Oswald Menghin (1888–1973) © Ludwig Schwab (~1900–1939) OeNB 8154680

Oswald Menghin (19 April 1888 – 29 November 1973) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

Prehistorian and University professor. He established an international reputation before the War, while he was professor at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hi ...

. His work on race and culture was serviceable to the German

nationalist movement The Nationalist Movement is a Mississippi-founded white nationalist organization with headquarters in Georgia that advocates what it calls a "pro-majority" position. It has been called white supremacist by the Associated Press and Anti-Defamati ...

of the 1930s. At the time of the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germa ...

he served as Minister of Education in the cabinet formed by

Arthur Seyß-Inquart Arthur Seyss-Inquart (German: Seyß-Inquart, ; 22 July 1892 16 October 1946) was an Austrian Nazi politician who served as Chancellor of Austria in 1938 for two days before the ''Anschluss''. His positions in Nazi Germany included "deputy gover ...

. He avoided indictment as a war criminal and resumed his career in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

after the war.

Life

Menghin was born in

Meran Merano (, , ) or Meran () is a city and ''comune'' in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Generally best known for its spa resorts, it is located within a basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to above sea level, at the entrance to the Passeier ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

. He qualified for inauguration as an academic lecturer in 1913, for his work ''Urgeschichte des Menschen'' (''The Proto-History of Mankind''). After the death of

Moritz Hoernes Moritz Hörnes (July 14, 1815 – November 4, 1868) was an Austrian palaeontologist. Born in Vienna, he was educated at the University of Vienna and graduated with a PhD. He then became an assistant in the Vienna mineralogical museum. He was disti ...

he emerged as university professor of the Protohistorical Institute of the

from 1917 until 1945, and furthermore he was from 1930 to 1933 professor at the

University of Cairo Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...

. From 1919 to 1926 Menghin was a member of Secret Nazi Society Deutsche Gemeinschaft (the German Fellowship), in which he got to know

. In 1932 he participated in the ''First International Congress of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences'' in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1932 with

Hugo Obermaier Hugo Obermaier (29 January 1877, in Regensburg – 12 November 1946, in Fribourg) was a distinguished Spanish-German prehistorian and anthropologist who taught at various European centres of learning. Although he was born in Germany, he was later ...

and others. In 1934 he published ''Geist und Blut''. For the academic year of 1935/36 he was appointed Rector of the University of Vienna. After numerous unsuccessful attempts there followed in 1936 his election as a regular Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. From July 1936 to June 1937 he was a member of the governing council of the Viennese National (Vaterländische) Front. On 11 March 1938 he became Education Minister in the so-called Anschluss-Cabinet of Seyß-Inquart. During his term with the Party down to the end of May, there occurred not only the decree of the

itself, but also the so-called "Cleansing" of the University of Vienna. This meant that a fixed ratio of 2% was brought in for Jewish students, and about 40% of the teaching body were dismissed on account of "Jewish origins" proportionately on "political grounds". In August 1938 Menghin went back to the University of Vienna. He was friends with

Adolf Mahr Adolf Mahr (7 May 1887 – 27 May 1951) was an Austrian archaeologist, who served as director of the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin in the 1930s, and is credited with advancing the work of the museum substantially. Through his leadership ...

In Catholic circles he was considered a traitor from March 1938 onwards, and was discharged (excluded) from his Cartellverband (Catholic Union-group), the Rudolfina Wien (which like all Catholic unions had been banned), at a formal underground meeting held on 12 November 1938. After the War he was included, as a member of the Seyß-Inquart regime, on the primary list of war criminals. He was however not indicted, but came to an American internment camp, where he made statements. In 1948, he relocated to Argentina, and began teaching in 1957 at the

University of La Plata The La Plata National University ( es, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, UNLP) is one of the most important Argentine national universities and the biggest one situated in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province. It has over 90 ...

, in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. Proceedings against him had been dropped in 1956. In 1959, he became a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He died, aged 85, on 29 November 1973 in

in Argentina.

Works

* ''Urgeschichte der bildenden Kunst''(mit M. Hoernes), 1925 * ''Weltgeschichte der Steinzeit'', 1931 * ''Geist und Blut. Grundsätzliches um Rasse, Sprache, Kultur und Volkstum'', 1933 * ''Vorgeschichte Amerikas'', 1957

Sources

* Otto Helmut Urban, ' "Er war der Mann zwischen den Fronten". Oswald Menghin und das Urgeschichtliche Institut der Universität Wien während der Nazizeit', ''Archaeologia Austriaca'' 80, 1996, p. 1ff. * Marcelino Fontán, 'Der Fall Menghin. Ein österreichischer Anschlußminister in Argentinien' (from the Argentinian Spanish of Erich Hackl), in ''Zwischenwelt. Zeitschrift für Kultur des Exils und des Widerstands'', Jg. 19, No. 4 (Vienna, February 2003), p 4-5. ISSN 1606-4321 * Marcelino Fontán, ''Oswald Menghin: ciencia y nazismo. El antisemitismo como imperativo moral.'' (Buenos Aires: Fundación Memoria del Holocausto 2005). * Erich Hackl, 'Nachschrift zum Fall Menghin', in ''Zwischenwelt. Zeitschrift für Kultur des Exils und des Widerstands'', Jg. 19, No. 4 (Vienna, February 2003), p. 5-6. ISSN 1606-4321 * Philip L. Kohl/J. A. Perez Gollan
"Religion, Politics, and Prehistory, Reassessing the Lingering Legacy of Oswald Menghin."
''Current Anthropology'' 43, 2002, 561–586.

References

External links

* Literature of and about Oswald Menghin in the Catalogue of the German National Librar

* Information about Oswald Menghin in the Austrian Lexikon von aeio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menghin, Oswald 1888 births 1973 deaths Austrian archaeologists Prehistorians Austrian scientists People from Merano 20th-century archaeologists