Sanskrit scholars in Nazi Germany

Abstract

German Sanskrit scholars from the beginning of the 19th century addressed the problem of the kinship between the ancient Germans and Aryans – while romantic patriotism was gradually replaced by militant nationalism. After World War I racism, widespread not only in Germany, but also in other Western countries, became the essential element of the ideology of National Socialism. In the 30s all German scholars were forced to make compromises under the pressure of totalitarian power. However, only a few Sanskrit scholars can be called active supporters of the regime. They have different motives: from the frank careerism of Walter Wüst to the cautious conformism of Ludwig Alsdorf. Religious scholar Jakob Wilhelm Hauer claimed to be the prophet of the “Aryan Worldview”, and Bernhard Breloer was passionate about plans of building a new social and political system, in which the individual is completely subordinate to the state. The anti-Semitic policies and political persecutions of the Nazi period had disastrous consequences for classical German Indology.