the diagnostic eye

8/9/2019 The Diagnostic Eye

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Coll. Antropol. 28 Suppl. 2 (2004) 729UCD 572.9:316.64:323.118(436)

Original scientific paper

The Diagnostic Eye On the History

of Genetic and Racial Assessment inPre-1938 Austria

Maria Teschler-NicolaDepartment of Anthropology, Natural History Museum, Vienna, Austria

A B S T R A C T

The present contribution examines the history of the genetic biology experts reports in Austria up until 1938. This field of activity effected the research topics and methods atthe Viennese Institute for Anthropology considerably and caused an increase of applica-tion in practice. The motives of the scientists, the coalition of interests as well as the ori- entation towards the content of the discipline before 1938 which created the prerequi-sites for the racial experts reports of the NS time will be discussed.

Key words : history of anthropology, genetic and racial assessment, pre-1938 Austria

Prologue

In the early eighties of the 20th cen-tury, Seidler und Rett 1 were first to shed

light on the advisory opinions renderedby Austrian anthropologists and medicaldoctors consulted during the Nazi era ongenetic and racial questions. More recentstudies discuss other specific aspects of the subject, focusing more distinctively

on the role and ideological motivation of these experts; and investigating the

tasks, organisation and complex struc-ture of public authorities in the NationalSocialist state and the Reichssippenamt(Reich Geneological Office) in particular,as well as their internal dynamics.2

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Received for publication April 6, 2004

1 Horst Seidler/Andreas Rett, Das Reichssippenamt entscheidet. Rassenbiologie im Nationalsozialismus, Vi-

enna 1982.2 Katja Geisenhainer, Otto Reches Verhltnis zur sogenannten Rassenhygiene, in: Anthropos 91 (1996), 495512; Hans-Peter Krner, Von der Vaterschaftsbestimmung zum Rassegutachten. Der erbbiologische hnli-chkeitsvergleich als sterreichisch-deutsches Projekt 19261945, in: Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte22 (1999), 257264; Georg Lilienthal, Arier oder Jude? Die Geschichte des erb- und rassenkundlichen Abstammungsgutachtens, in: Peter Propping/Heinz Schott (eds.), Wissenschaft auf Irrwegen. Biologismus


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Initially employed exclusively to shedlight on disputed paternity, the focus wason a so-called comparison of polysymp-tomatic similarities in morphologicaltraits, which was required for proof of Aryan ancestry (Ariernachweis) follow-ing the Nazis' rise to power and entry intoforce of the Law for the Restoration of Professional Civil Service (Gesetz zurWiederherstellung des Berufsbeamten-tums) of April 7, 1933, and the Reich Cit-izenship Act (Reichsbrgergesetz) of September 14, 1935. The medical exami-nations were to be performed by anthro-pological institutes upon the request of the Expert on Racial Research.3 Thefact that the new regulations enabled thelegislator to define the procedure, hencethe type of examination4, not only illus-trates how National Socialism used an-thropological knowledge for its own pur-poses5; it also involved intensive preli-minary work by and the collaboration of experienced experts.

This paper illustrates the history of comparative genetic analysis of similari-ties as practiced in Austria until 1938

and highlights scientific approaches andmethods, as well as content, substanceand lines of tradition followed by the Vi-enna Institute of Anthropology that wereto establish the framework for the expertopinions furnished by Austrian anthro-pologists on issues of race.

Evolution of the First Anthropologi-cal Genetic Paternity Assessment in Austria and Its Underlying Motiva-tion: Otto Reche and Circumstan -tial Evidence

The judge must therefore request acertain method6

Otto Reche7 is considered as havingpioneered the presentation of anthropo-logical evidence in paternity court pro-ceedings in the German-speaking world.In 1924, he succeeded Rudolf Pch to the Vienna Chair of Anthropology and Eth-nography, which had been vacant since1921.8 He advocated a racial anthropol-ogy based on human genetics9, took aprominent role in shaping Nazi racialistideology10 and in spite of his term of ba-

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M. Teschler-Nicola: History of Racial Assessment, Coll. Antropol. 28 Suppl. 2 (2004) 729

Rassenhygiene Eugenik, Bonn 1992, 6684; id., Anthropologie und Nationalsozialismus: Das erb- undrassenkundliche Abstammungsgutachten, in: Jahrbuch des Instituts fr Geschichte der Medizin der RobertBosch Stiftung 6 (1998), 7191; id., Zum Anteil der Anthropologie an der NS-Rassenpolitik. Kritischer Essay,

in: Medizinhistorisches Journal 19 (1984), 148160; Diana Schulle, Das Reichssippenamt. Eine Institutionnationalsozialistischer Rassenpolitik, Berlin 2001.3 H. Seidler/A. Rett (see footnote 1), 161.4 Comparative analysis included 120130 physical traits: interpapillary lines of fingertips, palms, ear shape,

nose, lips and oral fissure, scalp hair etc. See H. Seidler/A. Rett (see footnote 1), 163167.5 H. Seidler/A. Rett (see footnote 1), 155.6 Otto Reche/Anton Rolleder, Zur Entstehungsgeschichte der ersten exakt wissenschaftlichen erbbiologisch-

anthropologischen Abstammungsgutachten, in: Z. Morph. Anthrop. 55 (1964), 283293, 283.7 See summarised table in the Annex. See also Josef Wastl, Otto Reche 18791966, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges.

Wien 96/97 (1967), 59; Michael Hesch, Otto Reche zum 80. Geburtstag, in: Anthrop. Anz. 23 (1959), 9193;

Curriculum vitae Otto Reche, undated, BA Koblenz R73/13816.8 His appointment was supported by the German-nationalistic members of the Vienna Anthropological Soci-ety, see Brigitte Fuchs, Frauen und Rassenkunde. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der anthropologischen Dis-ziplinen an der Universitt Wien (18701945), Vienna 1996, 1236, 105.

9 Michael Hesch, Otto Reche als Rassenforscher, in: Michael Hesch/Gnther Spannaus (eds.), Kultur und Ras-se, Munich/Berlin 1939, 916; Otto Reche, Verbreitung der Menschenrassen, Leipzig 1938, 6; id., Die An-thropologie als biologische Wissenschaft, in: Der Biologe 8 (1939), 317323, 322 and 323.

10 Reche was a member of numerous National-Socialist associations, see v. Hoff's application to the Reichs-forschungsrat (Reich research council) 13/2/1943. BA Koblenz R 73/13816.


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rely three years, launched three projectsof sustained effect: Reche was not onlyco-founder of the Vienna Society of Racial Hygiene11 but also co-founder and firstchairman of the German Society for BloodGroup Research (Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Blutgruppenforschung). Establishedin 1927, the Society had aimed to surveyblood groups and other racial traitsthroughout Europe, covering hundreds of thousands of people. The Zeitschrift fr Rassenphysiologie acted as official organof the Society.12 Reche himself, a scien-tist who was political in the best meaningof the word13, presented himself as acompliant follower of the Nazi regime: Ina grant application to the DFG (GermanResearch Foundation) for publishing thepaper, he added that he had founded themagazine, among other reasons, becauseof the possibility of gradually bringingblood group research, to date (mid-20ies,author's note) almost exclusively per-

formed by Jews, under Aryan control14

,in the expectation that

da dieser Zweig der Rassenforschungnicht nur fr Zwecke der Rechtswahr-ung hauptschlich in Vaterschafts- prozessen eine immer wichtiger

werdende Rolle spielen wrde, sondern ganz besonders auch in rassenpoliti-scher Hinsicht, da gerade rassenphy-siologische Erkenntnisse und Unter-suchungsmethoden fr die Reinhalt-ung von Familie und Volk von rassen-hygienisch und rassisch bedenklichem Erbgut unentbehrlich sind. 15

this branch of racial research wouldnot only become increasingly impor-tant to the preservation of justice mainly in paternity proceedings but especially for racial policy, given thatthe physiological findings and meth-

ods of racial examination are indispensable for keeping the family andthe people pure from genetic materialthat is questionable from the point of view of racial hygiene.Reches third project, his invention

of the anthropological paternity assess-ment, which was about to embark on adubious career in the name of politics, be-came a key factor in the subsequent ori-entation of anthropology in Vienna:Reche, who had supported and dissemi-nated the Nazi racial policy for decades,believed that science was obliged to be atthe service of man16; therefore he was

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11

The Wiener Gesellschaft fr Rassenpflege (Rassenhygiene) was established in November 1924 upon the sug-gestion of Willibald Neubacher, a veterinarian; Otto Reche was made first chairman, Heinrich Reichel, a socialhygienist, became second chairman and Michael Hesch, Assistant at the Institute of Anthropology and Eth-nography, was named clerk of the Society. Another co-founder of the Society was Gustav Kraitschek, whoseaim was to disseminate ideas on racial hygiene with a scientific basis (scientific racial hygiene). Before, theGraz Gesellschaft fr Rassenhygiene had been founded by dermatologist Rudolf Polland, who later becameexpert on genetic biology. See Monika Lscher, Zur Rezeption eugenischen/rassenhygienischen Gedanken-gutes in sterreich bis 1934 unter besonderer Bercksichtigung Wiens, Masters thesis Vienna 1999.

12 Also founded and published in 1927 by Reche. See application for Rasse, Monatsschrift fr den NordischenGedanken, R. v. Hoff to Dr. Mentzel, 13/2/1943. BA Koblenz R73/13816.

13 Werner Kulz, Die politisch-weltanschauliche Bedeutung der Arbeiten Otto Reches, in: M. Hesch/G. Span-naus (see footnote 9), 1722.

14 Grant application for Zeitschrift fr Rassenphysiologie , Otto Reche to the DFG, 19/11/1938, BA Koblenz R73/ 15980. In support of his application he mentions, i.a., the papers contribution to elimination of the majorityof the Jewry from this field of research.

15 Grant request, Otto Reche to DFG, 19. 11. 1938, BA Koblenz R73/15980.16 Otto Reche, Die ersten anthropologisch-erbbiologischen Abstammungsgutachten, undated typescript, pp.

