Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer: Encyclopedia II - Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer - Political impact of Fallmerayer's Ethnic Theories

Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer - Political impact of Fallmerayer's Ethnic Theories

Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer - Early critics

Fallmerayer's theory on ethnicity attracted criticism from many sides since its original publication. The inability of contemporary academics to ascertain the precise extent of Slav influence in Greece contributed to much polemic. Apostolos E. Vacalopoulos described the prejudices arrising from it as the "fundamental problem of modern Greek history" (Vacalopoulos, Origin of the Greek Nation).

Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer - Philhellenism

In the 1830s, philehellenes who had recently supported the creation of the modern Greek kingdom suspected political motivations in his writings; namely an Austrian desire for expansion southwards into the Balkans, and Austrian antagonism to Russian interests in the area reflected in his other writings. In this context, the calls by English and French intellectuals for a revival of "the glory that was Greece" were seen by Austrians in a very negative light, and any Austrian theory on the Greeks was looked on with suspicion by the philhellenes in the West.

Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer - Macedonia

Fallmerayer's theories again became a hot topic during the flare-up of the Macedonian Question during the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, as Greece and Bulgaria both claimed the inhabitants of Macedonia as their own. They again appeared in the 1990s, after a long lull, when promotion of Fallmerayer's discredited theories was renewed by opponents of Greece's position during the re-emergence of the Macedonian issue.

Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer - Racism

His theories also influenced the development of Nordic racial views in Germany (and Austria) as part of the claim for genetic and spiritual affinity between Germany and ancient Greece, which culminated in the highly dubious theory that the ancient Greeks were blond descendants of an invading population, which was held both by academics and extreme nationalists. (E. A. Wallis Budge held that Egyptians were also descended from blond invaders.) In fact, lighter hair has always been rare and distinctive among the Greeks, as with Homer's xanthos Menelaos – and the hair need not be very light: xanthanein is browning, as in roasting meat.

Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer - World War II

In 1941, on the eve of the Nazi occupation of Greece, an eminent German linguist, Max Vasmer, published a book on Slavic place names arguing for an early and substantial presence of Slavs in Greece. During the German occupation, Fallmerayer's theories were promoted by the Nazis, as there was a need to rationalize the discrepancy between the Nazis' admiration of the Ancient Greeks and their brutal treatment of their modern counterparts. Fallmerayer's name was execrated by Greek patriots (Curta).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Political impact of Fallmerayer's Ethnic Theories", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki