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{{short description|German archivist and historian (1895 – 1972)}}
{{Orphan|date=June 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
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'''Erich Weise''' (4 September 1895 – 10 April 1972)<ref name=Portal>{{cite web |url=http://kulturportal-west-ost.eu/biographien/weise-erich-2 |title=Weise, Erich, Historiker |website=Kulturportal West–Ost |publisher=Stiftung deutsche Kultur im östlichen Europa |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023132/http://kulturportal-west-ost.eu/biographien/weise-erich-2 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |language=de |type=Source: Fritz Gause, ''Altpreußische Biographie'' Volume 3, Marburg: 1975, p.&nbsp;1072}}</ref> was a German [[historian]] and [[archivist]]. During [[World War II]], as a member of the [[Nazi Party]], he administered Polish archives captured by [[Nazi Germany]]. In this position he purged people he considered "non-Aryans", used Jewish [[slave labor]], and committed the [[war crime]] of plundering Polish historical documents.


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== Early life and education ==
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'''Erich Weise''' (4 September 1895 – April 1972) was a German historian and archivist. During [[World War II]], as a member of the [[Nazi Party]], he administered Polish archives captured by [[Nazi Germany]]. In this position he purged people he considered "non-Aryans," used Jewish slave labor, and committed the [[war crime]] of plundering Polish historical documents.
Weise was born in [[Krefeld]] in the [[Rhineland]], the son of Julius Weise, a [[Gymnasium (school)#Germany|''Gymnasium'']] teacher, and raised in [[Königsberg]] in [[East Prussia]] (now [[Kaliningrad]], in Russia), where he studied at the [[University of Königsberg|Albertina]]. At the outbreak of [[World War I]] in 1914 he was captured in [[Jelgava|Mitau]], and he spent three years in Russian internment, during which his hearing was damaged; he eventually became deaf.<ref name=Portal/>


After the war he resumed his studies in Königsberg. In 1921 he qualified as a secondary school teacher; due to illness, he never worked in the profession. In the same year he received his Ph.D. in history,<ref name=Portal/> with a dissertation on the [[Diocese of Samland]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Erich Weise |title=Das Urkundenwesen der Bischöfe von Samland |website=Katalog |publisher=German National Library |url=https://d-nb.info/579513122 |language=de }}</ref><!-- under the direction of Albert Brackmann<ref name=Niemeyer>M. Niemeyer, ''Jahrbuch für die Geschichte Mittel- und Ostdeutschlands'' 56 (2010) "und Erich Weise (1895-1972), von 1929 bis 1934 Staatsarchivar in Königsberg, dann, noch unter seinem Doktorvater Albert Brackmann"</ref>--> He studied under [[Albert Brackmann]],<ref name=NSJ/> a leading proponent of German expansionism in the East for the purpose of acquiring ''[[Lebensraum]]'' and of the ''[[Ostforschung]]'' movement in [[historiography]], which represented Germans as having brought order and civilization to the Slavic lands and was particularly anti-Polish.<ref name=Karin>{{cite book |author=Karin Friedrich |title=The Other Prussia: Royal Prussia, Poland and Liberty, 1569–1772 |year=2000 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |series=Cambridge studies in early modern history |isbn=9780521583350 |pages=5, 13 }}</ref><ref name=Burleigh315>{{cite book |author=Michael Burleigh |title=Germany Turns Eastwards: A Study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1988 |isbn=9780521351201 |page=315 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Stefan Berger |author2=Mark Donovan |author3=Kevin Passmore |title=Writing National Histories: Western Europe Since 1800 |location=London |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |isbn=9780415164276 |page=181 }}</ref>
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== Early life ==

Weise was born in [[Krefeld]] in the [[Rhineland]] and raised in [[Prussia]]n [[Kaliningrad|Königsberg]] (''Kaliningrad''), where he studied at the [[University of Königsberg|Albertina]]. Weise's studies were interrupted by [[World War I]], during which he spent three years in [[Russia]]n internment in [[Jelgava|Mitau]]. It is possible that his internment damaged his hearing and led to his eventual deafness. After the war Weise resumed his studies in Königsberg.


