Franz Altheim (October 6, 1898 – October 17, 1976) was a German historian, best known for his trip with Erika Trautmann funded by the Ahnenerbe and Hermann Göring.
Hans Robert Scultetus was a German meteorologist, who headed the Pflegestätte für Wetterkunde (Meteorology Section) of the Nazi Ahnenerbe think tank.
Five years later, the Ahnenerbe, led by Friedrich Von Hassell, have captured O'Brien's piece.
The research conducted by this organization, as well as the Ahnenerbe, was instrumental in the planning of ethnic cleansing and genocide of local non-German populations (see Generalplan Ost) and settlement of German colonists in order to Germanize Central and Eastern Europe.
On March 10, 1938, Schweizer organized an Ahnenerbe-sponsored expedition to Iceland, hoping to discover shrines to the Norse gods Odin or Thor.
Hearing of the plans, Danish archaeologist Søren Telling — aware that all archaeological investigation was under the ultimate jurisdiction of SS chief Heinrich Himmler — immediately telephoned both the head of the SS's archaeological department, Amt für Ahnenerbe ("Office for ancestral heritage"), and Himmler himself.
Hielscher convinced several of his followers to seek positions within the regime, including intelligence (Abwehr), military command, Ahnenerbe and police (SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt), from which positions they managed to protect some of those persecuted by the Nazi regime.
Born in Stuttgart in 1900, Gustav Riek was an archaeologist from the University of Tübingen who worked with the SS Ahnenerbe in their excavations, and led the team that excavated the Heuneburg Tumulus burial mounds in 1937.
Hörbiger's theories were later popularized by H.S. Bellamy, and influenced Hans Robert Scultetus, head of the Pflegestätte für Wetterkunde (Meteorology Section) of the SS-Ahnenerbe, who believed that Welteislehre could be used to provide accurate long-range weather forecasts.
The collection was sanctioned by Reichsführer of the SS Heinrich Himmler, and under the direction of August Hirt with Rudolf Brandt and Wolfram Sievers, general manager of the Ahnenerbe, being responsible for procuring and preparing the corpses.