Talk:Nicholas Poppe

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This article seems to contradict the WP article in some, IMO not-so-unimportant, points:

• Poppe did not flee to Germany, he collaborated with the Wehrmacht when they occupied the place where he then resided.
• He did not hide all those eight years. Instead, he worked for some SS-affiliated Institute, and post-1945 presumably lived in the western zones of occupation. Living in the western zones did not mean he was not in danger to be handed over to the Soviets some day, but I'd like to see a citation if we want to claim that he had to go underground.

I think these details are well worth mentioning in the article, even if some people may consider them a black mark on this scholar's career. Disclaimer: I don't really have an opinion on this matter.

I also think I read somewhere that among the first - and mst traumatic - childhood events Poppe remembered was the Boxer uprising. Might also be worth including, if we find a source.

His autobiographical "Reminiscences" (1983) is missing in the publications list. Yaan (talk) 00:19, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

It is true he worked for the SS, he did go into hiding in Germany to escape the soviets, and he did remember the boxer rebellion. This is all discussed in his Reminiscences. Tibetologist (talk) 18:16, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

I have only read reviews of the book, and my library does not have a copy. And I am a bit reluctant to change an article whose topic I don't know by heart without proper citations. In fact, I would like to look into the book even wthout the article, but I am not terribly inclined to do this inter-library loan stuff. What I understand is that Poppe only went to Germany after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, in fact after the Wehrmacht had occupied the town he lived in. He first collaborated with the German troops in the Caucasus and moved to Germany in 1943 (or maybe still in 1942?). Then he worked at the Wannsee Institute, which was dealing with East European(?) ethnography and affiliated with the SS, until 1945. This is IMO not really going into hiding. It may be collaboration with what he regarded as lesser evil, or maybe lesser evil for him and his family. Several of his colleagues in Leningrad seem to have been killed in the 1937 purges, so I do not think his collaboration with the invaders was inherently immoral. But this is not what the article currently describes.

Also, it would be nice to know more about hos ethnic background. The family name sure sounds German, and there were quite a lot of ethnic Germans in the czarist empire. If he was ethnic German, that might better explain his proficiency in the language (though German was a bit more prestigous back then than now), and also his collaboration with the Germans. Regards, Yaan (talk) 18:41, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Poppe's family raised him speaking French. They are ethnically Germans and he stayed with a great Aunt in Germany for a while when he was hiding from the Soviets. Your information is all correct. When I said that he had hid from the Soveitys I meant after the German loss. He stayed mostly in American controlled territory, and strictly avoided Soviety controlled territory. For two or three yeras he was very much in hiding, including living among estonian refugees pretending to be one of them. (He spoke finnish perfectly). His memoirees is a great read, I strongly recommend getting it through ILL, or buying it, I think it is still in print. Tibetologist (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 18:30, 28 January 2008 (UTC)