19, in: Otto Reche und Anton Rolleder, Die Einfhrung des anthropologisch-erbbiologischen Gutachtens insterreich (Historische Unterlagen), NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.


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highly supportive of Vienna district judge Anton Rolleder's17 suggestion to furnishanthropological genetic opinions in con-tentious paternity cases. 18 Reche was tocall him father of paternity assess-ments later.19 Reche, the genealogist

with a biological bias20 with 25 years of practical experience21 in comparative si-milarity analyses which he had acquiredwithin his own family and with the Crim-inal Records department of the Viennapolice, welcomed the Viennese judge'ssuggestions22 and developed his exactscientific method23 of genetic paternityassessment at the Vienna Institute in1925/1926: so-called circumstantial evi-dence based on the assumption thatmany indications pointing in the same di-rection mutually endorse and thereby re-inforce each other. As a matter of fact,this claim of exact scientific reasoning

was effectively neither supported by cir-cumstantial evidence nor by theassessments subsequently expanded toinclude numerous characteristics andmade more objective by using mathe-matical calculations. But many judges

nevertheless accepted the genetic proce-dure as proof of evidence, for the follow-ing reasons: Prior to the application of ge-netic and of serological procedures(roughly established at the same time), Austria considered as procreator of achild the man who, according to 163 ABGB (Civil Code, contestation of ex-tra-marital paternity), had had sexual re-lations with the child's mother within theperiod of conception as specified by thelaw (180 to a maximum of 300 days priorto the child's birth),24 and jurisdiction upto that date had in most cases been basedon the credibility of the defendants' state-

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17 Anton Rolleder (18811972): regional court counsel; his activities included decisions on paternity suits; from1938 assessor to the Party court; from January 1940 one of the chairmen of the Vienna Erbgesundheits-gericht (genetic health court) which he was later in charge of; party member since 1931; since 1938 memberof the NS-Rechtswahrerbund (Nazi federation of preservers of law). See Claudia Spring, Verdrngte ber-lebende. NS-Zwangssterilisationen und die legistische, medizinische und gesellschaftliche Ausgrenzung vonzwangssterilisierten Menschen in der Zweiten Republik, Masters thesis Vienna 1999, 297 and 298; JohannJungwirth, Landesgerichtsrat Anton Rolleder , in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 102 (1973), 12; Anton Rolle-der, Meine Handakten ber meine Erfahrungen und Erlebnisse bei Einfhrung und Verwendung anthro-pologisch-erbbiologischer Sachverstndigengutachten u. hnl. zwecks Erledigung von Vaterschaftsprozes-sen in sterreich, submitted in March 1961, typescripts and correspondence in: Otto Reche und AntonRolleder, Die Einfhrung (see footnote 16). NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.

18 It seems that already in 1921, a paternity suit was decided on an anthropological and genetic pathologicalopinion in Norway. See Hans Grebe, ber erbpathologische Befunde bei Vaterschaftsbegutachtungen, in: Der Erbarzt 12 (1944), 1722.

19 O. Reche, typescript. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682, 3; roughly around the same time, a similarmethod was also established in Russia. See Albert Harrasser, Ergebnisse der anthropologisch-erbbiologi-schen Vaterschaftsprobe in der sterreichischen Justiz, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 65 (1935), 204232, 205.

20 O. Reche, typescript. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682, 2.21 Ibid.22 Rolleder had previously also approached Hella Pch, who had been a free-lance associate at the Institute of

Anthropology and Ethnography in Vienna until 1925, to prepare anthropological opinions for him. See the

chronological list in Rolleders Handakten (personal files) concerning the appointment of Dr. Hella Pch asexpert in paternity suit Z./F. (GZ CV 350/24); according to a handwritten annotation by Rolleder dated Janu-ary 1961 this appointment did not occur. NHM/AA Somatology Collection 2682.

23 O. Reche, typescript, NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682, 2.24 163 ABGB constitutes an assumption. Up to then, this assumption could be refuted only by providing evi-

dence as to the incapacity to procreate of the person alleged to be the childs father, by an impeccable alibi orcontradiction between the gestation period and the childs maturity. See details in A. Harrasser (see footnote19) and Ludwig Kornel, Die Blutuntersuchung im Vaterschaftsproze, in: sterr. Richterzeitung 19 (1926),159160.


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ments25. The blood group opinion(serological proof), which in 1926 had alsobeen delivered for the first time in Aus-tria in a paternity suit, was also acceptedas proof of evidence. And although it mostprobably met the requirements for adop-tion in ambiguous paternity matters itsheredity pattern was known, which obvi-ously did not apply to visible morphologi-cal features its application was limited:Its purpose only was to prove the exclu-sion of a certain father, without positivelyidentifying a specific father. Reche con-sidered this an unpleasant proceduraldefect26 and never tired of praising themethodological advances in anthropology,which were able to prove paternity withall certainty in a large majority of cases:He had probably also become aware of the economic potential of the new methodof applied anthropology. From 1926, Austrian administration of justice even-tually admitted supplementary genetic

paternity opinions: Comments on 158and 163 ABGB mentioned as proof bothblood properties, as well as facts of ananthropological nature, i.e. certain phy-sical traits which make a child's descentfrom the one man more likely than fromthe other.27 This context is the first tomention the criterion of racial trait as

one possible piece of evidence in paternityproceedings.28

After Reche had sworn his oath as offi-cial expert appointed to the courts in Feb-ruary 1925 in the district court (BG) of

Meidling, Vienna,29 the first examinationwas to take place on July 9, 1926.30 Hismethodology becomes obvious from threewell-preserved opinions which Reche de-livered upon Rolleder's request betweenJanuary and June 1927. 31 Reches com-parative analysis started out by including19 essential aspects (features): Appar-ently benefiting from the experience hehad gathered as lecturer of the Instituteof Criminal Investigation at Vienna's Po-lice Headquarters, he emphasised formand number of papillar lines of the finger-tips, apart from the blood group charac-teristics. He also assessed the colouring(hair and eye colour) and the characteris-tic form of the head, face, eyes, ears and

nose. As opposed to much more extensivegenetic analyses conducted later, e.g. byJosef Wastl at the Natural History Mu-seum, Reche took a predominantly mor-phognostic approach, with metric clas-sification of the head and face only. Wecannot establish in all certainty to whichdegree his methodology followed along

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25 Rolleder also seems to have mentioned to Reche that in no other field of jurisdiction do we encounter somany lies and so much perjury as in paternity suits. A. Rolleder, typescript. NHM/AA, Somatology Collec-tion 2682, 3.

26 Otto Reche, Anthropologische Beweisfhrung in Vaterschaftsprozessen, in: sterr. Richterzeitung 19 (1926),157159, 158.

27 A. Harrasser (see footnote 19), 206.28 This comment dates back to R. Bartsch, quoting Albert Harrasser, Vaterschaftsbeweis I. Zur prozessualen

Bedeutung des naturwissenschaftlichen Vaterschaftsbeweises, in: sterr. Richterzeitung 25 (1932), 125126,126.

29 See the chronological description in A. Rolleder, Handakten. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.30 It is reported that Otto Frhr. v. Verschuer of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut fr Anthropologie, menschliche

Erblehre und Eugenik in Berlin developed a similar procedure and had made 6 anthropological/genetic pa-ternity assessments by 1928 apparently unaware of the developments in Vienna. See Otto Frhr. v. Verschuer, Vaterschaftsbestimmung, in: Der Erbarzt 12 (1944), 617. Independently, a thorough method hadalso been developed in Russia, see A. Harrasser, Ergebnisse (see footnote 19), 205 and Albert Harrasser, Zurprozessualen Bedeutung (see footnote 28), 126.

31 Three genetic opinions delivered by Reche (typescript carbon copies). NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682


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the lines of his long-trained Viennese col-leagues who had a biological bias, orwhether he was familiar with the sche-mes developed by Pch32 and Weningerfor WW I prisoners, or Weninger's furtherattempts at classification, which hadalready been available in print since1924.33 This seems rather likely though,given that Reche modified his selection of traits within the few months which weare able to review from available analy-ses, and subsequently performed a clear-ly more nuanced morphognostic assess-ment and description of physical traits

along the lines of the Vienna Schoolprotagonists.34 Although he brought tothe attention of the Austrian Courts asuccinct description of his method35 in1926, it was not published in scientific lit-erature. Reche, one of the anthropological

pioneers of Nazi racialist ideology, mem-ber of the Alldeutsche Verband (All--German Association) since 1913, associ-ate of the Deutschvlkische Schutz- undTrutzbund 36 and after taking the Chair in Vienna in 1925 also an active member of the Deutsche Klub37, found in AntonRolleder,38 who was close to him ideologi-cally, a convinced proponent and sup-porter of these methods of examinationwhich are ground-breaking in Austria39.Reche was highly persuasive in market-ing them through the media and personalcontacts, and disseminating them quickly

in spite of the methodological shortcom-ings which he himself was well aware of:age and sex variability, doubtful qualita-tive standard of the traits, and lack of knowledge on heredity. Nevertheless, notall judges40 and not all biologists41

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32 Rudolf Pch (18701921), First Chair of Anthropology and Ethnography in Vienna, is considered the founderof the so-called Vienna School; see e.g. Eugen Oberhummer, Rudolf Pch (gestorben am 4. Mrz 1921)Nachruf, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 51 (1921), 95104 and Johann Szilvssy/Paul Spindler/Herbert Krit-scher, RUDOLF PCH Arzt, Anthropologe und Ethnograph, in: Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien 83 (1980),743762. For reports on the studies commissioned by the Vienna Anthropological Society on the Royal andImperial P.O.W. camps see Margit Berner in this volume as well as B. Fuchs (see footnote 8), 8699.

33 Josef Weninger and Hella Pch, Leitlinien zur Beobachtung der somatischen Merkmale des Kopfes undGesichtes am Menschen, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 54 (1924), 232270.

34 A letter written by Rolleder to lawyer Ludwig Bernhart of Leoben on January 2, 1928, refers to four pater-nity assessments made by Reche: [] each subsequent one more beautiful and detailed than the former,the last one comprising 32! pages with superb photographs. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.

