Gerhard Bersu

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Gerhard Bersu (1889 – 1964) was a German archaeologist who excavated widely across Europe.

He was born in Jauer in Silesia and as a teenager joined excavations near Potsdam. In successive years Bersu dug in several European countries and during the First World War he worked for the Office for the Protection of Monuments and Collections on the Western Front. After the war he was attached to the German Armistice and Peace delegations.

In 1924 he began working with the German Archaeological Institute, becoming its director in 1931 and contributed to it becoming one of the world's leading archaeological organisations. In 1935 however he was forced out of his post by the Nazis and fled to Britain with his wife, Maria.

At the invitation of the Prehistoric Society he began excavations at Little Woodbury in Wiltshire, introducing novel continental methods, during the late 1930s. When war broke out, Bersu as a German national was interned on the Isle of Man. He was permitted to continue his work however and carried out several excavations on the island with the help of other internees.

When the war ended Bersu was offered the Chair of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin and remained there until 1947 when he returned to Germany. Taking up his former post at the Institute he continued his work until retiring in 1956.