Karl von Spiess

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

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