35Otto Reche, Anthropologische Beweisfhrung (see footnote 26).36 Curriculum vitae Otto Reche, v. Hoff to Reichsforschungsrat, 13/2/1943. BA Koblenz R 73/13816.

37 In attempting to advance the date of Reches NSDAP membership, Justizrat v. Zezschwitz of Munich apolo-gises for the trivial name of the association as concealment still essential at that time in Vienna, whereNational Socialism, at the time of Reche taking the Chair, had been under rather weak, often unclear lead-ership; a well-functioning, solid block had only been formed among the student body of the Vienna Univer-sity, Justizrat v. Zezschwitz to NSDAP, 19/9/1940. BA Berlin PK Reche Otto, 11673.

38 Rolleder i.a. laments that an indicted Arab had eloped him and that he was sorry having missed such ex-emplary case (probably a genetic opinion including racial features, authors note), unless the alleged Arab were perhaps a member of the same race as the childs mother (Jewess). Rolleder to Reche, 4/10/1927.

NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682. See also the racialist statements in Reches response, where he reactsto Rolleders very witty comments as follows: I suppose you are right in assuming a racial companion ofthe mother; he probably dreads being ritually slaughtered, Reche to Rolleder, 15/10/1928. NHM/AA, Soma-tology Collection 2682.

39 Rolleders fees invoice, 5/5/1927. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.40 Rolleder i.a. complains about non-compliance with a request made in a lawsuit conducted by a local judge

who resents the anthropological method. Rolleder to Reche, 10/7/1927. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection2682. He also laments that his fellow judges at the Meidling court were outright enemies of all issues of he-redity and descent and had therefore made disparaging remarks about his work, mainly behind his back,


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were convinced of the new approach,while the press remained critical.42

The transition phase

Probably with good reason from hisown subjective point of view, Rolleder wasdisappointed at Reche's leaving Vienna inthe fall of 1927 to become Full Professorat Leipzigs Ethnological-AnthropologicalInstitute and director of the museum.However, probably upon Rolleder's inter-vention, he continued his appointment asexpert to the Austrian courts for lack of consultants with genetic training to re-place him;43 his activities were very likelyfinancially attractive, as the expert feesranging from 700. to 1,000. Austrianschillings seemed rather high even tosome judges.44 With the initial coopera-tion of his assistant Michael Hesch45, who

he would occasionally dispatch to Vienna,Reche continued to issue a number of opinions. After all, in the meantime eventhe Supreme Court had admitted an-thropological examination as proof of pa-ternity, stating explicitly that refusal tocomply with the request for anthropologi-cal examination was paramount to proce-dural defect46. But coordination proveddifficult from Leipzig. Reche lacked therelevant premises47 and his payment ad-vances could not always be secured, sothat Rolleder would soon deplore theslow-down in his cases.48 From mid-1928 approximately, Reche contractedhygienist Rudolf Polland49 from Grazwith the inventorying of traits, naturallyintending to procure some extra incometo the brave fighter.50 Reche was soon tobe gradually faced with other, in his opin-ion unpleasant developments, including a

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and had likewise influenced the officials in his office, Rolleder to Reche, 10/4/1928. NHM/AA, SomatologCollection 2682. See also O. Reche/A. Rolleder, Zur Entstehungsgeschichte (see footnote 6), 283 und 284.

41 Prior to calling on Reche, Rolleder had also approached Rudolf Martin from Munich for the delivery of ge-netic opinions, which he declined.

42 See Wien Sonntag , 4/12/1927.43 Rolleder to Ministry of Education, 28. 8. 1927. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682. See also O. Reche/A

Rolleder (see footnote 6) 285.44 Emil Blank, Pater semper incertus?, in: sterr. Richterzeitung 20 (1927), 136138, 137; see also Reches let-

ter to Rolleder, 2/11/1927. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682. By way of comparison, alimony paymentwere established at 20. to 40. schillings, see e.g. Rolleders decision in case M. E. vs. A. B., CV 1122/26/219/9/1927. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.

45 Michael Hesch, student of Rudolf Pch, from 1921 Assistant lecturer at the Institute of Anthropology andEthnography in Vienna, from 1927 Reches assistant in Leipzig, later in charge of the anthropological collec-tion of the Museum of Zoology and Ethnology in Dresden. STA, AVA, Unterricht Fasz. 653 (Wissenschaft-liche Hilfskrfte), Zl. 121921921; see also Wiener Neueste Nachrichten, 12/2/1928.

46 A paternity suit dealt with at the district court of Leopoldstadt in Vienna: As the case was dismissed becauseof a non-conclusive blood group comparison, the plaintiff appealed to a higher court requesting proof by an-thropological examination and dactyloscopy. Delayed filing of the request resulted in a review by the Su-preme Court, which stated procedural defect. Press note (undated). NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.

47 Reche had requested permission from his successor Josef Weninger to use the premises of the Vienna An-thropological Institute, which he denied. Reche to Rolleder, 30/12/1927. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection

2682. The examinations were then conducted by Reches assistant Hesch in the photographic studio Apolloat Landstraer Hauptstrae 26. Lawyer Dr. B. Jaitner to district court of Meidling, 30/1/1928. NHM/AA,Somatology Collection 2682.

48 Rolleder to lawyer L. Bernhart, 2/1/1928. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.49 Polland to Rolleder, 14/9/1928 and Reche to Rolleder, 30/6/1928. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682; se

also Polland to LGR Murmayr, civil district court in Graz, 1928 (without exact date). UW/IfA, Ordner Korres-pondenz. I am indebted to Univ. Prof. Dr. H. Seidler and Univ. Prof. Dr. H. Wilfing who provided access to thefiles.

50 Reche to Rolleder, 2/4/1928. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.


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Supreme Court ruling questioning theconclusiveness of one of his genetic opin-ions.51 Reches justification is symptom-atic, indirectly revealing the weaknessesof the genetic approach: A child's descentfrom a given man would necessarily haveto be expressed somehow at least notinsignificantly in the phenotype aswell.52 A precursor of efforts towardsmaking genetic descent mathematicallymore objective as subsequently aimed atby Viennese anthropologists, Reche de-plored the fact that the Supreme Courtfailed to comprehend that in the completeabsence of improbabilities an accumu-lation of probabilities and major prob-abilities was tantamount to evidenceand that inversely, an accumulation of improbabilities amounted to counter--evidence.53 Reche, the pioneer, feltmisunderstood.54 To prevent further offi-cial misunderstanding, Reche re-wordedhis opinions, drafting them in clearerterms, with increasingly more authori-tative findings.55 Reche's responsivenessto external demands, while simultaneou-sly in ignorance of methodological inade-quacies and theoretical deficiencies, maywell be considered an expression of a sci-

ence, or of its profit- and career-orientedactors, that had meanwhile become in-creasingly application-oriented. Never-theless, and in spite of Rolleder's massivepropaganda, the Austrian courts' demandfor Reche's opinions decreased signifi-cantly towards the end of the 1920s dueto negative decisions adopted by the Su-preme Court, public criticism,56 compli-cated procedural logistics, and probablyalso due to outrageous fees.57

Given that Josef Weninger, Reche's suc-cessor to the Vienna Chair, initially raisedscepticism over genetic assessment in gen-

eral, claiming to be unfamiliar with thismethod,58 other medical experts were con-sulted for their expertise; these included Anton Werkgartner59, the forensic expertand pathologist specialising in blood testsand dactyloscopy, Burghard Breitner60,head of the 1st Surgical Department of theRudolfstiftung hospital, and particularlyhygienist Heinrich Reichel.61

Yet despite these developments, ge-netic advisory activity was eventually tobecome instrumental in determining theboom of the Vienna Institute in the1930s.

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51 The Supreme Court questioned an anthropological opinion which had concluded absence of paternity bycommenting: While similarity may indicate descent, does dissimilarity prove the contrary? Reche toRolleder, 19/4/1928. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.

52 Ibid.53 Ibid.54 Reche to Rolleder, 21/12/1928. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.55 Reche to Rolleder, 30/6/1928. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.56 Reches anthropological method to determine paternity was also the subject of a variety show in Leipzig.

Reche to Rolleder, 21/12/1928. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.57 Ibid.58 O. Reche/A. Rolleder (see footnote 6) 291.59 Rolleders decision in case 5 C 1785/27, 24/9/1928. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.60 Lawyer Marcell Sokal to Rolleder, 6/1/1928. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682. According to the pres

Breitner (initially? authors note) did not feel eligible to deliver such opinion. Neue Freie Presse, 12. 2. 1928.61 Wiener Neueste Nachrichten , 7/11/1928, 8; see also decision of the district court of Meidling, 27/3/1930 and

judgment of district court of Meidling in 4 C 259/30, 20/10/1930. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682; sReche to Rolleder, 17/9/1938. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682, where Reche mentions that Prof. Re-chel himself not an anthropologist has prepared many assessments, which he has obviously learnt to doquite well. There had been one opinion though, of 1927, which in all confidentiality quite obviously lackedthe necessary anthropological expertise.


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Hands-on Approach of aDiscipline: Official Expert Josef Weninger and Fundamental GeneticResearch Activities of the ViennaSchool

Scepticism and disassociationIn 1927, Josef Weninger62 was appoin-

ted Professor of Anthropology, succeedingOtto Reche to the Vienna Chair of An-thropology. He initially refused to meetthe Austrian courts' requests for geneticopinions on the grounds that paternityassessments according to Reche could notbe performed63 for lack of reliable dataand deficiencies in scientific founda-tions.64 His critical approach led to, i.a.,modifications of an initial judgement65based on one of Reche's opinions, and wasreferred to in a basic decree issued by thepresident of the higher provincial court.66In other words, by alleging methodologi-cal shortcomings, Weninger initially suc-

ceded in refusing to take on assignments.

