Heinrich Schurtz

Who was Heinrich Schurtz?

Heinrich Schurtz was a German ethnologist and historian. His most significant work is said to be Altersklassen und Männerbünde which emphasized the role gender and generational issues have in social institutions and argued that basing the society on the family was a step backwards. His notion of Männerbünde placed male associations, where he deemed masculinity more "unfettered", in opposition family which he saw as dominated by women. Notions of Männerbünde, though not just Schurtz's, would have an influence on Nazi Germany's SS while in a very different way his ideas on same-sex bonding has become of historical interest to Queer studies.