
Identifier
382
Type of Entity
Corporate Body

Dates of Existence

Founded in 1935-07-01

History

Ahnenerbe was the name given to the Society for Research into the Spiritual Roots of Germany’s Ancestral Heritage. Founded by Heinrich Himmler, this pseudoscientific organization was politically motivated and rife with chicanery. The Society sponsored archeological research into early German history and forums on Himmler’s vision of Aryan origins. During the war, Ahnenerbe was involved by unethical ‘medical experiments’ on altitude, freezing and skull collections. Dr. Sigmund Rascher and dr. August Hirt were practitioners at Ahnenerbe’s Institute of Military-Scientific Applied Research.

Places

  • Founded in Germany, Berlin.

Sources

  • Dictionary of the Holocaust : Biography, geography, and terminology / E.J. Epstein, P. Rosen. - Westport, 1997. - p. 3