His objections seem to be reasonablyfounded, and there is no doubt that We-ninger's scientific pretensions were hon-ourable. What comes as a surprise,though, is his change of attitude onlyslightly later, which raises the questionabout the personal relationship betweenReche and Weninger (their political stan-ce was different) or about academic com-petition. Indeed, while Reche producedexpert opinions with love of morphologi-cal detail in fact resembling the Vien-nese researchers' scientific approach,without ever specifying so in writing Weninger ignored Reche's achieve-ments even though their reasoning didnot differ substantially.

Probably upon Rolleder's suggestion67,Hella Pch, Rudolf Pch's widow and vol-untary associate at the Institute, submit-ted a draft report on the establishmentof an institute for paternity research

early in 1929.68

It summarises the Insti-

15


62 Josef Weninger (18861959), studied at the Technical University and the University of Vienna from 1904(prehistoric studies, folklore studies and ethnology, ethnography and physical anthropology and geography);he was a student of Hoernes, Haberlandt, Much, Oberhummer and Pch, among others; initially worked asscientific support staff and assistant with Hoernes and Pch, later for Pch only; together with Pch studiedthe P.O.W. of WW I, developed a somato-morphological method; 19181927 scientific officer at the State Administration of Monuments (Staatsdenkmalamt); further cooperation with Pch as voluntary Assistant;1926 postdoctoral thesis (Habilitation); 1927 was appointed Extraordinary Professor of Physical Anthro-pology; in charge of the Institute (succeeding Otto Reche); 1934 appointed Full Professor; end of August 1938was forced to retire by virtue of 3 art. 1 of the regulation governing the reorganisation of the Austrian pro-fessional civil service because of his wifes being a Jewess; 19401945 associate of the N Landesmuseum(Lower Austrian Provincial Museum); in 1945 re-established as Full Professor and Head of the Anthropolog-ical Institute; in 1945 real member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences; retirement in 1957. UW/IfA, OrdnerJosef Weninger; see also Wilhelm Ehgartner, Josef Weninger , in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 88/98 (1959),17.

63 Weninger to district court of Fnfhaus, 7/11/1927. UW/IfA, Ordner Forensische Korrespondenz.64 Weninger to civil provincial court of Graz, 10/5/1928. UW/IfA, Ordner Forensische Korrespondenz.65 Typescript, extract of the apellate judgment on case 5 C 1785/27=43 R 1235/28, 11/2/1929. NHM/AA, Soma

tology Collection 2682.66 Basic decree 80/28 of the President of the Higher Provincial Court dated 23. 10. 1928, Jv 14407/28; many

judges were alienated by the reference to critical statements made by a prominent anthropologist in a basicdecree; Rolleder subsequently attempted to deny Weningers competence in fields of genetic science appliedto paternity assessment which are not necessarily related to anthropology. Decision by district court of Meidling on case 4 C 259/30, 20/10/1930, 89. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.

67 A. Rolleder, typescript. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682, 4.68 Entwurf Hella Pchs zur Schaffung eines Institutes fr Paternittsforschung, early 1929, typescript, carbon

copy, 2 pages. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.


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tutes forthcoming research programme,which was to address preliminary is-sues involved in preparing genetic anal-yses, including age variability and qual-ity of observed traits.69 Hella Pch undprobably other members of the Institutewere likely to be well aware of the profit-ability of such exercise, which would def-initely come to bear over time due to theprospect of the programme being usedin return for monetary compensation,even from abroad.70

In the early 1930s Rolleder, appar-ently slightly alienated by Weninger's re-fusals, perhaps even by some SupremeCourt rulings, endeavoured to establish aplatform of discussion including the ex-perts known to him or recommended byReche (Polland, Breitner, Reichel, v.Weyringer and others). Convinced of theneed for an institute of human geneticsbased on his practical judicial experience

and internal knowledge, Rolleder nowtook an interest in developing furtherstrategies for the implementation of suchinstitute; in particular, he sought to initi-ate a discourse on the resources sciencecan provide for reliable determination of the male co-progenitor of a human be-ing71. His efforts raised a relatively mod-est echo: Hardly any of the recipients re-sponded to the issues raised by him in de-tail, except for Reche, who answered thequestion, for example, of the simplestcase of anthropological features by refer-ring i.a. to the cross-breeding of ex-tremely different races:

Erstkreuzung zwischen Mitteleuro - per und Neger z. B. mu stets schonbeim kleinen Kinde zu erkennen sein;wenn derartige negerische Merkmalebei einem Kind vorhanden sind, mualso von einer Elternseite Negerblut gekommen sein; sind keine negerischen Merkmale da, so kann kein Negerblutvorliegen --- Und bei sorgfltiger Un-tersuchung werden sich auch andere Rassenmischungen nachweisen lassen,wird man auch bei anderen Rassen-mischungen auf Vaterschaft oder Nicht-vaterschaft schlieen knnen. 72

A first crossing between Central Euro- pean and Negro, for example, must berecognisable already in the smallchild; if a child has such Negro fea-tures, one parent must obviously be of Negro blood; in the absence of Negro features, there can be no Negro blood--- Careful examination will also bringother racial mixtures to light, and itwill also be possible to prove paternityor absence of paternity for other racialmixtures.In conclusion, these examinations had

a very narrow basis still so in 1931,when the Supreme Court ruled in appel-late proceedings that lack of biological ex-amination in a paternity case constituted

procedural deficiency.73

The Erbbiologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft

Weninger subsequently changed hisattitude and signalled willingness of the

16


69 Ibid., 1.70 Ibid., 2.71 Rolleder to Reche, 20/10/1930. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.72 Reche to Rolleder, 20/3/1930. NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2682.73 Albert Harrasser mentions 24/4/1931 as the day of the Court ruling, see A. Harrasser, Zur prozessualen

Bedeutung (see footnote 30) 126, while Josef Weninger mentions 23/4/1931, see Josef Weninger, ber an-thropologisch-erbbiologische Vaterschaftsgutachten, in: sterr. Richterzeitg. 25 (1932), 126127, 127; seealso Eberhard Geyer, Die Beweiskraft der hnlichkeit im Vaterschaftsnachweis. Praktische Anwendung, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 68 (1938), 5487, 55.


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University Institute to furnish opinionson genetic biology under his leadership.74 At the same time he criticised the inter-ests of previous anthropologists (also of his Institute) who had focused on the de-scription of human races while showinglack of attention for biology75. He foun-ded the Erbbiologische Arbeitsgemein-schaft76 (Working Group on Genetic Bi-ology) for the purpose of establishing themean frequency distribution and inheri-tance of morphological traits based on ex-aminations of twins and anthropologicalsurveys of families, in order to establishthe basis for expert opinions and to par-ticipate in their preparation. Apart fromJosef Weninger, this working group in-cluded his wife Margarete, Eberhard Ge-yer, Dora Maria Koenner, Robert Routiland Albert Harrasser, each of whom wereresponsible for one specific group of fea-tures.

The method used was metric mea-surement and graphic or photographicdocumentation (classification) of themorphological features of the head, faceand body77, which Weninger liked to refer

to as the Vienna School of anthropol-ogy.78

Soon after the working group was es-tablished Albert Harrasser, Weninger'sassistant until the end of 193479, obser-ved an increase in forensic work and re-search activities at the Vienna Institutewhich would be totally unthinkablewithout the constant work for the courtsand the resulting income.80 All this wasdue to a general practical interest inthese issues and the fact that the disci -pline could now serve the interests of so-ciety at large.81

It is thus not surprising that alreadyin the winter term of 1931, due to in-creased participation from the Reich, stu-dent numbers rose significantly.82 Wenin-ger attributed that rise to the start of lectures on racial knowledge and geneticbiology.

Towards the end of 1932, Josef Wenin-ger and Heinrich Reichel eventually hadtheir names registered on the roster of ju-dicial experts on human genetics.83 By1934, Weninger and his assistants wereto render 200 opinions84, identifying by

17


74 See J. Weninger, Vaterschaftsgutachten (see footnote 73), 127. Otto Frhr. v. Verschuer maintained that itwas Weningers visit at the Institute in Berlin which made him decide to prepare genetic opinions, see O.Frh. v. Verschuer, Vaterschaftsbestimmung (see footnote 30), 7.

75J. Weninger, Vaterschaftsgutachten (see footnote 73), 127.76 See A. Harrasser, Ergebnisse (see footnote 19), 207 and 208; Eberhard Geyer, Probleme der Familienanthro-pologie, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 64 (1934), 295326, 325 and 326; O. Reche/A. Rolleder, Zur Entste-hungsgeschichte (see footnote 6), 286.

77 Josef Weninger, Der naturwissenschaftliche Vaterschaftsbeweis, in: Wr. klin. Wochenschr. 1 (1935), 111.78 Typescript, 3 pages. UW/IfA, Ordner Allgemeine Korrespondenz 1938. See also Josef Weninger, 25 Jahre

Anthropologisches Institut an der Universitt in Wien, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 68 (1938), 191205, 202;id., Menschliche Erblehre und Anthropologie (Zur Methode der Erbforschung), in: Wr. klin. Wochenschr. 26(1936), 117, 12.

79 Harrasser worked at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut fr Genealogie und Demographie of the Deutsche For-

schungsanstalt fr Psychiatrie in Munich from 1/12/1934.80 Harrasser to lawyer Dr. Franz Mller, 11/3/1934. UW/IfA, Ordner Forensische Korrespondenz.81 Eickstedt e.g. considered anthropological paternity assessments a typical case of successful application of

initially purely cognitive results for practical purposes, see Egon v. Eickstedt, Rassenkunde und Rassen-geschichte der Menschheit, Stuttgart 1940, vol. 1, 594.

82 J. Weninger, 25 Jahre (see footnote 78), 200.83 O. Reche/A. Rolleder, Zur Entstehungsgeschichte (see footnote 6), 286.84 A. Harrasser, Ergebnisse (see footnote 19), 208.


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that time 13 groups of traits with 160 de-tails.85

Weninger was highly successful inpopularising and marketing the resultsobtained at the Vienna Institute through

the media86

. By disseminating the poten-tial of genetic biology, he ended up with ahigh volume of assignments (and perfor-med up to 6 examinations a week87), inspite of the high cost involved in these ex-aminations. Like Reche in Leipzig, heused the income for teaching activitiesand technical equipment purchases, ex-panding the photographic technical gear

in particular88

; and above all, he used itfor basic research and studies on the biol-ogy of growth.

