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Hans GuntherGerman racial researcher and eugenicist in the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich.
Date of Birth: 16.02.1891
Country:  Germany |
Content:
- Biography of Hans Gunther
- Early Career and World War I
- Career in Racial Research
- Influence on National Socialism
- Later Career and Controversy
- Later Life and Legacy
Biography of Hans Gunther
Early Life and EducationHans Friedrich Karl Gunther was born on February 16, 1891, in Freiburg, Germany. His father, Karl Wilhelm, was a musician, and his mother, Matilda Katarina Agnes, was from Stuttgart. Gunther studied at the University of Albert Ludwig in Freiburg, where he focused on comparative linguistics, zoology, and geography. He completed his degree in 1910 and went on to spend a semester at the Sorbonne in Paris. At the age of 23, in 1914, Gunther obtained his doctorate from the Sorbonne with a dissertation on the sources of the popular book "Fortunatus and His Sons."
Early Career and World War I
In the same year, Gunther joined the infantry during World War I but had to leave the army due to severe rheumatism. He continued to serve his country as a medic for the Red Cross. In 1919, at the age of 28, Gunther officially left the Protestant church and began writing his first programmatic work, "Knight, Death, and Devil: Heroic Thought," which was published in 1920. This book gained the attention of Heinrich Himmler, who became greatly interested in Gunther's ideas.
Career in Racial Research
In 1922, Gunther continued his studies at the University of Vienna while working at the museum in Dresden. He later moved to Scandinavia in 1923, where his second wife, a Norwegian, lived. He received scientific recognition from Uppsala University and the Swedish Institute of Racial Biology, led by Herman Lundborg. It was in Norway that Gunther met Vidkun Quisling, the future leader of Norway under the Nazi regime. In 1930, Gunther became acquainted with the leadership of the National Socialist German Workers' Party in Thuringia, which led to the creation of a special chair of social anthropology at the University of Jena and Gunther's appointment as a professor.
Influence on National Socialism
On November 15, 1930, Professor Hans Gunther delivered his inaugural lecture on the "Causes of the Racial Decline of the German People after the Great Migration." Adolf Hitler himself was present at this lecture, and Gunther's ideas received praise from Hermann Goring, who delivered a speech in his honor. Gunther's life became increasingly intertwined with National Socialism, which had unpleasant consequences. In 1931, an individual named Karl Dannbauer attempted to assassinate Gunther but failed due to Gunther's resistance, although he sustained a hand injury.
Later Career and Controversy
In 1935, Gunther became a professor at the University of Berlin, teaching racial science, human biology, and rural ethnography. From 1940 to 1945, he held a professorship at the University of Albert Ludwig. Gunther received several awards during the Third Reich, notably in 1935 when he was awarded the NSDAP Prize for Science. However, after World War II, Gunther spent three years in a French internment camp without trial. He was eventually released in 1949, after a court ruling that stated he had always acted within the framework of international science and had never participated in the persecution of Jews.
Later Life and Legacy
In 1953, Gunther was elected as a corresponding member of the American Society of Human Genetics. He remained the only German racial theorist with connections and recognition among foreign experts. Gunther passed away on September 25, 1968, in Freiburg, leaving behind a controversial legacy as an influential racial researcher and eugenicist during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich.