== Interwar years ==
== Interwar years ==
Weise began his career as an archivist in [[Berlin]] in 1922, where he remained until 1927, then moving to [[Düsseldorf]]. In 1930, at the instigation of Brackmann,<ref name=NSJ>{{cite journal |title=Nachruf: Erich Weise |journal=Niedersächsisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte |volume=44-45 |year=1972 |page=457 |language=de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SZITAQAAMAAJ&q=Brackmann }}</ref> he returned to Königsberg, where he was municipal archivist until 1935.<ref name=Portal/> In 1935 he was promoted to ''Staatsarchivrat'' and he subsequently worked as a division head in the [[Prussian Privy State Archives]] in Berlin.<ref name=Portal/>
In 1921 Weise qualified as a grammar-school teacher. He never worked in this profession, though, due to illness. In the same year he defended his Ph.D. dissertation in history which he made under the direction of [[Albert Brackmann]],<ref>Jahrbuch für die Geschichte Mittel- und Ostdeutschlands
M. Niemeyer, 2010 und Erich Weise (1895-1972), von 1929 bis 1934 Staatsarchivar in Königsberg, dann, noch unter seinem Doktorvater Albert Brackmann,</ref> the leading proponent of German expansionism in the East, acquisition of so-called "[[Lebensraum]]" and the [[Ostforschung]] program among archivists in Germany.<ref>Writing national histories: Western Europe since 1800 - Page 181
Stefan. Berger, Mark Donovan, Kevin. Passmore - 1999</ref><ref name=struggle/>{{rp|108}} He began his career as an archivist in [[Berlin]] from 1922–1927, in [[Düsseldorf]] from 1927–1930 and then in Königsberg from 1930–1935. Weise joined the [[Nazi Party]] in 1933. He was promoted to ''Staatsarchivrat'' in 1935 and, back in Berlin, worked as a division head in the [[Prussian Privy State Archives]].


Weise joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and became an official of the [[Reichsbund der Deutschen Beamten]], the Nazi civil service organization.<ref name=struggle>{{cite book|title=The Struggle for the Files. The Western Allies and the Return of German Archives after the Second World War|author=Astrid M. Eckert|year=2012|location=Atlanta |publisher=Emory University|isbn=9780521880183|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vRjJVlRG4qcC&dq=%22Erich+Weise%22+Nazi&pg=PA115 |page=115 (note)}}</ref> In 1933 he co-wrote an article with Nazi historian [[Erich Maschke]] and archivist {{ill|Kurt Forstreuter|de}}.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Erich Maschke |author2=Erich Weise |author3=Kurt Forstreuter |title=Sammelbesprechung über neuere polnische Literatur |journal=Altpreußische Forschungen |volume=10 |year=1933 |page=148 }}</ref> In 1933, at a conference of archivists in Königsberg where Brackmann also spoke promoting ''Ostforschung'',<ref>{{cite book |author=Torsten Musial |title=Staatsarchive im Dritten Reich |year=1996 |pages=31, 67–68 |language=de }}</ref> Weise declared loyalty to the [[Third Reich]] and its ideas on behalf of all German archivists:
Before the war he published articles with Nazi historian [[Erich Maschke]],<ref>Erich Maschke; Erich Weise; Kurt Forstreuter, Sammelbesprechung über neuere polnische Literatur, in: AltprF 10, 1933, S. 148</ref> who supported Nazi racist and nationalist views.<ref>The Shaping of German Identity: Authority and Crisis, 1245–1414, page 29</ref> He took part in a conference on the 3rd and 4 September 1933 in Königsberg where duties of archivists and the role of [[Ostforschung]] - an aggressively anti-Polish nationalist ideology whose publications were of questionable value<ref name=Karin>Karin Friedrich (2006), The Other Prussia: Royal Prussia, Poland and Liberty, 1569-1772. Cambridge University Press, page 5, page 13</ref> were discussed.<ref>Musial, T.: „Staatsarchive im Dritten Reich“, 1996, page 31, 67-68</ref> Weise, speaking on behalf of German archivists, declared loyalty to the [[Third Reich]] and its ideas:
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
''The initial aversion of the German archivist against engaging in political matters has waned. As the keeper of the legal codes of the state and the nation, he has become the herald of the national cause...Because Germandom (Volkstum) and the spirit of the state and the decisive will for ethnic (Völkisch) survival have to be kept alive, the German archivists are fully behind the new Germany of January 30, 1933. In the spirit of the Third Reich, they work with the Volk for the Volk''.<ref name=struggle/>{{rp|101}}
The initial aversion of the German archivist against engaging in political matters has waned. As the keeper of the legal codes of the state and the nation, he has become the herald of the national cause... Because Germandom (''Volkstum'') and the spirit of the state and the decisive will for ethnic (''völkisch'') survival have to be kept alive, the German archivists are fully behind the new Germany of January 30, 1933. In the spirit of the Third Reich, they work with the ''Volk'' for the ''Volk''.<ref>Eckert (2012) 101.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Erich Weise |title=Die nationalen Aufgaben des Grenzlandarchivars. Vortrag am 24. Deutscher Archivtag, 1933 |journal=Korrespondenzblatt des Gesamtvereins der Deutschen Geschichts- und Alterthumsvereine |volume=81 |issue=3 |year=1933 |page=187 |language=de }}</ref>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>