It was not least due to its expertiseand work done for the courts, originallyrefused by Weninger, that the Vienna In-stitute of Anthropology became the sec-ond largest institute of all German uni-

versities89; furthermore, the new taskssignificantly influenced the type andnumber of scientific projects and publica-tions.

In more general terms, anthropologyunderwent a change of paradigm: Mod-ern biology focused increasingly on thetheory of heredity90, while anthropologyemphasised research of cause ratherthan research of facts.91 Leading theo-reticians of the discipline, including Er-win Baur92 or Eugen Fischer93, came todefine anthropology as the science of ge-netic differences in man; the race conceptbecame inheritance-oriented; it was as-sumed that physical and psychologicalracial traits were due to genetic fac-tors94; while racial formation, racialreshaping issues, bastardisation95 andextraction of the different componentsmaking up the mix of hypotheticallypure races became a major research to-pic.96 At the time, statistical analyses of

18


85 J. Weninger, Vaterschaftsbeweis (see footnote 77), 4.86 Through a large number of press reports, some drafted by himself, and public lectures, see Neue Freie Presse,

19/7/1932, 9; Neue Freie Presse, 24/11/1933; Wiener Neueste Nachrichten, 9/7/1933, 11; Der Wiener Tag, 30/1/ 1935; Reichspost 337, 6/12/1936, 17; Neues Wiener Journal , 25/10/1936. UW/IfA, Ordner Zeitungsauschnitte.

87 Harrasser to lawyer Dr. Franz Mller, 11/3/1934. UW/IfA, Ordner Forensische Korrespondenz.88 Harrasser tried to address age variability, one of the inherent problems of genetic comparison, by consulting

amateur photographs (e.g. photos of the parents in their childhood), see Albert Harrasser, Die Laienpho-tographie als Hilfsmittel fr erbbiologische Beobachtungen, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 62 (1932), 338342.

89 Harrasser to Mller, 11/3/1934. UW/IfA, Ordner Forensische Korrespondenz.90 In Vienna, the biological approach was already followed by Rudolf Pch, who emphasised the importance of experimental genetic studies to shed light on the concept of race, see Rudolf Pch, Neue anthropologischeFragestellungen, in: Mitt. Geograph. Ges. Wien 62 (1919), 193210; Margarete Weninger, Rudolf Pch zum40. Jahrestag seines Todes (18701921), in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 91 (1961), 142143; he conducted hisfirst practical work on the subject in the form of family surveys, e.g. in 1917 in a Wolhynian refugee camp,see J. Weninger, 25 Jahre (see footnote 78), 197 and Hella Pch, Beitrge zur Anthropologie der ukrainischenWolhynier, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 55 (1925), 289333; id., Beitrge zur Anthropologie der ukrainischenWolhynier, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 56 (1926), 1652.

91 Otto Reche, Die Anthropologie als biologische Wissenschaft, in: Der Biologe 8 (1939), 317323, 318.92

Erwin Baur/Eugen Fischer/Fritz Lenz, Menschliche Erblichkeitslehre und Rassenhygiene, 3rd

ed., Munich1927.93 Eugen Fischer, Die Rehobother Bastards und das Bastardierungsproblem beim Menschen, Jena 1913.94 Fritz Lenz, Die Erblichkeit der geistigen Begabung, in: E. Baur/E. Fischer/F. Lenz (eds.), Erblichkeitslehre

(see footnote 92); Reche shared the view that the human races differ not only physically but also in theirmental and psychological characteristics, see O. Reche, Anthropologie (see footnote 91), 318.

95 E. Fischer, Rehobother (see footnote 93).96 E.g. anthropologist Viktor Lebzelter of the Vienna Natural History Museum postulated a forma typica as a

basal variant of man, which he later attempted to differentiate into local racial types by using a morpholog-


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populations and typological comparisonswere conducted on a massive scale, fami-lies were surveyed and twins examined todetermine the hereditary patterns of dif-ferent groups of features. While the twinmethod97 mainly addressed general is-sues related to heredity, it was by addingthe biological dimension that family re-search, for a long time equivalent to ge-nealogy and as such representing but anarrow branch of pragmatic historical re-search, became a science of immediateimportance for life which, according to v.Eckstedt, could also be subjected to thegoals of racial hygiene.98

Large-scale scientific project: Marienfeld

Like others, the Vienna Institute andits projects followed the mainstream of ongoing research in the field99. While an-

thropology used to over-emphasise thedescription of human races,100 the bellsof the time rang loudly, ushering in theknowledge of heredity, now leading an-thropology into a biological direction .101 Weninger never ceased to stress

the novel approach of his morphologicalmethod: a formal analysis of subtle pecu-liar characteristics, blown up to innova-tion, which provided the basic instru-ment of anthropological research in Austria for many years102; it was relevantboth for questions relating to the originand differentiation of human races103 as

well as for genetic surveys of families andtheir resulting paternity assessments. 104

The Institute's most significant project was a genetic survey conducted in thewinter of 1933/1934 of the population of the German village of Marienfeld in Ro-

19


ical approach. He was one of the few who challenged the static concept of race underlying the Nazi partysdogma on anthropology; see B. Fuchs, Frauen (see footnote 8), 139; regarding the static and the dynamicconcept of race, see also Karl Saller, Die Rassenlehre des Nationalsozialismus in Wissenschaft und Propa-ganda, Darmstadt 1961.

97 Otto Frhr. v. Verschuer was the most renowned researcher on twins of the time, though Viennese anthropolo-gists also submitted several papers on the subject. See Otto Frhr. v. Verschuer, Die hnlichkeitsdiagnose derEineiigkeit von Zwillingen, in: Anthrop. Anz. 5 (1928), 244248; Erbbiologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft amWiener Anthropologischen Institut, Metrische und morphognostische Beobachtungen. Die anthropologischeDiagnose der Zwillinge H., in: Zeitschrift f. d. ges. Neurologie und Psychiatrie 148 (1933), 683690; RobertRoutil, Anthropologisch-erbbiologische Familienforschung als Grundlage der rassenkundlichen Analyse, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 67 (1937), 3152.

98 E. Frhr. v. Eickstedt, Rassenkunde (see footnote 81) 584.99 The tradition of family surveys had actually been launched by Rudolf Pch (see footnote 90); see Eberhard

Geyer, Vererbung der bandfrmigen Helix, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 58 (1928), 1720; id., Vererbungs-studien am menschlichen Ohr, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 62 (1932), 280285; id., Studien am menschli-chen Ohr, in: Anthrop. Anz. 13 (1936), 101111; id., Probleme der Familienanthropologie, in: Mitt. Anthrop.Ges. Wien 64 (1934), 295326; Robert Routil, Ein Beitrag zum Erbstudium des menschlichen Haarkleides,in: Zeitschr. f. Rassenkunde 9 (1939), 4857.

100 J. Weninger, Vaterschaftsgutachten (see footnote 73), 126127.101 J. Weninger, 25 Jahre (see footnote 78), 199.102 Emil Breitinger, In memoriam. Josef Weninger, 18861959, in: Anthrop. Anz. 23 (1959), 236238, 237; see

also Heinrich Hayek, Josef Weninger. Nachruf, in: Almanach d. sterr. Akad. d. Wiss. 109 (1959), 427436.103 Josef Weninger, Menschliche Erblehre und Anthropologie (Zur Methode der Erbforschung), in: Wr. klin.

Wochenschr. 26 (1936), 117, 17; Robert Routil, Familienforschung (see footnote 97).104 Typescript Die Wiener Schule, 3 pages, probably 1938. UW/IfA, Ordner Korrespondenz. Weninger kept re-

ferring to morphology as being better suited than classical metrics; however, as the polemic discussionbetween him and Viktor Lebzelter demonstrates, this view was not generally shared, see Viktor Lebzelter,Wozu und zu welchem Ende messen wir noch?, in: Anthrop. Anz. 11 (1934), 12.


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mania.105 The study consisted in an an-thropological examination of 1081 mem-bers of 251 families. The findings wereobtained in eight work stations withdifferent tasks. Geyer mentions an aver-age daily output of 40 persons or 280300 photographic and an approximatelyequal number of schematic views.106 Thetradition followed by such apparentlyhighly effective examination, which en-sured fast recovery of data, dates back tothe examinations of WW I prisoners107and was similarly applied during anthro-pological examinations in P.O.W. campsof WW II.108 However, the family surveyswere based on voluntary participationand researchers refrained from conduct-ing embarrassing full-body examina-tions:

Krperuntersuchungen nach so einem erweiterten Programm knnte manwohl nur bei unbekleidet lebenden Pri-

mitiven, hierzulande nur bei Sportlernoder bei klinischen Erhebungen (Kon-stitutionsforschungen) in grerer Men- ge anstellen. Die Beobachtungen am Kopf und Gesicht sind zwar mhevoll,

aber sie begegnen im allgemeinen viel geringeren Schwierigkeiten. 109

Bodily examinations under such ex-tended programme could probablyonly be conducted of primitives living

without clothes in this country, on alarge scale, only of athletes or in thecourse of clinical (constitution) stud-ies. Observing the head and face is ar-duous, but generally meets with muchless resistance.

With the Banat study, under collabo-ration of all associates of the Erbbiolo-

gische Arbeitsgemeinschaft, Weningernot only focused on the question of inheri-tance of metric and morphological traits,but especially on age modification andsex difference of these traits; further-more, he was interested in developingcomputational methods to adjust the ab-solute figures110. Indeed, while he choseto view his family research project from

the scientific point of view, primarily ser-ving the provision of anthropological andgenetic evidence, hence serving adminis-tration of justice111, Eberhard Geyer con-sidered the Marienfeld measure a mat-

20


105 J. Weninger, 25 Jahre (see footnote 87), 200; Eberhard Geyer, Vorlufiger Bericht ber die familienanthro-pologische Untersuchung des ostschwbischen Dorfes Marienfeld im rumnischen Banat, in: Verhandlun- gen der Ges. f. Phys. Anthrop. (1935), 511; id., Studien am menschlichen Ohr (see footnote 99); MargareteWeninger, Zur Vererbung der Wirbelmuster an den Fingerbeeren, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien (1938), 220245; Robert Routil, Familienanthropologische Untersuchungen in dem ostschwbischen Dorfe Marienfeldim rumnischen Banat. I. Biometrische Studien, in: Akademie d. Wiss. Vienna (ed.), Untersuchungen zurRassenkunde und menschlichen Erblehre 1 (1942), 182.

