Herman Wirth

Herman Wirth (alternatively referred to as Herman Wirth Roeper Bosch, or Herman Felix Wirth or Hermann) (6 May 1885 Utrecht – 16 February 1981, Kusel) was a Dutch-German lay historian and scholar of ancient religions and symbols. He co-founded the SS-organization Ahnenerbe but was later pushed out by Heinrich Himmler.

Born in Utrecht on 6 May 1885, Wirth studied Flemish Dutch philosophy, literature, history and musicology at Utrecht and Leipzig, receiving his doctorate in 1910 from the University of Leipzig with a dissertation on the demise of the Dutch folk song. He then taught Flemish Dutch philosophy at the University of Bern.

In 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, Wirth volunteered for military service in the German army. However, due to his support for Flemish separatists in German-occupied Belgium he was dismissed from the service. In 1916, he was appointed by Wilhelm II as a professor (Titularprofessor). After the war ended, he founded a nationalist organization in the Netherlands.

In 1923, Wirth settled in Marburg, Germany, and in 1925 joined the NSDAP. However, his membership was discontinued in 1927 when he failed to pay his dues.

Wirth then published a paper about the "Prehistory of the Atlantic Nordic race" (German: Urgeschichte der atlantisch-nordischen Rasse), which found appeal in völkisch circles. From October 1932, Wirth attempted to set up a Forschunsginstitut für Urgeschichte in Bad Doberan associated with a professorship at university, supported by the NSDAP state government of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Headed by Wirth, it was extremely controversial in professional circles as well as among noted NSDAP intellectuals. Due to a lack of funds and Wirth's expensive way of life, the institute folded within a year. The Hermann-Wirth-Gesellschaft, founded in 1928, also suffered.

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