Ausgrabungen und Zerstörungen an den Megalithen von Carnac während der deutschen Besatzung der Bretagne (1940 -1944)

Abstract

The megaliths of Brittany were a very prestigious project for German archaeologists during the Third Reich. They arranged measurements, excavations and cultural comparisons to prove that the monuments of Western Europe were younger than the northern European megaliths. For national-socialist archaeologists, the western megaliths had to be depending on the culture development of Northern Europe and therefore proving the cultural predominance of the so-called Stone Age “Proto-Germans”. This archaeological interpretation was also meant to justify the Battle of France by the NS-Regime. Several archaeological institutions were interested in the project at Carnac, but only the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg, an archaeological division within the NSDAP, could accomplish excavations and measurements in the famous alignments. While the megaliths were used to promote political purposes by German archaeologists, many of these monuments suffered severe damage caused by the construction of the Atlantic Wall. The timetable for the construction as devised by the construction leading “Organisation Todt” led no space for respecting prehistoric sites. Some megalithic monuments were destroyed in order to construct bunkers and trenches, other sites were saved or could be restored after the Second World War.