106 Eberhard Geyer, Vorlufiger Bericht (see footnote 105), 10.107 J. Weninger (see footnote 78), 193196.108 Josef Wastl, Anthropologische Untersuchungen an belgischen und franzsischen Kriegsgefangenen, in:

Akad. Anz. 13 (1941), 14; id., Korsen (Eine somatometrische und somatoskopische Untersuchung), in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 96/97 (1967), 89108; id., Das physische Erscheinungsbild der Vietnamesen, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 95 (1965), 168179. The author does not disclose the origin of material used for thetwo latter studies.

109 J. Weninger, typescript (see footnote 104), 3.110 J. Weninger, Menschliche Erblehre (see footnote 78), 5; a coefficient of adjustment was necessary for ge-

netic paternity assessments to compare persons of different age.111 Although Weninger also saw a potential for racial studies under a new perspective in family research, see

Josef Weninger, Rassenkunde und Familienforschung, in: Nachrichten der Wr. Ges. f. Rassenpflege (Ras-senhygiene), 1 (1938), 14, 3.


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ter of the heart112 as well as a contri-bution to the study of nationalities andthe minority problem.113 Geyer rejected aresearch approach primarily aiming atempirical assessment and theoreticaltreatment without any goals of immedi-ate application;114 his objective, visiblymore strongly influenced by Nazi ideol-ogy, was to identify the racial differencesbetween Gast- und Wirtsvolk (host andguest peoples) and, in the project underdiscussion, the framework of evolutionand preservation of a German minority insoutheastern Europe. 115

The fact remains that both anthropolo-gists though under different angles had a massive interest in analysing a pureand isolated German population group;the breeding ground had thus been pre-pared for subsequent conflicts over landtenure and scientific evaluation of the un-dertaking subsumed under the concept of Deutschtum or Germanness research.116

Eugen Fischer, who had given his ex-pert opinion on an application introducedby Weninger regarding Marienfeld to theGerman Research Foundation in 1936,pointed out yet another aspect: Thoughcriticising some points of the indeed

somewhat broad morphological survey,he held that the results not only served asa basis for decisions on civil alimonycases, but for decisions of the Sippenamtconcerning the Aryan or non-Aryan de-scent of illegitimate children, children of adultery, foundlings etc. as well.117

In short, at a time when Vienna wasstill attempting to make the Marienfeldresults available to the courts in supportof scientific proof of paternity, Germany,following the Nazis rise to power, had al-ready established the legal basis of a to-tally different career for these geneticassessments, which Viennas anthropolo-gists were to follow only a few years later.

Attempts at objectification up to 1938In the 1930s, responding to some criti-

cal comments by some members of Vi-ennas legal profession118, efforts weremade to widen the scientific basis of thesegenetic assessments. By applying a so-

called quantitative criterion, i.e. method-ologically covering as many traits as pos-sible119, attempts were made to minimisethe problems inevitably in spite of allanthropological efforts involving thewhole family120 arising from ignorance

21


112 Eberhard Geyer, Deutsche Vorposten in Rumnien, in: Zeitgeschichte sterreichische Monatsbltter fr

deutsche Erneuerung 6 (1934), 161168, 168.113 Eberhard Geyer, Anthropologie und Nationalittenforschung, in: Nation und Staat 7 (1934), 323327, 323.114 Ibid., 325.115 Ibid., 327; see also E. Geyer, Probleme (see footnote 76), 319 and 321; id., Wozu treiben wir Familienan-

thropologie?, in: Vortrge des Vereins zur Verbreitung naturwiss. Kenntnisse in Wien 73 (1933), 5965.116 Although Weningers application to the DFG in 1936 received a positive response from two experts, i.e. Eugen

Fischer und Karl Thums, the DFG refrained from taking a decision. The reason was another (political) state-ment, made by Amon: He maintained that Weninger relied on collaborators with a non-political attitude;should the DFG prefer to support reliable people, this were feasible only [] by way of independent applica-tions; concluding that in any event the Marienfeld data belonged to the DFG. BA Koblenz R 73/15621. Geyer

and Koenner subsequently filed their own applications for evaluation of the Marienfeld data.117 Statement made by Eugen Fischer upon Josef Weningers application to the DFG, 28/3/1936. BundesarchivKoblenz R 73/15621.

118 Letter of complaint from Josef Weninger to the Provincial Government of Lower Austria (undated). UW/IfA,Ordner Korrespondenz.

119 A. Harrasser, Ergebnisse (see footnote 19), 222 und 223.120 Margarete Weninger, Zur Anwendung der Erbformeln der quantitativen Werte der Fingerbeeren im natur-

wissenschaftlichen Vaterschaftsnachweis, in: Zeitschr. f. menschliche Vererbungs- und Konstitutionslehre21 (1937), 206219.


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of the hereditary patterns followed bypolygenic morphological traits. It was be-lieved to thereby effectively address theerrors involved in single genes. EberhardGeyer, Weningers assistant, eventuallyestablished theoretical guidelines forgenetic assessments121, defining the criti-cal parameters of quality and quantityof traits. However, due to the fact thatthe family surveys did not produce reli-able hereditary patterns as expected, ge-netic experts hastened to accept122 simi-larity-based statistical procedures incertifying paternity. 123 It is important tonote that such calculation included thefrequency of traits occurring in the popu-lation, allowing expression of the percent-age probability of paternity. The purposewas to bridge the problematic computa-

tional gap by converting form into fig-ures. This procedure responded to the judges preference of an exact numericalconcept over ambiguous wording aswell.124 Even though a few prominentmembers of the community rejected thisapproach as being questionable125, it con-tinued to support decisions in the formu-lation of anthropological-genetic opinionsup to the recent past.126

Certificates of Descent or RacialCertification: The Protagonists inUniversities and Museums

While Vienna indeed continued its at-tempts at improving methodology, theGerman Reich, with the Nazis rise topower, had already taken a different

22


121 E. Geyer, Probleme (see footnote 76), 295; id., Die Beweiskraft (see footnote 73).122 Besides Eberhard Geyer, the procedure was also used by Karl Tuppa and Dora-Maria Kahlich-Koenner to

support decision-making in anthropological proof of paternity. See Eberhard Geyer, Die praktische Anwen-dung der ESSEN-MLLERschen Formel im Vaterschaftsnachweis, in: Verhandl. d. Deutschen Ges. f. Ras-senforschung 9 (1938), 7984, 79; Eberhard Geyer/Karl Tuppa, Vom Wert der Merkmale im anthropolo-gischen Vaterschaftsbeweis, in: Anthrop. Anz. 17 (1940/1941), 273285.

123 Erik Essen-Mller, Die Beweiskraft der hnlichkeit im Vaterschaftsnachweis. Theoretische Grundlagen,in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 68 (1938), 953; id., Wie kann die Beweiskraft der hnlichkeit im Vaterschafts-nachweis in Zahlen gefasst werden?, in: Verhandl. d. Deutschen Ges. f. Rassenforschung 9 (1938), 7678; ac-cording to Routil, Essen-Mller had only modified the method developed by P. Stocks for twin research, seeRobert Routil, Der erbbiometrische Abstammungsnachweis, unpublished proof (1943), 134. NHM/AA Fachbibliothek.

124 Thereby the anthropologists also believed to provide a positive proof of paternity; by integrating predomi-nantly normal human traits of mean frequency they also established a clear-cut dissociation from otherdisciplines, such as medicine. See E. Geyer/K. Tuppa, Wert der Merkmale (see footnote 123), 285.

125 During discussions of the paper presented by Geyer at the 9th Meeting of Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Ras-senforschung (1937) Eugen Fischer described this formula as being dangerous for various rasons, issuingan explicit warning to this effect; even Reche did not feel at all at ease about it, see E. Geyer, Die prak-tische Anwendung (see footnote 123), 84; Essen-Mllers probability calculation met with massive criticismalso of Kramp, see Peter Kramp, Bemerkungen zur Arbeit von E. Geyer und K. Tuppa: Vom Wert derMerkmale im anthropologischen Vaterschaftsbeweis, in: Anthrop. Anz. 17 (1940/41), 286291, 291 and of Routil, see R. Routil, Der erbbiometrische Abstammungsnachweis (see footnote 122), 3034; this mathe-matical construct was also rejected by Margarete Weninger, see Margarete Weninger, Zur zahlenmigenErfassung der hnlichkeit im naturwissenschaftlichen Vaterschaftsnachweis. Eine kritische Auseinander-setzung mit der Formel von E. Essen-Mller und ihre praktische Anwendung, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien7778 (1949), 3358.

126 Dora-Maria Kahlich-Koenner, Praktische Erfahrungen bei der Anwendung der Essen-Mllerschen Formelin Wiener Vaterschaftsuntersuchungen, in: Homo 2 (1951), 5861; Karl Tuppa, ber die Bedeutung derrelativen Hufigkeit wahrer Vter fr die Essen-Mllersche Formel, in: Homo 2 (1951), 114117; DietrichWichmann, Erfahrungen mit der Essen-Mllerschen Methode, in: Homo 2 (1951), 6164; Leopold Brei-tenecker/Johann Szilvssy, ber eine Vaterschaftswahrscheinlichkeitsberechnung nach Blutmerkmalenund morphologischen Merkmalen, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 107 (1977), 284287, 285; Johann Szilvs-sy/Josef Herbich, Empirische Untersuchungen zur Vaterschaftswahrscheinlichkeitsberechnung nach denBlutsystemen, in: Mitt. Anthrop. Ges. Wien 107 (1977), 222232.