== Second World War ==
== Second World War ==
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At the start of World War II in 1939, Weise was sent to the Polish [[Central Archives of Historical Records]] in [[Warsaw]],<ref>Burleigh (1988) 233.</ref> where he was part of the administration of the captured archives under the [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|Nazi occupation]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Peter Ulrich Weiß |title=Deutsche Zentralarchive in den Systemumbrüchen nach 1933 und 1945 |location=Göttingen |publisher=Wallstein |year=2022 |isbn= 9783835352094 |language=de |pages=151–52 }}</ref> In this function he purged archive staff of workers deemed "non-Aryan" and politically undesirable, reducing numbers by 50%,<ref name=struggle/> an accomplishment of which he was proud.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.perspectivia.net/content/publikationen/francia/francia-recensio/2009-2/ZG/Lehr_Eckert/at_download/pdfdocument|author=Astrid M. Eckert|title=Review of ''Ein fast vergessener "Osteinsatz". Deutsche Archivare im Generalgouvernement und im Reichskommissariat Ukraine'' by Stefan Lehr|journal=Francia-Recensio|year=2009|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015162032/http://www.perspectivia.net/content/publikationen/francia/francia-recensio/2009-2/ZG/Lehr_Eckert/at_download/pdfdocument |archive-date=15 October 2013 }}</ref>


In spring 1940, Weise informed the remaining Polish archivists that all records from territories annexed from Poland by Nazi Germany would be confiscated.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hbquik.com/poloniacal/sztuka/sztuka5.htm |title=Sztuka Zagrabiona |access-date=2013-04-23 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130629102452/http://www.hbquik.com/poloniacal/sztuka/sztuka5.htm |archive-date=2013-06-29 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1942 he became head of a new archival institution founded by the Nazis in [[Poznań]].<ref name=Portal/> In 2008 Polish authorities documented the fact that in December 1940, together with Forstreuter, Weise looted 74 documents dating from the 13th through the 15th centuries from an archive in Warsaw, a war crime. By that time both Forstreuter and Weise had died and Polish authorities were unable to prosecute them.<ref>{{cite web |author=Dariusz Wituszko |date=12 May 2008 |url=https://ipn.gov.pl/pl/dla-mediow/komunikaty/10269,Umorzenie-sledztw-w-sprawie-zbrodni-przeciwko-ludzkosci-i-zbrodni-wojennej-popel.pdf |publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance]] |title=Umorzenie śledztw w sprawie zbrodni przeciwko ludzkości i zbrodni wojennej, popełnionych przez funkcjonariuszy państwa niemieckiego: Oddziałowa Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu w Szczecinie |lang=pl |quote=polegającej na zaborze - z naruszeniem norm prawa międzynarodowego - z obszaru okupowanego, mających szczególne znaczenie dla kultury, dóbr w postaci 74 dokumentów archiwalnych, dotyczących stosunków dyplomatycznych w okresie od XIII wieku do połowy XV wieku pomiędzy Polską a Zakonem Krzyżackim }}.</ref> He also used Jewish forced labor to transport archives.<ref>Musial (1996) 130.</ref>
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During the [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|Nazi occupation of Poland]] Weise was responsible for administering captured Polish archives. In this function he purged archive staff of workers deemed "non-Aryan" and politically undesirable, reducing it by 50%,<ref name=struggle/>{{rp|115n}} an accomplishment of which he was proud.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.perspectivia.net/content/publikationen/francia/francia-recensio/2009-2/ZG/Lehr_Eckert/at_download/pdfdocument|author=Astrid M. Eckert|title=''Review of'' Ein fast vergessener "Osteinsatz". Deutsche Archivare im Generalgouvernement und im Reichskommissariat Ukraine ''by Stefan Lehr''|publisher=Francia-Recensio|year=2009|accessdate=May 4, 2013}}</ref> At the same time he used Jewish [[forced labor]] to carry out the transportation requirements of the archives.<ref>Staatsarchive im Dritten Reich, p. 130,
Torsten Musial - 1996.</ref>

In the Spring of 1940 Weise informed the remaining Polish archivists that all records from territories annexed from Poland by Nazi Germany would be confiscated.<ref>[http://www.hbquik.com/poloniacal/sztuka/sztuka5.htm Sztuka Zagrabiona]</ref> In 1942 he became head of a new archival institution founded by the Nazis in occupied [[Greater Poland]], ''Reichsarchiv Posen''.

In 2008 Polish authorities documented the fact that in December 1940 Weise committed, together with [[Kurt Forstreuter]], looting of 74 antique documents from the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries from an archive in Warsaw, which constitutes a [[war crime]]. By that time both Forstreuter and Weise had died and Polish authorities were unable to prosecute them.<ref>[http://ipn.gov.pl/wydzial-prasowy/komunikaty/umorzenie-sledztw-w-sprawie-zbrodni-przeciwko-ludzkosci-i-zbrodni-wojennej,-pope Instytut Pamieci Narodowej] Oddziałowa Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu w Szczecinie informuje, że w dniu 12 maja 2008 r. zostało umorzone śledztwo w sprawie S 169/05/Zn, dotyczące zbrodni wojennej popełnionej w okresie od 4 grudnia 1940 r. do 18 stycznia 1941 r. w Warszawie przez Ericha Weise, działającego wspólnie i porozumieniu z Kurtem Forsteuterem oraz innymi nieustalonymi funkcjonariuszami Trzeciej Rzeszy Niemieckiej, polegającej na zaborze - z naruszeniem norm prawa międzynarodowego - z obszaru okupowanego, mających szczególne znaczenie dla kultury, dóbr w postaci 74 dokumentów archiwalnych, dotyczących stosunków dyplomatycznych w okresie od XIII wieku do połowy XV wieku pomiędzy Polską a Zakonem Krzyżackim tj. o przestępstwo z art. 125 paragraf 2 kk.
Śledztwo zostało umorzone z uwagi na śmierć Ericha Weise i Kurta Forstreutera, a części nieustalonych sprawców z uwagi na niewykrycie sprawców.</ref>


