Introduction: National Socialist Archaeology in Europe and Its Legacies

Abstract

Archaeology witnessed remarkable advances during the National Socialist regime, both as a research field and as part of international academic networks. The Nazi dictatorship and World War II provided contexts in which archaeology flourished, both in Germany and in (occupied) Europe. This archaeology was embedded in prestigious German archaeological traditions but based on a shared sense of National Socialist mission. Many of its elements can be connected to wider developments within the ‘Third Reich’ and resulted from processes of competitive improvisation and radicalisation. The archaeological programme thus produced was highly impactful.This edited volume investigates the individuals and organisations involved in the National Socialist archaeological programme, examines its origins, looks at its mobilisation, and reflects on its complex legacies. National Socialist archaeology is explored within the wider context of Europe and non-German experiences and interactions analysed. The volume also examines National Socialist attempts to denationalise the archaeologies of occupied European nations while creating unifying, transnational connections based on National Socialist ideas about race. By considering the full extent of the National Socialist archaeological programme in all its diversity and ruthlessness as a European phenomenon, its links with National Socialist atrocities, including the Holocaust, come into sharper focus.