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course: Legislation on racialist policy andracial hygiene, especially the law on thereestablishment of professional civil ser-vice, which for the first time includedthe Aryan regulation, marked a completechange of approach to the issuance of pro-fessional certification of genetic descent;as of then, certificates of paternity werenot only required in paternity suits. Bydecree issued by the Reichs Interior Min-istry on April 24, 1934, authorities wereofficially empowered to request a geneticand racial certificate of descent (erb-und rassenkundliche Abstammungs-nachweis) to clarify cases of incongru-ence between statutory descent and bio-logical descent or such cases where docu-ments or other evidence were insufficientto support a decision particularly whenillegitimate children or foundlings wereinvolved.127 It particularly applied to thecases of suspected Jewish descent.128Those descending from three Jewish

grandparents were considered full Jews.The descent of a person became vitallyimportant by the time the NurembergLaws were adopted. It was also in thiscontext, i.e. when the erb- und rassen-kundlicher Abstammungsnachweis wasestablished, that Otto Reche, the in-ventor of genetic expert assessment, as-sumed a central role: Soon after the de-

cree was issued, he suggested to theOfficial Expert in Racial Issues (Sach-verstndige fr Rassefragen) to use pro-fessional genetic/racial opinions (erbbio-logisch-rassenkundliche Gutachten) toobviate the potential danger of Jewishblood infiltrating the German people.129 As also stressed by Krner130, the actu-ally racial part of the opinion was irrel-

evant for the question of racial descentgiven that even to a diagnostically trai-ned eye no racially specific anthropologi-cal traits had to be objectified for theprevailing issues concerning Jewish de-scent.

This was further complicated by thefact that the defendants were often pre-sented in amateur photographs, whichmeans that the experts had a personalscope for their diagnoses, including theoption to refuse an opinion after all,there was no procedural consensus evenamong the anthropological community.

By way of example, Josef Weninger re-fused a request in 1937 to issue such adocument.131 But especially Weninger,who never failed to advocate scientific cri-teria, must probably have recognised bythen at the very latest that the fatefulchain of events had already been trig-gered in the anthropological communityof the 1930s triggered by the practicalurge for application which after all hehimself, among others, had promoted. Ina final analysis, he eventually fell prey tohis own ideological view.

Weningers stance was ambivalent: Hetolerated propagandistic lectures andevents organised by the Rassenhygieni-sche Gesellschaft at the Vienna Institute,

the creation of a FamilienkundlicheErhebungsstelle (Family Survey Unit),NSDAP membership of most of the Insti-tutes associates at the time the partywas prohibited, as well as party trainingactivities. It is obvious then that the Na-tional Socialist ideology and its racialistobjectives of racial hygiene had by thengained a full grasp on the Austrian an-

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127 Christian-Ulrich von Ulmenstein, Der Abstammungsnachweis, Berlin 1936, 69.128 H.-P. Krner (see footnote 2).129 Reche to the Expert on Racial Research, 23/2/1935. BA Koblenz R22/486.130 H.-P. Krner (see footnote 2).131 Josef Weninger to N.N., 8/5/1937, UW/IfA, Ordner Allgemeine Korrespondenz.


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thropological community, even years be-fore the Anschluss. It thus comes as nosurprise that Eberhard Geyer was al-ready mentioned among the experts ongenetics and racialism in the 1938 pam-phlet of the Reichsstelle fr Sippenfor-schung (Reich Kinship Research Unit)describing the (unpublished) proceduralguidelines of the Reich Interior Ministrysregulation on certification of genetic andracial descent (erb- und rassenkund-liche Abstammungsnachweis).132

Eberhard Geyer had worked for theInstitute of Anthropology since 1925 and

headed the Institute from 1938. After theNazis took power in Austria in late Au-gust 1938, he took over from Josef We-ninger, who had to retire (under 3 art. 1of the regulation to the reorganisation of the Austrian professional civil service133)since he was married to a Jewess. Geyerconsidered his scientific work not as run-ning in parallel to his life but knew howto integrate it into the framework of hispolitical convictions.134 Eberhard Geyerwas a member of the NSDAP from 1933,in charge of the Institutes party cell dur-ing the prohibition and of the main unitof the Rassenpolitisches Amt of the Lo-wer Danube district, and subsequentlyfigured as relentless advisor.135 As early

as June 8, 1938, Geyer was sworn as per-manent expert to the parish of the civilprovincial court of Vienna (section B/116Human genetic biology) under Zl Jv1295-5d/38.136 On the same day, Wenin-ger informed the court of Viennas Leo-poldstadt district that he could not con-tinue his advisory activities for sometime due to a change in work sched-ule.137 From 1933, Geyer had consideredracial studies a core concern of anthropol-ogy, not only to address practical issueslike race and settlement or race andthe people, but also to deliver racial

opinions and certificates of descent forapplication to politics and for the devel-opment of our social order.138

Apart from Geyer, and especially afterGeyer fell at the front, racial opinionswere also rendered at the request of theReichssippenamt by the two assistantsDora Maria Kahlich-Koenner139 and Karl

Tuppa140 at the University Institute,while the Natural History Museum hadsuch work conducted by Josef Wastl, astudent of Rudolf Pch and Otto Reche.Josef Wastl was probably requested bythe Reichssippenamt to deliver geneticand racial opinions due to the fact thatthe Institute was understaffed from

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132 Der erb- und rassenkundliche Abstammungsnachweis vor der Reichsstelle fr Sippenforschung, see H.Seidler/A. Rett (see footnote 1), 162.

133 The Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) to Weninger, 26/8/1938. UW/IfA, Ordner Korrespondenz 1938.134 Karl Tuppa, Eberhard Geyer (fallen), in: Der Erbarzt 11 (1943), 121122.135 H. Seidler/A. Rett (see footnote 1); B. Fuchs (see footnote 8).136 Provincial court of Vienna to Geyer, 8/6/1938. UW/IfA, Ordner Forensische Korrespondenz.137 Weninger to district court of Leopoldstadt, 8/6/1938. UW/IfA, Ordner Forensische Korrespondenz; these

files also reveal that Weninger was approached for the delivery of racial opinions already a few months afterthe Anschluss. Decision by district court of Fnfhaus, 23/8/1938. UW/IfA, Ordner Forensische Korrespo-ndenz.

138 Eberhard Geyer, Wissenschaft am Scheideweg, in: Archiv f. Rassen- und Gesellschaftsbiologie 37 (1944),16, 3 and 5.

139 Dora Maria Kahlich-Koenner (19051970), see B. Fuchs (see footnote 8), 209212; Karl Tuppa, Dora MariaKahlich-Koenner, 25/12/1905 28/3/1970, in: Anthrop. Anz. 32 (1969` ), 291292.

140 Karl Tuppa (18991981), see Johann Szilvssy, In memoriam Karl Tuppa (18991981), in: Mitt. Anthrop.Ges. Wien 111 (1981), 102103.


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1941.141 Josef Wastl was also party mem-ber and in charge of the NHM party cellfrom 1933. He was suspended from ser-vice in 1945 along with Karl Tuppa andDora Maria Kahlich-Koenner. Up to the1960s, they were commissioned by manycourts to prepare authoritative paternityassessments as experts in genetic biology.

EpilogueUpon the suggestion of a Viennese

judge, German anthropologist and eth-nologist Otto Rech developed in Vienna

comparative analyses of polysymptoma-tic similarities for use as circumstantialproof to supplement the courts decision-making process in administering justicein cases of disputed paternity.142 Untilthen, legal decisions were based on thecredibility of the defendants statements.From the mid-1920s, justice was also ad-ministered on the basis of blood group de-termination. In spite of insufficient theo-retical foundation, including ignorance of the hereditary patterns of morphologicaltraits, and critical comments from the le-gal profession and biologists, Reche suc-ceeded in establishing the method effec-tively both in Austria and Germany.143The procedure was eventually accepted

by the legal profession, particularly onaccount of the economics of legal proce-dure (including reduced duration of theprocedure of proof).

Josef Weninger, Otto Reches succes-sor to the Vienna Chair, who had initially

voiced scepticism and rejected the newapproach, eventually also agreed in theearly 1930s to prepare expert opinions incases of disputed paternity. His decisionwas linked to the creation of the Erb-biologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (work-ing group on genetic biology), whose taskwas to participate in the assessment pro-cedures on the one hand, and to furnishthe missing basic scientific data throughlarge-scale family surveys on the other. All these programmes and scientific projects must be seen in conjunction with aubiquitous paradigm shift in biology,which increasingly focused on hereditarytheory, with practical application beingone of its priority goals.

Apart from its inherent potential toidentify blood groups, genetic assessmentwas based on very weak methodologicalfoundations. It enabled comparison of si-milarities and dissimilarities of a varyingnumber of somatic features, without spe-cifying the concepts of similarity and dis-similarity in greater detail. Furthermore,the variable manifestations of character-istic traits or variabilities of age or gen-der were all but clear. Attempts were ini-tially made to address these qualitativeproblems in pragmatic terms by increas-ing the number of traits, and subse-

quently, on an objective theoretical level,by applying mathematical models. Thiswas rejected even by the original protago-nists.

In spite of all their shortcomings, thesenew tasks and their practical relevance144,

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141 See Maria Teschler-Nicola/Margit Berner, Die Anthropologische Abteilung des Naturhistorischen Museumsin der NS-Zeit: Berichte und Dokumentation von Forschungs- und Sammlungsaktivitten 19381945, in: Akademischer Senat d. Universitt Wien (ed.), Untersuchungen zur Anatomischen Wissenschaft in Wien19381945, Vienna 1998, 333358, 345349.

142 References to a history of paternity diagnosis can be found in Peter Kramp, Anthropologische Vaterschafts-diagnose, in: Grenzgeb. Med. 1 (1948), 221232; id., Bibliographie zur anthropologisch-erbbiologischen Ab-stammungsprfung, in: Homo 2 (1951), 7683.

143 Though it was also admitted in other countries, including Russia, Sweden, Denmark, see Poljakoff, quotedaccording to A. Harrasser, Ergebnisse (see footnote 19), 205.