== Post-war career ==
== Post-war career ==
According to historian {{ill|Astrid M. Eckert|de}}, Weise was initially classified as a "reported looter" by the Monuments Fine Arts and Archives Section of the Allied Military Government in Germany (MFAA),<ref>Eckert (2012) [https://books.google.com/books?id=vRjJVlRG4qcC&pg=PA108 108 (note)].</ref> but during [[denazification]] succeeded in lying and suppressing information to portray himself as an opponent of the Nazis.<ref name=struggle/>


In 1947 he went to work for the {{ill|State Archives of Lower Saxony|de|Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv}} in [[Hanover]],<ref name=Portal/><ref name=Bio/> in the [[Allied-occupied Germany#British zone|British occupation zone]], where a number of other former Nazi archivists also worked.<ref>Weiß (2022) [https://books.google.com/books?id=atedEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA364 364]: "Das Archiv, das mit Unterbrechungen von 1938 bis 1959 unter dem Direktorat von Georg Schnath stand, war in dieser Zeit ein Auffangbecken für gestrandete Archivare mit NS-Belastung."</ref> From 1959 until his retirement in 1960, he was the director of the archives in [[Stade (region)|Stade]] (''Staatsarchiv Stade'').<ref name=Portal/><ref name=Bio>{{cite web |url=https://d-nb.info/gnd/1028623860 |title=Weise, Erich: Personendaten |website=Katalog |publisher=German National Library |language=de }}</ref> He died in Hanover in 1972.<ref name=Portal/><ref name=Bio/>
According to historian Astrid M. Eckert, Weise managed to get through the post-war [[denazification]] process by lying, suppressing information about his past, and successfully portraying himself as an opponent of the Nazis.<ref name=struggle>{{cite book|title=The Struggle for the Files. The Western Allies and the Return of German Archives after the Second World War|author=Astrid M. Eckert|publisher=Emory University|place=Atlanta|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=vRjJVlRG4qcC&pg=PA115&dq=%22Erich+Weise%22+Nazi&hl=en&sa=X&ei=qU6BUZigH4bKywHtvoDYAQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Erich%20Weise%22%20Nazi&f=false}}</ref>{{rp|115n}} He was listed as a looter by Allied authorities in the Monuments Fine Arts and Archives Section of the Military Government (MFA&A), responsible for the early process of denazification.<ref>When in early 1945 Allied authorities in the Monuments Fine Arts and Archives Section of Military Government (MFA&A), that was responsible for overseeing the process of early denazification, tried to establish the political leanings of German archival and museum experts by grouping them in rough categories such as "party member", "100% Nazi", "reported unreliable politically", "doubtful" and "reported as looter", Erich Weise's name had been listed up under the category "reported as looter". The Struggle for the Files. The Western Allies and the Return of German Archives after the Second World War. Astrid M. Eckert, Emory University, Atlanta, p. 108, footnote no. 40 "See also the case of Erich Weise(...)For his denazification he suppressed several facts about his career, lied about others, finally challenged the verdict and after revision emerged as a Nazi opponent." ([http://books.google.de/books?id=vRjJVlRG4qcC&pg=PA108 restricted preview]).</ref>

In [[West Germany]] Weise helped to build up the state archives in [[Stade (region)|Stade]] (''Staatsarchiv Stade''). In 1948 he went to work for the state archives at [[Hanover]]. From 1959 until 1960, when he retired, he was director of the ''Staatsarchiv Stade''.<ref name="ZDN">[http://www.nachlassdatenbank.de/viewresult.php?sid=ef53e03518568c5332e6 Information on Erich Weise from Zentrale Datenbank Nachlässe (ZDN) of Deutsches Bundesarchiv] (4 April 2013).</ref> He was the editor of the book ''Ost- und Westpreußen'' (East and West Prussia) published in 1966 as one volume of the encyclopedia ''Handbuch der historischen Stätten'' (Handbook of Historical Places). The book was criticized in Poland, especially in light of the background of the authors, who included [[Erich Keyser]] known for his incitement of hatred towards Poles before Second World War.<ref>Rocznik gdański - Volumes 28-30 - Page 316
1970</ref>

