Josef Wastl (4 December 1892 – 11 October 1968) was an Austrian Anthropologist and Ethnologist who served as the Director of the Anthropological Department at the Natural History Museum in Vienna from 1942 to 1945. He was also a breaststroke

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. He competed in two events at the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

. Wastl joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) in 1932 and founded an illegal cell ('Betriebszelle') for the Party in the Natural History Museum that same year. Wastl started work at the Anthropological Department in 1935, taking over direction of the department from Viktor Lebzelter following his death in 1936, before being appointed Head of the department in 1938 and later Director. Wastl had a keen interest in '

racial science Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that the Human, human species is divided into biologically distinct taxa called "race (human categorization), races", and that empirical evi ...

', described as "Vienna's foremost racial scientist". While at the Natural History Museum, Wastl organised an exhibition on “The Physical and Mental Appearance of the Jews” (Das körperliche und seelische Erscheinungsbild der Juden), which promulgated Nazi racist and anti-semetic ideology. He also purchased skulls and death masks of Polish concentration camp victims, as well as 220 skeletons from the exhumation of the Währing Jewish Cemetery in Vienna from 1942 to 1943. Alongside his activities for the museum, Wastl served as an 'anthropological expert' for the Reich Office for Genealogical Research ( Reichsstelle für Sippenforschung) in Berlin, the Croatian State Family Office in Zagreb, and the Ostmark regional and district courts to prove 'German-blooded' ancestry. Wastl was suspended from his role at the Natural History Museum in 1945 due to his involvement during the Nazi period, and was officially sent into early retirement in 1948. He remained Vice President of the Anthropological Society in Vienna and continued to work as a court expert in Anthropology until his death.

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* 1892 births 1968 deaths Austrian male breaststroke swimmers Olympic swimmers for Austria Swimmers at the 1912 Summer Olympics Swimmers from Vienna {{Austria-swimming-bio-stub