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as well as the economic component in-volved, were essential for the develop-ment and scientific achievements of theInstitute in the 1930s.

Weninger considered that the reputa-tion of the Institute was closely associ-ated with the methodology applied by theVienna School which he had developedto an advanced level of sophistication.The method was an essential element in justifying his research projects; it was ap-plied to the formulation of expert opin-ions: The results obtained from experi-mental genetic studies led to the assump-

tion that individual morphological fea-tures were inherited separately, also inhuman beings. In classifying morphologi-cal details into neat categories, the aimwas not only to shed light on the conceptof race, but in surveying families and ex-amining twins, to better understand theprocess of heredity and the impact of theenvironment as well. Both in terms of methodology and content, this reflects aline of tradition dating back to Rudolf Pch, pervading the family biology of thelate 1920s145 and the 1930s, and finallyculminating in the practical context of new findings applied to and serving thepurposes of population biology and racialhygiene.

It is important to note that researchdid not aim to increase knowledge alone,nor was it conceived as an end in itself; itsrelevance was mainly due to its applica-tion, which included paternity diagnoses.While Blank suspected in 1927 that Re-ches method might usher in a develop-

ment which we cannot as yet divine146,the Nazi takeover and entry into force of laws on the certification of Aryan de-scent became a deplorable certainty onlya few years later.147

Reche, whose National Socialist politi-cal views are reflected in nearly all of hiswork, and who put his experience at theservice of legislators, would not tire toemphasise the potential inherent in theseresearch activities and methods, which

fr die Praxis von sehr groem Wert geworden sind : das Wissen vom Erb- gang vieler Merkmale hat zur Entwi-cklung der Methode der Abstammungs- gutachten gefhrt, mit denen es mglichist, in sehr vielen Fllen zu entschei-den, ob bei zweifelhafter Abstammung ein Mann der Vater des Kindes ist odernicht; sowohl eine positive als auch eine negative Aussage ist mglich. Diese Methode ist lngst unentbehrlich ge-

worden fr eine sinnvolle Durchfh-rung rassenhygienischer und rassen- politischer Manahmen; denn nur mitdieser Methode lt es sich in sehrvielen Fllen verhindern, da uner-wnscht krankhafte und sonst mind- erwertige Anlagen und fremdes Ras-sengut sich, sozusagen heimlich, ein-schleichen.148

have become of major practical value: Knowledge of the hereditary patternsof many features has given rise to the paternity assessment method, which facilitates decisions on the paternity ornot of a certain man in many cases of

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144 Eberhard Geyer, Wissenschaft (see footnote 138), 3.145 The first biological family survey, which also included observation of race-related peculiarities, was con-

ducted by Hella Pch in 1917/1918 of refugee families from Czernovice in the camp at Niederdonau nearSalzburg. Findings sheets and procedural documents in NHM/AA, Somatology Collection 2697.

146 E. Blank, Pater (see footnote 44), 138.147 See Karl Tuppa, Zur Theorie und Praxis des Abstammungsnachweises, in: Wr. klin. Wochenschr. 52 (1939),

110.148 Otto Reche, Die Anthropologie (see footnote 91), 322.


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doubt; both positive and negative re-sults are possible. The method haslong become indispensable for a mean-ingful implementation of policy mea-sures to improve racial hygiene; for itis the only method capable of prevent-ing the very many cases of undesirableanomalies or other inferior (inherited)traits, or foreign racial material enter-ing through the back door, so to speak.The anthropologists were well aware

of the blurriness of a method that lackedthe necessary basis. While some set cer-tain standards, others had come underpressure. But what counts in the finalanalysis is that the scientists decisionswere eventually accepted as being scien-tific whether the methods proved sus-tainable or not. Any further critical anal-ysis must therefore focus on the expertsconsulted for advice and their underlyingmotivation.

OutlookThe inventory of the Departments col-

lection includes slightly over 100 so-cal-led racial genetic opinions commissio-ned to the above Viennese experts by theReichssippenamt and other authoritiesafter the Anschluss of 1938. For a moreobjective evaluation of these experts en-gaged in genetic and racial studies duringNazism, this specific inventory of sourceswill form the basis of a critical compara-tive analysis of the methodology and ba-sic terminological patterns involved. AsRobert Routil later admitted, certifica-tion of descent was sometimes based onarbitrary assessment 149 but invariably

interpreted as scientifically authorita-tive. Therefore the available source ma-terial indeed of relevant scope aims toinvestigate which assessments were pro-vided to the Reichssippenamt by whichexperts, whether by international stan-dards they effectively acted to the bene-fit of their subjects150 and which motiveswere behind these decisions.

One essential aspect of future re-search conducted by the AnthropologicalDepartment of the Natural History Mu-seum will be to trace the lives of personsexamined, measured and morphologi-cally classified based on their individ-ual data as extracted from these sourcesand to make recorded material availableto the families concerned.

Furthermore, we are planning to fol-low the scientific lines of tradition moreclosely and to submit to scrutiny both thecombined interests voiced by different ac-tors and the relationship between sci-ence, or those acting in its name, and pol-itics. As a matter of fact, the relationshipbetween science and power can neither beanalysed by applying the formula of fa-tal involvement of the former in Na-tional Socialism nor by advancing the ar-gument of a science being abused by theNazi regime.151

AcknowledgementI am indebted to Prof. Dr. Horst Seid-

ler, who allowed access to the inventory of the Institute of Anthropology. This studywas supported by the Austrian ScienceFund (FWF Project No. 13779-HIS).Katarina Matiasek, Doris Schamall and

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149 N. N., Die Menschheit eine Familie. Menschheitsforschung widerlegt Rassenwahn. Katalog zur Ausstel-lung der Anthropologischen Abteilung des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien. Selbstverlag des Natur-historischen Museums, 148, 23.

150 H. Seidler/A. Rett, Reichssippenamt (see footnote 1).151 Susanne Heim, Die reine Luft der wissenschaftlichen Forschung. Zum Selbstverstndnis der Wissen-

schaftler der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft. Research programme Geschichte der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesell-schaft im Nationalsozialismus, Ergebnisse 7, 2002, 149, 40.


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Hildtraud Windl provided valuable com-ments on previous versions of the manu-

script. Translation of the paper by Mag.Michaela Zwlfer, LANGUAGE.WORKS.

M. Teschler-Nicola

Department of Anthropology, Natural History Museum, Burgring 7, A-1014 Vienna, Austria e-mail: maria.teschler @univie.ac.at

maria.teschler @nhm-wien.ac.at

DIJAGNOSTIKA POVIJESTI GENETSKIH I RASISTI^KIH PROCJENA U AUSTRIJI DO 1938. GODINE

S A @ E T A K

U radu se istraùje povijest izvije{}a stru~njaka za genetiku i biologiju u Austriji do1939. godine. Ovo podru~je aktivnosti zna~ajno je utjecalo na teme istraìvanja kao ina metode istraìvanja koje su se primjenjivale u Institutu za antropologiju u Be~u, auzrokovalo je i pove}anu primjenu u praksi. U ovom pregledu razmatraju se motiviznanstvenika, koalicija interesnih skupina te orijentacija prema sadràju ove disci-pline do 1938., ~ime su stvorene pretpostavke izvje{}ima stru~njaka za rasizam u vri- jeme nacional-socijalizma.

AbbreviationsBA (Bundesarchiv) Federal ArchivePK (Partei Kanzlei Korrespondenz) Party Office correspondenceNHM/AA(Naturhistorisches Museum/Anthropologische Abteilung) Natural History

Museum/Department of AnthropologyDFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) German Research FoundationSTA/AVA (sterreichisches Staatsarchiv/ Allgemeines Verwaltungsarchiv) Austrian

State Archives/General Administrative ArchiveUW/IfA (Universitt Wien/Institut fr Anthropologie) University of Vienna/Institute

of AnthropologyP.O.W. Prisoner of warWW I World War I

28



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ANNEX

Otto Reche (18791966) Born May 24, 1879 in Glatz, Silesia Studied Medicine and philosophical subjects at the universities of Wroclav, Jena and

Berlin 1904 doctorate in Zoology, Botanics and Geology/Paleozoology; subsequently studied

Anthropology, Ethnology and the Prehistoric period at the University of Berlin 1906 Assistant (Lecturer) at Hamburgisches Museum fr Vlkerkunde, in charge of

the Africa and South Sea departments; established the Anthropology department;lectures on racial studies, racial hygiene and population politics

1906 research studies to southern Hungary, Croatia, Dalmatia, Herzegovina, andBosnia

19081909 participated in the Peiho expedition from Hamburg to Melanesia, NewGuinea, and Micronesia

1909 became lecturer (Dozent) at Hamburgs Colonial Institute 1918 was appointed Professor of the University of Hamburg 1920 (became) corresponding member of the Vienna Anthropological Society From September 1, 1924 Director of the Anthropological-Ethnographical Institute of

the University of Vienna (succeeding Rudolf Pch) 1925 co-founder and first chairman of Wiener Gesellschaft fr Rassenpflege/

Rassenhygiene (Vienna Society of Racial Hygiene) Since 1925 second chairman of the Wiener Anthropologische Gesellschaft (from 1959

honorary member of the Society) 1926 introduced polysymptomatic anthropological-genetic paternity assessment 1927 founded the Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Blutgruppenforschung (German Society

of Blood Group Research) and published Zeitschrift fr Rassenphysiologie Since 1927 chief editor of Volk und Rasse 1927 Ordinarius (Full Professor) of Racial Studies and Ethnology at the University

of Leipzig 1932 founded and became first chairman of Leipzig local chapter of Deutsche

Gesellschaft fr Rassenhygiene 1934 first chairman of Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Rassenforschung (German Society

of Racial Research) Since 1938 served on the board of the Reichsbund fr Biologie (Reich federation of biol-

ogy); in Leipzig, founded and published Studien zur Vlkerkunde (studies on ethnol-ogy) in 14 volumes and Studien zur Rassenkunde (studies on racialism) in 6 volumes

1945 retired due to reaching the age limit May 14, 1965: Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art 1st Class


the diagnostic eye

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