Historian [[Michael Burleigh]] notes that Weise's [[Cold War]] publications belonged to a historiographical genre, [[Ostforschung]], which aimed to legitimise traditional German chauvinism by depicting Germans as bringers of order and development in Eastern Europe in concert with other European nations.<ref name="Burleigh Cambridge University Press page 315">Michael Burleigh Cambridge University Press, Germany turns eastwards: a study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich, Volume 8, Part 1991 page 315 "The objectives of the new German Ostforschung were outlined by Keyser in 1952. Necessity and sense of duty had compelled them all to begin anew. The German people were duty bound to study some seven hundred years of their history in the East the decisions of Yalta and Potsdam reflected an unknowning of German history.Narrow chauvinism was to be replaced by a sense of a European community to which the peoples of the East belonged. In practice this meant that the Germans had brought Christianity, cultural improvement, political order and economical development to the East in collaboration with other European nations. This internationalizing of traditional German chauvinism barely concealed the legacy from the past.A Western community of interest, juxtaposed against an undefined 'East', was apparent in much of the historical work produced by Ostforscher(...) In a monograph on the right of resistance in later medieval Prussia (1955), Erich Weise...</ref> Weise's main interests as were focused around the history of Prussia and the history of the [[Teutonic Order]].<ref>[http://www.kroener-verlag.de/weise-erich/ Information on Erich Weise on the Website of the publisher Alfred Kröner Verlag] (4. April 2013).</ref> His historical views on Teutonic Knights are considered outdated by modern historians.<ref>Rezension: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 17.10.2000, S. L48. Biskup, Marian; Labuda, Gerard: Die Geschichte des Deutschen Ordens in Preußen</ref>


==Research and publications==
His work has been criticized in Poland for neglecting political and social aspects of the territories he described while focusing on their German character.<ref>Okiem historyka: Warzawa - Berlin - Bonn, 1918–1981, Marian Wojciechowski - Page 212 - 1989:
Weise's primary research areas were the history of the [[Teutonic Order]] and the history of [[Prussia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kroener-verlag.de/weise-erich/ |title=Weise, Erich |website=Alfred Kröner Verlag |language=de |access-date=6 December 2023 }}</ref> On the former, he published a three-volume edition of 15th-century documents, but modern historians consider his views outdated.<ref>{{cite news |title=Rezension: Biskup, Marian; Labuda, Gerard: ''Die Geschichte des Deutschen Ordens in Preußen'' |newspaper=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |date=17 October 2000 |page=L48 |language=de }}</ref> The 1966 book ''Ost- und Westpreußen'' (East and West Prussia) edited by Weise and published as one volume of the encyclopedia ''Handbuch der historischen Stätten Deutschlands'' (Handbook of the Historical Places of Germany) was criticized in Poland, especially in light of the background of the authors, who included [[Erich Keyser]], known for his incitement of hatred towards Poles before the Second World War.<ref>''Rocznik gdański'' Volumes 28-30 (1970) p.&nbsp;316.</ref> Historian [[Michael Burleigh]] notes that during the [[Cold War]], Weise continued to publish in the mode of ''Ostforschung'', for example in a 1955 book on the [[right of resistance]] in later medieval Prussia.<ref name=Burleigh315/><ref>{{cite book |author=Erich Weise |title=Das Widerstandsrecht im Ordenslande Preussen und das mittelalterliche Europa |location=Göttingen |publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht |year=1955 |oclc=4929187 |language=de }}</ref> His work has been criticized in Poland for neglecting political and social aspects of the territories he described while focusing on their German character.<ref>{{cite book |title=Okiem historyka: Warzawa, Berlin, Bonn, 1918–1981 |author=Marian Wojciechowski |page=212 |publisher=Wydaw. Łódzkie |location=Łódź |year=1989 |isbn=9788321807157 |language=pl |quote=Erich Weise, zajmujac sie Poznaniem w okresie wczesnego feudalizmu, traktuje po macoszemu i z niezrozumieniem zagadnienia spoleczne i gospodarcze historii miasta. Mówiac o cechach, zwraca uwage tylko na ich niemiecki charakter.}}</ref>
"Erich Weise, zajmujac sie Poznaniem w okresie wczesnego feudalizmu, traktuje po macoszemu i z niezrozumieniem zagadnienia spoleczne i gospodarcze historii miasta. Mówiac o cechach, zwraca uwage tylko na ich niemiecki charakter"</ref>


