Otto Höfler (1901–1987) is one of the most controversial personalities in the history of Scandinavian studies andGermanische Altertumskunde (Germanic antiquity studies).1 An Austrian scholar whose early and later career centred on the University of Vienna, Höfler spent many years teaching and working in Sweden and Germany. He devoted himself to a wide range of topics, encompassing multiple disciplines: from philology, history and history of religions to folklore studies, cultural morphology and historical linguistics.2 Yet his research is particularly centred around theGermanen (›Germanic peoples‹) and the exploration of ›Germanic culture‹. He is especially known for his theory on GermanicMännerbünde orGeheimbünde (men’s bands or sacred men’s bands), which has been generally equated with his overallGermanenbild (characterisation of the ›Germanic peoples‹).3 His theory was first formulated in his postdoctoral thesisKultische Geheimbünde der Germanen in 1934.4 His study centres on the significance of Germanic warrior cults, which he connects to medieval legends of the Wild Hunt and Furious Host and mythological figures such as the Old Norseeinherjar. Perhaps his most contentious and well-known work,KGG is only one of many monographs and articles Höfler published on ›Germanic culture‹ throughout his career. Indeed, the Germanic warrior bands would remain a life-long interest of Höfler’s. His research, not only on GermanicGeheimbünde, has sparked heated scholarly discussion, foremost with respect to his questionable methodology, the ideological aspects of his work and his relationship with National Socialism. Numerous archive documents, in addition to his own public lectures during the 1930s and 1940s, confirm his sympathy for and involvement in the National Socialist movement and his contribution to the research initiatives of the ›Ahnenerbe‹ (Ancestral Heritage) of the SS (Schutzstaffel).5 Thus, Höfler was a controversial academic figure.
In 2018, a new edition of the first volume ofKGG was published by the Traugott Bautz publishing house.6 This edition, which omits Höfler’s original foreword to the text, but includes a new introduction, unfortunately does not thematise Höfler’s involvement with the Third Reich in detail nor contextualise his work within the socio-political circumstances in which it was written. The edition serves as an example of the continued interest in his research, yet at the same time the need to address the ideological strains of his theses, his problematic methodologies and the reception of his research in general
