Documentation of Das Ahnenerbe (The Ancestral Heritage) Society, 1935-1945

Documentation of Das Ahnenerbe (The Ancestral Heritage) Society, 1935-1945
 
 Documentation of Das Ahnenerbe Society, a pseudo-scientific organization founded through the initiative of Heinrich Himmler and Darre, in 1935, which dealt with the study of ancient German history and in anthropological research in order to decide on various issues in Nazi ideology. At the peak of its activities, the organization included 40 scientific departments headed by Wolfram Sivers, who was executed as a result of the Nurenberg Trials. Following 1939, the organization frequently used the results of medical experiments carried out in concentration camps in its research studies. The influence of the organization on Nazi policy was actually quite limited and even inside the SS the organization did not succeed in achieving the hoped for monopoly in the field of ideological ruling.
 
 The bulk of the material deals with the organization's scientific and pseudo-scientific studies in various areas, in internal structural affairs and regulations, including personal files of the workers in the organization.