Paul Thieme (1905–2001)

A World War II Documentation

On April 13, 2020, I posted a message to the Religion in South Asia (RISA) Section of the
American Academy of Religion (AAR) in which I referred to Paul Hacker (former Professor
of Indology at the University of Münster) as “Nazi Indologist Paul Hacker.”

Aleksandar Uskokov (Sanskrit lector, South Asian Studies Council, Yale University)
promptly called for me to be “red carded” on the grounds that “labeling him [Hacker] ‘Nazi’
is just obnoxious name calling.” Antonia Ruppel (Lektorin in Sanskrit, Institut für Indologie
und Tibetologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) immediately “seconded” the
call.

In order to clarify that my reference was intended merely as a statement of historical fact, I
hurriedly uploaded the file containing Hacker’s Nazi documentation to
https://www.academia.edu/42725519/Paul_Hacker_Nazi_Dossier. Since I had to respond
immediately to Uskokov’s unexpected attack, I didn’t have the time to separate out materials.
I have since done so.

On April 15, 2020, I posted a clarification to the Bharatiya Vidvat Parishad (BVP) list, after
splitting off the Hacker and Thieme files. It has since occurred to me that this clarification is
not available to everyone; moreover, without it, scholars may not know what these materials
indicate. I have therefore appended this clarification. I have also included additional
materials possibly of interest to scholars and historians.

For Paul Thieme we were able to locate a index card from the Reichsforschungsrat (RFR)
and one from the Reichserziehungsministerium (REM). These mainly concern various
administrative matters (travel grants, etc.). It is important to note that an NSDAP
membership card could not be located. A British intelligence report dated 12.1.1945 in the
National Archive of India notes that he was a “strong anti-Nazi.”

(This should answer questions I received off-list about rumors concerning Paul Thieme.)

The files also list a “Gefr [Gefreiter] Rau” with “good Urdu” who is a “strong anti-Nazi”
(probably the Indologist Wilhelm Rau, but there was also a second Rau employed as
translator in a different company). I have not had time to corroborate this information by
checking on his party membership status. There may be additional names of Indologists in
the files I am unable to recognize.

Regarding Thieme’s military service (please note the Wehrmacht is not the same as the party,
even if there was some overlap):

Wikipedia notes that Thieme, then professor of Indo-Germanic in Halle, was conscripted
for the Russian campaign in 1941, where he befriended Indo-Iranist Karl Hoffmann.

1
Deputed, along with Karl Hoffmann, to the Indische Legion (Indian Legion) in 1942 as a
translator for Hindustani, he remained with it until its surrender to the US Army (Kempten,
4.5.1945). Summarizing, then: military service after 1941; Indian Legion after 1942 (this
popular term is not quite accurate, but I won’t get into details); we have records for him as a
translator with the Indian Legion from 1943 to the end of the War. Where Thieme was
between 1941–1942 can only be gleaned from military records.

The Archive of the Polish National Institute for Remembrance contains an entry for a Paul
Thieme in the Waffen-SS who is recorded among the 8500 SS-Officers at the Concentration
Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. I am as yet unable to ascertain if this is the same person (neither
place nor date of birth nor length of stay in Auschwitz is mentioned).

We know Paul Thieme was in the Waffen-SS (see uploaded photos); like all national legions
of the German Army, control of the Indian Legion was transferred to the Waffen-SS in
8.8.1944, and was now known as the Indische Freiwilligen Legion der Waffen-SS.

It is unlikely the two Thiemes are the same, since we can track the movements of the Indian
Legion quite accurately (mainly western and southern fronts), but note that per Wikipedia
Paul Thieme was on the Russian (Polish?) front between 1941 and 1942.

The Auschwitz reference may date from this period. (Perhaps some of Thieme’s students are
better informed about his movements in the war years than I.) I remain doubtful, however,
that this is the same Thieme because it would imply Thieme was a member of the Waffen-SS
prior to 1944.

I have been in communication with Polish archives, but without success. Once travel
restrictions lift, I may visit these archives to ascertain, using the SS-number reported in some
sources, whether the two Thiemes are the same.

Note, however, that final confirmation will depend on materials in German military archives.
I am currently working on this. A lot of these files have been destroyed—sometimes
deliberately, sometimes they vanished after the war (most notably, Persakte Thieme UAT
602 Nr. 1196 Uni Tübingen is missing), sometimes university archives are uncooperative
(understandably, Indologists are reluctant to permit scrutiny)—so I beg your patience. I
maintain thousands of files on Indologists, living and dead, and it requires painstaking work
to provide definitive answers.

Let me finally note that Uskokov’s comment, “party membership for most was a way of not
being bothered by the Government, not a matter of ideology. It is a common occurrence in
repressive societies,” insults the memory of those, such as Paul Thieme, who did not join the
NSDAP. By dissuading academics from conducting historical research, Uskokov and Ruppel
only fuel the generalized suspicion of Indologists. They do themselves, and their colleagues,
a disservice.