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[[File:Wilhelm-Teudt-ca.1938.jpg|thumb|Wilhelm Teudt]]
'''Wilhelm Teudt''' (7 December 1860 in [[Wölpinghausen|Bergkirchen]] – 5 January 1942 in [[Detmold]]) was a German cleric and [[völkisch]] lay archaeologist who believed in an ancient, highly developed Germanic civilization. His 1929 work ''Germanische Heiligtümer'' was rejected by experts even at the time of publication, but continues to have some influence in [[esoteric]] and [[neopagan]] circles in Germany.
==Life and career==
He trusted in his [[paranormal]] faculty of picking up the "vibrations" of his ancestors helping him visualize ancient sceneries of the sites he was researching. Teudt joined the [[NSDAP]] aged 73, in 1933.▼
Teudt was born on 7 December 1860 in Bergkirchen, [[Schaumburg-Lippe]] as the son of a Protestant priest. He studied [[theology]] and [[philosophy]] at the universities of Berlin, Leipzig, Tübingen and Bonn. He was ordained in 1885 and was a pastor in Probsthagen and Stadthagen. In 1894/95, he succeeded [[Friedrich Naumann]] as the head of the [[Inner mission]] at [[Frankfurt]]. In 1907, Teudt co-founded the ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Keplerbund|de|3=Keplerbund|lt=Keplerbund zur Förderung der Naturerkenntnis}}'' (a group fighting the ideas of [[Charles Darwin]]) before renouncing his status as a priest in 1909. Teudt volunteered for military service and served in [[World War I]] from 1915 to 1918.<ref name=Detmold>{{cite web|url=http://www.stadtdetmold.de/496.html|title=Symbolische Aberkennung der Ehrenbürgerschaft(German)|publisher=Stadt Detmold|access-date=22 July 2014}}</ref><ref name="Katalog1">{{Citation | last =Mahsarski | first =Dirk | contribution = "Schwarmgeister und Phantasten" - die völkische Laienforschung | year =2013 | title = Graben für Germanien - Archäologie unterm Hakenkreuz| editor-last = Focke-Museum, Bremen| pages = 50–56| publisher =Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft | isbn=978-3-534-25919-9}}</ref>
In 1921, due to the [[Occupation of the Rhineland]] by French and Belgian troops he moved to [[Detmold]]. That same year he founded the ''Cheruskerbund – Heimatbund für Lippe'', which in 1924 was incorporated into ''[[Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten|Der Stahlhelm]]''. Teudt joined the [[German National People's Party]] (DNVP). He likely joined the ''{{Interlanguage link multi|Deutschbund|de}}'' in 1924 and in 1925 supported the ''[[National Socialist Freedom Movement|Nationalsozialistische Freiheitsbewegung Deutschlands]]''. In 1928/29, he became ''Gauherr'' or ''Deutschmeister'' of the ''Deutschbund'' in Detmold. Teudt founded the ''Vereinigung der Freunde germanischer Vorgeschichte'' in 1928 and in 1929 published the book ''Germanische Heiligtümer''. Though his ideas overlapped with those of [[Hermann Wirth]] and Wirth published some articles in Teudt's monthly ''Germanien'', after the Nazi takeover of power the two became competitors.<ref name="Detmold"/><ref name="Katalog1"/>
Teudt joined the [[NSDAP]] at some point before 1935. In 1936, his organization (''Freunde'') participated in the ''Pflegstätte für Germanenkunde'' at Detmold set up by the [[Ahnenerbe]]. In 1935, on his 75th birthday he was awarded a professorship by [[Adolf Hitler]], apparently on the suggestion of [[Heinrich Himmler]]. In 1936, he became an honorary citizen of the city of Detmold.<ref name="Detmold"/><ref name="Katalog1"/>
He joined [[Ahnenerbe]] in 1936, but was forced to leave in 1938 because of a falling-out with Himmler, who described Teudt as "unobjective and pathologically quarrelsome".<!--Unsachlichkeit und krankhafte Art, Streit zu suchen-->
