Josef Weninger

Who was Josef Weninger?

Josef Weninger was an Austrian anthropologist. He taught as a professor at Vienna University.

From 1925, Weninger co-edited the journals Volk und Rasse and Zeitschrift für Rassenkunde. 1927 he became the director of the Anthropological Institute in Vienna.

His assistants were all members of the NSDAP and Weninger hosted their meetings at his home when the party was still illegal in Austria. 1938 he was dismissed because his wife was "not Aryan", but was still able to deliver numerous "racial expertises" and published several books on racial theories.

In 1945 he was reinstated as director of the Institute, where he worked until 1957. He became a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and honorary president of the Anthropological Society of Vienna and the Association for European Ethnology of Vienna.