James R. Dow – författare

Germany is a land of fascinating customs and traditions. Through the work of the Grimms, many of its folk and fairy tales have become widely read around the world. German folklore has also inspired numerous literary, artistic, and musical works. Written especially for high school students and general readers, this volume is an accessible introduction to German folklore.The volume begins by defining and classifying different types of German folklore. It provides numerous examples of German folkways and presents a wide ranging selection of texts. The book reviews critical and scholarly approaches and discusses the pervasive influence of German folklore on literature and popular culture.

The study of ethnology or ’Volkskunde’ in Austria has had a troubled past. Through most of the 20th century it was under the influence of the so-called Viennese ’Mythological School’ and the controversy between the two opposing branches, the ’Ritualist’ and the ’Mythologists', set much of the agenda from the 1920s until long after the World War ended in 1945. The volume examines two Austrian characters, Richard Wolfram and Karl Haiding, and the impact of their research and sets them in the context of Austrian ethnology before, during and after the war years. The book concludes by examining the present day ethnological outlook in the country.

In 1935, in the depths of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order creating the Federal Writers' Project (FWP). Out-of-work teachers, writers, and scholars fanned out across the country to collect and document local lore. This book reveals the remarkable results of the FWP in Wyoming at a time when it was still possible to interview Civil War veterans and former slaves, homesteaders and Oregon Trail migrants, soldiers of the Great War and Native Americans who remembered Little Big Horn. The work of the FWP in Wyoming, collected and edited here for the first time, comprises a rich repository of folklore and history and a firsthand look at the Old West in the process of becoming the new American frontier. Wyoming Folklore presents the legends, local and oral histories, and pioneer stories that defined the state in the early twentieth century.

The study of ethnology or ’Volkskunde’ in Austria has had a troubled past. Through most of the 20th century it was under the influence of the so-called Viennese ’Mythological School’ and the controversy between the two opposing branches, the ’Ritualist’ and the ’Mythologists', set much of the agenda from the 1920s until long after the World War ended in 1945. The volume examines two Austrian characters, Richard Wolfram and Karl Haiding, and the impact of their research and sets them in the context of Austrian ethnology before, during and after the war years. The book concludes by examining the present day ethnological outlook in the country.

The study of ethnology or ’Volkskunde’ in Austria has had a troubled past. Through most of the 20th century it was under the influence of the so-called Viennese ’Mythological School’ and the controversy between the two opposing branches, the ’Ritualist’ and the ’Mythologists'', set much of the agenda from the 1920s until long after the World War ended in 1945. The volume examines two Austrian characters, Richard Wolfram and Karl Haiding, and the impact of their research and sets them in the context of Austrian ethnology before, during and after the war years. The book concludes by examining the present day ethnological outlook in the country.

The study of ethnology or ’Volkskunde’ in Austria has had a troubled past. Through most of the 20th century it was under the influence of the so-called Viennese ’Mythological School’ and the controversy between the two opposing branches, the ’Ritualist’ and the ’Mythologists'', set much of the agenda from the 1920s until long after the World War ended in 1945. The volume examines two Austrian characters, Richard Wolfram and Karl Haiding, and the impact of their research and sets them in the context of Austrian ethnology before, during and after the war years. The book concludes by examining the present day ethnological outlook in the country.

Im Jahr 1939 wurde die überwiegend deutschsprachige Bevölkerung Südtirols vor die Wahl gestellt, entweder in Hitlers Deutsches Reich auszuwandern oder in Mussolinis faschistischem Italien zu verbleiben. Viele wählten die "Option" für Deutschland, ehe das Projekt "Umsiedlung Südtirol" 1943 infolge der Kriegsereignisse zusammenbrach. In der überwiegend von Deutschsprachigen bewohnten Gottschee im heutigen Slowenien erfolgte ein ähnliches Umsiedlungsreferendum im Jahr 1941. Verantwortlich für die Umsiedlung sogenannter "Volksdeutscher" war Heinrich Himmler als "Reichskommissar für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums". Ihm war auch die als nationalsozialistische Wissenschaftsorganisation etablierte Forschungs- und Lehrgemeinschaft das "Ahnenerbe" der SS unterstellt, deren Aufgabe laut Satzung darin bestand, "Raum, Geist und Tat des nordischen Indogermanentums zu erforschen" und "die Forschungsergebnisse lebendig zu gestalten und dem deutschen Volke zu vermitteln". Im Sinne dieses Mandats formierte das Ahnenerbe in Südtirol und der Gottschee sogenannte "Kulturkommissionen", die, untergliedert in volkskundliche und sprachwissenschaftliche Arbeitsgruppen, bis 1943 umfangreiche Dokumentationen und Auswertungen angeblich "nordisch-germanischer Kultur" in den Umsiedlungsgebieten vornahmen. James R. Dow liefert durch die vorliegende Monografie nicht nur eine erste zusammenfassende Darstellung und Evaluierung der Forschungsaktivitäten der Ahnenerbe-Kulturkommissionen anhand zahlreicher Fallbeispiele und Forscherbiografien, sondern zeigt auch eindringlich die auf sie einwirkenden "Schatten" einer pseudo- und populärwissenschaftlichen "Junk Science" auf, die ein buntes Spektrum von Hanns Hörbigers wirrer "Welteislehre" bis hin zu Hans F. K. Günthers NS-"Rassenlehre" umspannte.