Thus his work at the ''Pflegstätte'' ended in 1938. In 1939, Teudt founded the ''Osningmark-Gesellschaft'', renamed after his death to ''Wilhelm-Teudt-Gesellschaft''. The year after, Teudt was awarded the ''[[Goethe Medal|Goethemedaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft]]'' on the request of ''Gauleiter'' [[Alfred Meyer]].<ref name="Detmold"/><ref name="Katalog1"/>
[[File:Grab Wilhelm Teudt (2).jpg|thumb|Teudt's family grave at Detmold]]
Teudt died on 5 January 1942 in Detmold and is buried there. A street was named after him until 1969. In 2010, the city posthumously revoked his status as honorary citizen.<ref name="Detmold"/>
==Theories==
▲Teudt's interest in "Germanic archaeology", in particular the discovery of Germanic pagan sacred sites, developed in the 1920s. He trusted in his [[paranormal]] faculty of picking up the "vibrations" of his ancestors helping him visualize ancient sceneries of the sites he was researching
Teudt was particularly interested in the natural stone formation of the [[Externsteine]] near Detmold, which he suggested was the location of a central [[Saxon people|Saxon]] shrine, the location of [[Irminsul]] and an ancient sun observatory. He assumed that the Germanic buildings there had been made from wood and thus left no traces. Teudt was put in charge of the excavations at the site and appointed {{Interlanguage link multi|Julius Andree|de}} to head the work done there by the ''[[Reichsarbeitsdienst]]'' in 1934/35.<ref name="Katalog1"/> Teudt thought that the Externsteine had served as an observatory until its destruction by [[Charlemagne]]. He initiated the demolishing of tourist infrastructure (tramway, hotels) and the creation of a "sacred grove" nearby.<ref name="Katalog3">{{Citation | last =Halle| first =Uta| contribution = Wichtige Ausgrabungen der NS-Zeit | year =2013 | title = Graben für Germanien - Archäologie unterm Hakenkreuz| editor-last = Focke-Museum, Bremen| pages = 65–73| publisher =Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft | isbn=978-3-534-25919-9}}</ref>
In Teudt's view, the Christianisation of the Saxons after 800 AD was nothing less than a cultural genocide. He thought that a highly advanced Germanic civilization had predated contact with the Romans.<ref name="Katalog1"/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
* Uta Halle: ''„Die Externsteine sind bis auf weiteres germanisch!“. Prähistorische Archäologie im Dritten Reich''. Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, Bielefeld 2002.
* Harald Lönnecker: ''Zwischen Esoterik und Wissenschaft. Die Kreise des „völkischen Germanenkundlers“ Wilhelm Teudt''. In: Einst und Jetzt, Jahrbuch des Vereins für corpsstudentische Geschichtsforschung 49, 2004, 265–294; [http://www.burschenschaftsgeschichte.de/pdf/loennecker_teudt.pdf pdf copy].
* Iris Schäferjohann-Bursian: ''Wilhelm Teudt im Detmold der 1920er Jahre: seine Suche nach Orientierung''. In: Hermann Niebuhr & Andreas Ruppert (eds): ''Krieg – Revolution – Republik. Detmold 1914 – 1933.'' Bielefeld 2007, {{ISBN|3-89528-606-0}}, 415–458.
* Jürgen Hartmann: ''Vom „völkischen Vorkämpfer“ zum Nationalsozialisten „bis auf die Knochen“. Der politische Werdegang des „Germanenkundlers“ Wilhelm Teudt''. In: Rosenland. Zeitschrift für lippische Geschichte, 11, 2010, 23–36; [http://www.rosenland-lippe.de/Rosenland-11.pdf pdf copy].
==External links==
* [https://www.bundesarchiv.de/oeffentlichkeitsarbeit/bilder_dokumente/01831/index-2.html.de Postcard and tickets to the Externsteine, Bundesarchiv]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Teudt, Wilhelm}}
[[Category:1860 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
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[[Category:Nazi Party members]]
[[Category:German military personnel of World War I]]
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