==Publications (selection) ==
==Publications (selection) ==
;As author or compiler
===As author or compiler===
*''Sammelbesprechung über neuere polnische Literatur'', in: AltprF 10, 1933, S. 148
*"Sammelbesprechung über neuere polnische Literatur". ''Altpreußische Forschungen'' 10, 1933, p.&nbsp;148.
* ''Die alten Preußen''. Elbing: Preußen-Verlag, 1934. Rev. ed. 1936. {{OCLC|12096975}}.
*''Die nationalen Aufgaben des Grenzlandarchivars'', in: KB 81 (1933)
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*''Die Staatsverträge des deutschen Ordens in Preußen im 15.&nbsp;Jahrhundert''. Historische Kommission für ost- und westpreußische Landesforschung. Three volumes:
* ''Die alten Preußen'' 1936
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** Vol. 1: ''1398–1437''. Königsberg: Gräfe und Unzer, 1939.
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* ''Deutsches Schrifterbe im Warthegau : Ein Kriegsjahr Archivpflege'' 1944
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** Vol. 2: ''1438–1467''. Marburg (Lahn): Elwert, 1955.
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*''Findbuch zum Bestand 27 Reichskammergericht (1500–1648)''. Edited with Heinz-Joachim Schulze. [[Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht]], Göttingen 1981, ISBN 3-525-85960-0.
⚫
** Vol. 3: ''1467–1497''. Munich: Gräfe und Unzer, 1966.
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*''Die Amtsgewalt von Papst und Kaiser und die Ostmission besonders in der 1.&nbsp;Hälfte des 13.&nbsp;Jahrhunderts''. [[Herder-Institut (Marburg)|J.&nbsp;G. Herder-Institut]], Marburg (Lahn) 1971.
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* ''Deutsches Schrifterbe im Warthegau: Ein Kriegsjahr Archivpflege''. 1944.
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*''Die Staatsverträge des deutschen Ordens in Preußen im 15.&nbsp;Jahrhundert.'' Edited [[Historische Kommission für ost- und westpreußische Landesforschung|Historischen Kommission für ost- und westpreußische Landesforschung]]. Three volumes:
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*''Das Widerstandsrecht im Ordenslande Preussen und das mittelalterliche Europa''. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1955.
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** Vol. 3: ''1467–1497.'' Gräfe und Unzer, Munich 1966.
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*''Die Schwabensiedlungen im Posener Kammerdepartement 1799–1804''. Würzburg: Holzner, 1961.
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** Vol. 2: ''1438–1467.'' Elwert, Marburg (Lahn) 1955.
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*'' Geschichte des Niedersächsischen Staatsarchivs in Stade nebst Übersicht seiner Bestände''. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1964.
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** Vol. 1: ''1398–1437.'' Gräfe und Unzer, Königsberg 1939.
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*''Die Amtsgewalt von Papst und Kaiser und die Ostmission besonders in der 1.&nbsp;Hälfte des 13.&nbsp;Jahrhunderts''. Marburg (Lahn): Herder Institute, 1971.
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*'' Geschichte des Niedersächsischen Staatsarchivs in Stade nebst Übersicht seiner Bestände''. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1964.
⚫
*''Findbuch zum Bestand 27 Reichskammergericht (1500–1648)''. Edited with Heinz-Joachim Schulze. Göttingen: [[Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht]], 1981, {{ISBN|3-525-85960-0}}.
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*''Die Schwabensiedlungen im Posener Kammerdepartement 1799–1804''. Holzner, Würzburg 1961.
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===As editor===
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*''Das Widerstandsrecht im Ordenslande Preussen und das mittelalterliche Europa''. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1955.
* ''Ost- und Westpreußen''. ''Handbuch der historischen Stätten Deutschlands'' Vol.&nbsp;317. Stuttgart: Kröner Verlag, 1966. Repr. 1981. {{ISBN|3-520-31701-X}}.
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;As editor
* Ernst Bahr, Wolfgang La Baume, Kurt Forstreuter et al.: ''Ost- und Westpreußen'' (Udo Arnold, ed.), the series ''Handbuch der historischen Stätten'' (=&nbsp;''Kröners Taschenausgabe'', Band&nbsp;317). [[Alfred Kröner Verlag]], Stuttgart 1981 (unaltered reprint of the 1st edition of 1966 edited by Erich Weise), ISBN 3-520-31701-X.


==See also==
==See also==
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[[Category:Nazis]]
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[[Category:German male writers]]
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[[Category:1895 births]]
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[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century German historians]]
[[Category:20th-century German historians]]
[[Category:German archivists]]
[[Category:People from Krefeld]]
[[Category:German military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:20th-century German male writers]]
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[[Category:German male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Nazi war criminals]]

Latest revision as of 12:46, 5 June 2024

Erich Weise (4 September 1895 – 10 April 1972)[1] was a German historian and archivist. During World War II, as a member of the Nazi Party, he administered Polish archives captured by Nazi Germany. In this position he purged people he considered "non-Aryans", used Jewish slave labor, and committed the war crime of plundering Polish historical documents.

Early life and education

[edit]

Weise was born in Krefeld in the Rhineland, the son of Julius Weise, a Gymnasium teacher, and raised in Königsberg in East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, in Russia), where he studied at the Albertina. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914 he was captured in Mitau, and he spent three years in Russian internment, during which his hearing was damaged; he eventually became deaf.[1]

After the war he resumed his studies in Königsberg. In 1921 he qualified as a secondary school teacher; due to illness, he never worked in the profession. In the same year he received his Ph.D. in history,[1] with a dissertation on the Diocese of Samland.[2] He studied under Albert Brackmann,[3] a leading proponent of German expansionism in the East for the purpose of acquiring Lebensraum and of the Ostforschung movement in historiography, which represented Germans as having brought order and civilization to the Slavic lands and was particularly anti-Polish.[4][5][6]

