Bolko von Richthofen

Bolko von Richthofen (September 13, 1899 – March 18, 1983) was a German archaeologist and a distant relative of the family of Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron". He is sometimes confused with his distant cousin and namesake, Karl Bolko von Richthofen (1903–1971) – the youngest brother of the fighter ace.

Richthofen was born in Mertschütz (Polish Mierczyce), Silesia, and fought in World War I. After the war ended, he participated as a Freikorps volunteer during the Silesian Uprisings. In the early post-war period he entered tertiary studies and quickly became an eminent scholar.

A member of the NSDAP from 1933, he wrote several antisemitic and anti-Slavic works. During World War II he worked in the antisemitic Ahnenerbe organisation.

He is well known for a bitter dispute about the ethnicity of the Lusatian and Pomeranian cultures with the Polish archaeologist Józef Kostrzewski.

In 1964 he received the Bundesverdienstkreuz. He died in Seehausen am Staffelsee, Bavaria. Provided by Wikipedia