Die unsichtbare Institution. Der Congrès International des Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques und der Kongress in Hamburg 1958

Abstract

The organization of the International Congress of Prehistory and Early History of the CISPP in Hamburg, followed by an excursion through the GDR in 1958, was regarded by contemporaries as proof that the consequences of National Socialism and the Second World War had been overcome in archaeology. The Hamburg Congress may be considered perhaps the greatest success of the diplomat Gerhard Bersu, as it contributed to the international cultural-political recognition of prehistoric archaeology as it was practiced in both German states. Based on archival sources, the foundation and allocation policy of the CISPP is contextualized from a German perspective, and in the second part of the text, the planning history and the course of the Hamburg Congress are reconstructed.