Interwar years

[edit]

Weise began his career as an archivist in Berlin in 1922, where he remained until 1927, then moving to Düsseldorf. In 1930, at the instigation of Brackmann,[3] he returned to Königsberg, where he was municipal archivist until 1935.[1] In 1935 he was promoted to Staatsarchivrat and he subsequently worked as a division head in the Prussian Privy State Archives in Berlin.[1]

Weise joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and became an official of the Reichsbund der Deutschen Beamten, the Nazi civil service organization.[7] In 1933 he co-wrote an article with Nazi historian Erich Maschke and archivist Kurt Forstreuter [de].[8] In 1933, at a conference of archivists in Königsberg where Brackmann also spoke promoting Ostforschung,[9] Weise declared loyalty to the Third Reich and its ideas on behalf of all German archivists:

The initial aversion of the German archivist against engaging in political matters has waned. As the keeper of the legal codes of the state and the nation, he has become the herald of the national cause... Because Germandom (Volkstum) and the spirit of the state and the decisive will for ethnic (völkisch) survival have to be kept alive, the German archivists are fully behind the new Germany of January 30, 1933. In the spirit of the Third Reich, they work with the Volk for the Volk.[10][11]

Second World War

[edit]

At the start of World War II in 1939, Weise was sent to the Polish Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw,[12] where he was part of the administration of the captured archives under the Nazi occupation.[13] In this function he purged archive staff of workers deemed "non-Aryan" and politically undesirable, reducing numbers by 50%,[7] an accomplishment of which he was proud.[14]

In spring 1940, Weise informed the remaining Polish archivists that all records from territories annexed from Poland by Nazi Germany would be confiscated.[15] In 1942 he became head of a new archival institution founded by the Nazis in Poznań.[1] In 2008 Polish authorities documented the fact that in December 1940, together with Forstreuter, Weise looted 74 documents dating from the 13th through the 15th centuries from an archive in Warsaw, a war crime. By that time both Forstreuter and Weise had died and Polish authorities were unable to prosecute them.[16] He also used Jewish forced labor to transport archives.[17]

Post-war career

[edit]

According to historian Astrid M. Eckert [de], Weise was initially classified as a "reported looter" by the Monuments Fine Arts and Archives Section of the Allied Military Government in Germany (MFAA),[18] but during denazification succeeded in lying and suppressing information to portray himself as an opponent of the Nazis.[7]

In 1947 he went to work for the State Archives of Lower Saxony [de] in Hanover,[1][19] in the British occupation zone, where a number of other former Nazi archivists also worked.[20] From 1959 until his retirement in 1960, he was the director of the archives in Stade (Staatsarchiv Stade).[1][19] He died in Hanover in 1972.[1][19]

Research and publications

[edit]

Weise's primary research areas were the history of the Teutonic Order and the history of Prussia.[21] On the former, he published a three-volume edition of 15th-century documents, but modern historians consider his views outdated.[22] The 1966 book Ost- und Westpreußen (East and West Prussia) edited by Weise and published as one volume of the encyclopedia Handbuch der historischen Stätten Deutschlands (Handbook of the Historical Places of Germany) was criticized in Poland, especially in light of the background of the authors, who included Erich Keyser, known for his incitement of hatred towards Poles before the Second World War.[23] Historian Michael Burleigh notes that during the Cold War, Weise continued to publish in the mode of Ostforschung, for example in a 1955 book on the right of resistance in later medieval Prussia.[5][24] His work has been criticized in Poland for neglecting political and social aspects of the territories he described while focusing on their German character.[25]

Publications (selection)

[edit]

As author or compiler

[edit]
  • "Sammelbesprechung über neuere polnische Literatur". Altpreußische Forschungen 10, 1933, p. 148.
  • Die alten Preußen. Elbing: Preußen-Verlag, 1934. Rev. ed. 1936. OCLC 12096975.
  • Die Staatsverträge des deutschen Ordens in Preußen im 15. Jahrhundert. Historische Kommission für ost- und westpreußische Landesforschung. Three volumes:
    • Vol. 1: 1398–1437. Königsberg: Gräfe und Unzer, 1939.
    • Vol. 2: 1438–1467. Marburg (Lahn): Elwert, 1955.
    • Vol. 3: 1467–1497. Munich: Gräfe und Unzer, 1966.
  • Deutsches Schrifterbe im Warthegau: Ein Kriegsjahr Archivpflege. 1944.
  • Das Widerstandsrecht im Ordenslande Preussen und das mittelalterliche Europa. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1955.
  • Die Schwabensiedlungen im Posener Kammerdepartement 1799–1804. Würzburg: Holzner, 1961.
  • Geschichte des Niedersächsischen Staatsarchivs in Stade nebst Übersicht seiner Bestände. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1964.
  • Die Amtsgewalt von Papst und Kaiser und die Ostmission besonders in der 1. Hälfte des 13. Jahrhunderts. Marburg (Lahn): Herder Institute, 1971.
  • Findbuch zum Bestand 27 Reichskammergericht (1500–1648). Edited with Heinz-Joachim Schulze. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1981, ISBN 3-525-85960-0.

