Karl von Spiess

Karl von Spiess or Spieß (20 April 1880 – 1 July 1957) was an Austrian folklorist who specialized in the study of German folklore.

Karl von Spiess
Born	(1880-04-20)20 April 1880 Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died	25 July 1957(1957-07-25) (aged 77) Vienna, Austria
Nationality	Austrian
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Vienna
Influences	Georg Hüsing
Academic work
Main interests	German folklore

Biography

Karl von Spiess was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary on 20 April 1880. He received a Ph.D. in botany at the University of Vienna, and subsequently taught the natural sciences at a variety of gymnasiums in Vienna. From 1925 onward, von Spiess worked as a private scholar. At this time he was in close correspondence with Georg Hüsing and Wolfgang Schultz, with whom he discussed mythology. After the Anschluss, von Spiess became a Vienna associate of Amt Rosenberg. von Spiess was the author of numerous works on German folklore. He died in Innsbruck on 1 July 1957.

Selected works

• Germanisches Erbe in der deutschen Volkskunst. In: Ernst Otto Thiele (Bearb.): Das germanische Erbe in der deutschen Volkskultur. Die Vorträge des 1. Deutschen Volkskundetages zu Braunschweig, Herbst 1938, München: Hoheneichen 1939, S. 34–56.
• Deutsche Volkskunde als Erschließerin deutscher Kultur, Stubenrauch Verlag, Berlin. First edition 1923, second edition 1943.

See also

• Edmund Mudrak

Sources

• Die Berliner Universität in der NS-Zeit: Band II: Fachbereiche und Fakultäten, hrsg. v. Rüdiger vom Bruch, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3515086587, S. 139–140.