Wilhelm Teudt

Who was Wilhelm Teudt?

Wilhelm Teudt was a völkisch lay archaeologist searching for an ancient Germanic civilization. His 1929 work Germanische Heiligtümer was rejected by experts even at the time of publication, but continues to have some influence in esoteric and neopagan circles in Germany.

Teudt studied theology and worked as a pastor from 1885 to 1908, working for Inner mission from 1895. He volunteered for service in World War I. He moved to Detmold in 1921 and became politically active, joining the German National People's Party and the paramilitary guard groups of Georg Escherich, and eventually the NSDAP in 1933, at age 73. He joined Ahnenerbe in 1936, but was forced to leave in 1938 because of a falling-out with Himmler, who described Teudt as "unobjective and pathologically quarrelsome".

Teudt's interest in "Germanic archaeology", in particular the discovery of Germanic pagan sacred sites, also developed in the 1920s. He trusted in his paranormal faculty of picking up the "vibrations" of his ancestors helping him visualize ancient sceneries of the sites he was researching. Teudt was particularly interested in the Externsteine, which he suggested was the location of the Saxon Irminsul. He led the German excavations at the site until 1940 when it was turned over to the Ahnenerbe's control.