As editor

[edit]
  • Ost- und Westpreußen. Handbuch der historischen Stätten Deutschlands Vol. 317. Stuttgart: Kröner Verlag, 1966. Repr. 1981. ISBN 3-520-31701-X.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Weise, Erich, Historiker". Kulturportal West–Ost (Source: Fritz Gause, Altpreußische Biographie Volume 3, Marburg: 1975, p. 1072) (in German). Stiftung deutsche Kultur im östlichen Europa. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  2. ^ Erich Weise. "Das Urkundenwesen der Bischöfe von Samland". Katalog (in German). German National Library.
  3. ^ a b "Nachruf: Erich Weise". Niedersächsisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte (in German). 44–45: 457. 1972.
  4. ^ Karin Friedrich (2000). The Other Prussia: Royal Prussia, Poland and Liberty, 1569–1772. Cambridge studies in early modern history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 5, 13. ISBN 9780521583350.
  5. ^ a b Michael Burleigh (1988). Germany Turns Eastwards: A Study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 315. ISBN 9780521351201.
  6. ^ Stefan Berger; Mark Donovan; Kevin Passmore (1998). Writing National Histories: Western Europe Since 1800. London: Routledge. p. 181. ISBN 9780415164276.
  7. ^ a b c Astrid M. Eckert (2012). The Struggle for the Files. The Western Allies and the Return of German Archives after the Second World War. Atlanta: Emory University. p. 115 (note). ISBN 9780521880183.
  8. ^ Erich Maschke; Erich Weise; Kurt Forstreuter (1933). "Sammelbesprechung über neuere polnische Literatur". Altpreußische Forschungen. 10: 148.
  9. ^ Torsten Musial (1996). Staatsarchive im Dritten Reich (in German). pp. 31, 67–68.
  10. ^ Eckert (2012) 101.
  11. ^ Erich Weise (1933). "Die nationalen Aufgaben des Grenzlandarchivars. Vortrag am 24. Deutscher Archivtag, 1933". Korrespondenzblatt des Gesamtvereins der Deutschen Geschichts- und Alterthumsvereine (in German). 81 (3): 187.
  12. ^ Burleigh (1988) 233.
  13. ^ Peter Ulrich Weiß (2022). Deutsche Zentralarchive in den Systemumbrüchen nach 1933 und 1945 (in German). Göttingen: Wallstein. pp. 151–52. ISBN 9783835352094.
  14. ^ Astrid M. Eckert (2009). "Review of Ein fast vergessener "Osteinsatz". Deutsche Archivare im Generalgouvernement und im Reichskommissariat Ukraine by Stefan Lehr". Francia-Recensio. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013.
  15. ^ "Sztuka Zagrabiona". Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
  16. ^ Dariusz Wituszko (12 May 2008). "Umorzenie śledztw w sprawie zbrodni przeciwko ludzkości i zbrodni wojennej, popełnionych przez funkcjonariuszy państwa niemieckiego: Oddziałowa Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu w Szczecinie" (PDF) (in Polish). Institute of National Remembrance. polegającej na zaborze - z naruszeniem norm prawa międzynarodowego - z obszaru okupowanego, mających szczególne znaczenie dla kultury, dóbr w postaci 74 dokumentów archiwalnych, dotyczących stosunków dyplomatycznych w okresie od XIII wieku do połowy XV wieku pomiędzy Polską a Zakonem Krzyżackim.
  17. ^ Musial (1996) 130.
  18. ^ Eckert (2012) 108 (note).
  19. ^ a b c "Weise, Erich: Personendaten". Katalog (in German). German National Library.
  20. ^ Weiß (2022) 364: "Das Archiv, das mit Unterbrechungen von 1938 bis 1959 unter dem Direktorat von Georg Schnath stand, war in dieser Zeit ein Auffangbecken für gestrandete Archivare mit NS-Belastung."
  21. ^ "Weise, Erich". Alfred Kröner Verlag (in German). Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  22. ^ "Rezension: Biskup, Marian; Labuda, Gerard: Die Geschichte des Deutschen Ordens in Preußen". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 17 October 2000. p. L48.
  23. ^ Rocznik gdański Volumes 28-30 (1970) p. 316.
  24. ^ Erich Weise (1955). Das Widerstandsrecht im Ordenslande Preussen und das mittelalterliche Europa (in German). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. OCLC 4929187.
  25. ^ Marian Wojciechowski (1989). Okiem historyka: Warzawa, Berlin, Bonn, 1918–1981 (in Polish). Łódź: Wydaw. Łódzkie. p. 212. ISBN 9788321807157. Erich Weise, zajmujac sie Poznaniem w okresie wczesnego feudalizmu, traktuje po macoszemu i z niezrozumieniem zagadnienia spoleczne i gospodarcze historii miasta. Mówiac o cechach, zwraca uwage tylko na ich niemiecki charakter.
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