Die Externsteine – Ein Natur- und Kulturdenkmal im Spannungsfeld von Esoterik, Neuheidentum und Wissenschaft

Abstract

The Externsteine at Horn-Bad Meinberg in the southern Teutoburg Forest are a natural and cultural monument of great importance and a popular destination. The structural works at the Externsteine are interpreted by the majority of the scientists as relics of the Christian Middle Ages. In the 1920s and 1930s they were propagated by the folkish and National Socialist side as a pre-Christian place of worship and location of the Old Saxon Irminsul. The rock group is therefore still a symbol of right-wing groups. However, the place also attracts esoteric and neo-pagan oriented people who can not be assigned to the right spectrum. The Landesverband Lippe as a sponsor is committed to the promotion and communication of scientific research on the Externsteine, but also respects the interests of the alternative Externsteine scene. The author pleads from his honorary experience for such a coexistence of contradictory interpretations of the Externsteine.