1. Early life and nationalism
Wolfram Sievers was born in 1905 in Hildesheim, located in the Province of Hanover (now part of Lower Saxony). He was the son of a Protestant church musician and reportedly possessed considerable musical talent, playing the harpsichord, organ, and piano, and holding a deep appreciation for German baroque music.
Sievers' early life was marked by his involvement in radical nationalist movements. He was expelled from school due to his active participation in the Deutschvölkischer Schutz und Trutzbund (German Nationalist Protection and Defiance Federation), an anti-Semitic organization. Despite his expulsion, he continued his education, studying history, philosophy, and religious studies at Stuttgart's Technical University while simultaneously working as a salesman. As a member of the Bündische Jugend (German Youth Movement), he became actively involved in the Artamanen-GesellschaftGerman (Artamanen-Gesellschaft, Artaman League), a nationalist back-to-the-land movement that promoted racial purity and agricultural settlement.
2. Nazi Party and SS Membership
Sievers formally joined the Nazi Party in 1929, aligning himself with the burgeoning National Socialist movement. His commitment to Nazi ideology deepened, leading him to join the SS in 1935. His membership in these organizations provided him with the platform and authority to ascend within the Nazi hierarchy and contribute to its criminal enterprises.
3. Role at Ahnenerbe
Wolfram Sievers played a central role in the Ahnenerbe, a Nazi-affiliated research institute dedicated to promoting Nazi racial ideology through pseudoscientific studies. His leadership within this organization directly facilitated the implementation of its sinister agenda, including the abhorrent human experimentation that would later lead to his conviction as a war criminal.
3.1. Externsteine Foundation
In 1933, Sievers was appointed to head the Externsteine Foundation (Externsteine-StiftungGerman). This foundation was established by Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, with the specific purpose of studying the Externsteine, a distinctive rock formation in the Teutoburger Wald. The research conducted by this foundation aimed to support Himmler's pseudoscientific theories about Germanic ancestry and ancient Nordic heritage, aligning with the broader racial doctrines of the Nazi regime.
3.2. Institute for Military Scientific Research
In 1943, Sievers assumed the directorship of the Institut für Wehrwissenschaftliche Zweckforschung (Institute for Military Scientific Research). This institute, established as part of the Ahnenerbe, was responsible for conducting extensive and unethical experiments using human subjects. Sievers' leadership of this institute placed him at the heart of some of the most egregious medical atrocities committed during the Nazi era, as these experiments were carried out under his direct oversight.
4. War Crimes and Human Experimentation
Sievers' tenure at the Ahnenerbe, particularly as director of the Institute for Military Scientific Research, directly implicated him in numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was a key figure in facilitating and overseeing horrific medical experiments and the systematic murder of innocent people under the guise of scientific research.
4.1. Assistance with August Hirt's Collection
One of the most heinous acts in which Sievers was directly involved was his assistance in assembling a collection of skulls and skeletons for the study of August Hirt, a professor at the Reichsuniversität Straßburg. This project was a grotesque manifestation of Nazi racial ideology, aiming to create an "anthropological" collection of Jewish skeletons to demonstrate the supposed inferiority of the Jewish people. For this purpose, 112 Jewish prisoners were specifically selected and systematically killed. Before their murder, these individuals were subjected to photography and had their anthropological measurements taken. Sievers' role in this collection involved the selection and murder of these prisoners, purely for the purpose of providing human remains for Hirt's absurd and criminal racial research.
5. Trial and Execution
Following the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, Wolfram Sievers was apprehended and brought to justice for his crimes. His trial and subsequent execution served as a critical step in holding accountable those responsible for the atrocities committed under the Nazi regime.
5.1. Doctors' Trial
Sievers was one of the defendants in the Doctors' Trial, a part of the Nuremberg Trials held after World War II. During the proceedings, journalist William L. Shirer notably dubbed him "the Nazi Bluebeard" due to his distinctive "thick, ink-black beard." The prosecution at Nuremberg specifically laid the responsibility for the extensive experiments on humans conducted under the auspices of the Institute for Military Scientific Research squarely on the Ahnenerbe. As the highest administrative officer of the Ahnenerbe, Sievers was accused of actively aiding and promoting these criminal experiments, bearing significant responsibility for their execution.
5.2. Charges, Defense, and Conviction
Sievers faced grave charges during the trial, including being a member of an organization declared criminal by the International Military Tribunal (the SS), and being directly implicated in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In his defense, Sievers put forth a dubious claim that he had been a member of an anti-Nazi resistance movement as early as 1933, asserting that this group had planned to assassinate both Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler. He further alleged that he had deliberately sought and obtained his appointment as Manager of the Ahnenerbe to get close to Himmler and observe his movements, and that he remained in the post on the advice of his purported resistance leader to gather vital information that would assist in the overthrow of the Nazi regime. Despite these unsubstantiated claims, the evidence of his direct involvement in atrocities was overwhelming. Sievers was found guilty and sentenced to death on August 20, 1947.
5.3. Execution
Wolfram Sievers was executed by hanging on June 2, 1948. The execution took place at Landsberg Prison in Bavaria, Germany, where many other convicted Nazi war criminals met their fate.
6. Influence
In the 1980s, the Russian far-right political philosopher Alexandr Dugin adopted an alter ego using the name "Hans Sievers," a direct reference to Wolfram Sievers. Dugin's adoption of this pseudonym added a "Teutonic severity" to his already colorful and militaristic-folklore style, creating a persona that was a "total and malevolent rebellion not just against the Soviet Union, but against convention and public taste as a whole." This choice of alter ego underscores the disturbing influence of figures like Wolfram Sievers within certain extremist ideologies.