Helmut Petri (7 November 1907 – 21 June 1986) was a German anthropologist.

Life

Petri was born in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

and received his early education both there and in Berlin. He began his university studies in 1928, taking in Economics, History and Philosophy, as well as coursework on Prehistory and

Physical Anthropology Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a natural science discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly from ...

, with studies that took him also to Rome, and Vienna where he studied under Wilhelm Schmidt. Wilhelm Koppers and Robert von Heine-Geldern were also among his teachers there. In this early phase Petri was particularly taken by Meso-American cultures, studying under the direction of Fritz Röck, and learnt

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

. He completed his PhD with a thesis on currencies in the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

(''Geldformen der Südsee'' ). His first professional appointment was in Vienna, where he was

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

at both the Museum of Ethnology and the Museum of Natural History In 1935 he moved to

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

to take up a position with the

Frobenius Institute The Frobenius Institute (Frobenius-Institut; originally: Forschungsinstitut für Kulturmorphologie) is Germany's oldest anthropological research institute. Founded in 1925, it is named after Leo Frobenius. The institution is located at Gruneburg ...

. Frankfurt provided him with the opportunity to pursue research on Oceania and Australia at the Museum of World Cultures and, in 1938-1939, he embarked on his first piece of ethnographical fieldwork, which took him to the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. There he worked in particular with the

Worrorra The Worrorra, also written Worora, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley area of north-western Australia. The term is sometimes used to describe speakers of the (Western) Worrorra language, and sometimes groups whose traditiona ...

Ngarinjin The Ngarinyin or Ngarinjin are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Their language, Ngarinyin, is also known as Ungarinyin. When referring to their traditional lands, they refer to themselves as Wilinggin ...

and other tribes of the

Dampier Archipelago The Dampier Archipelago is a group of 42 islands near the town of Dampier, Western Australia, Dampier in Pilbara, Western Australia. The archipelago is also made up of reefs, shoals, channels and straits and is the traditional home of five Ab ...

. On his return, Petri was drafted into the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

and served as a radio-operator in France, Greece, North Africa and Italy. At war's end, he was taken prisoner and detained for several months in an American camp for

POW POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. POW or pow may also refer to: Music * P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...

s. On his release, he resumed his former job at the Frobenius Institute, under

Adolf Ellegard Jensen Adolf Ellegard Jensen (1 January 1899 – 20 May 1965) was one of the most important German ethnologists of the first half of the 20th century. Jensen's main research interests were myth, ritual and cult. He furthered the theory of Cultural Mor ...

, lecturing in anthropology. After a further stint of fieldwork in Australia in 1953-1954. he was appointed to a full professorship in 1956, and department chair of the Department of

Social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

and

Cultural Anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term ...

at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

two years later. In 1959 he married a fellow ethnologist, Gisela Odermann, who had also accompanied him on his fieldwork expedition in 1953/1954. He retired in 1971. Petri died in Cologne, after 6 weeks in an intensive care unit, after being hospitalized following a car accident in May 1986.

Notes and references

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Petri, Helmut 1907 births 1986 deaths 20th-century German anthropologists German Army soldiers of World War II German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States