Ahnenerbe

A1H4N1E1N1E1R1B3E1

proper noun

A National Socialist German organization whose goal was to research the anthropological and cultural history of the Aryan race, and later to experiment and launch voyages with the intent of proving that prehistoric and mythological Nordic populations had once ruled the world.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

proper noun
  1. historicalA National Socialist German organization whose goal was to research the anthropological and cultural history of the Aryan race, and later to experiment and launch voyages with the intent of proving that prehistoric and mythological Nordic populations had once ruled the world.

    When the RuSHA was restructured, the department was dissolved with its responsibilities passing to the Ahnenerbe.

    2015, Hans Tridle, The Esoteric Codex: Nazism and the Occult, page 24
    2 more examples

    There is evidence to suggest that the Ahnenerbe itself was formed as a private institution by several friends and admirers of Sven Hedin, including Wolfram Sievers (who would later find justice at the Nuremberg Trials) and Dr. Friedrich Hielscher who, according to the records of the Nuremberg Trial of November 1946, had been responsible for recruiting Sievers into the Ahnenerbe.

    1995, Peter Levenda, Unholy Alliance: A History of Nazi Involvement with the Occult, published 2002, page 174

    Himmler's aspirations to influence in intellectual and cultural matters were realized in the Ahnenerbe (Research and Teaching Foundation, Ancestral Heritage).

    1999, Christopher Hutton, Linguistics and the Third Reich: Mother-tongue Fascism, Race and the Science of Language, published 2001, page 65

Origin

  1. GermanAhnenerbe
  2. EnglishAhnenerbe

Borrowed from German Ahnenerbe, from Ahnen, plural of Ahn (“forefather”), + Erbe (“heritage”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

German Ahnenerbe
  • AhnenerbeTranslations
Hindi आनेनेर्बे
  • आनेनेर्बे (ānenerbe)Translations
Japanese アーネンエルベ
  • アーネンエルベ (ānenerube)Translations
Russian анене́рбе
  • анене́рбе (anenérbe)Translations
Cite this entry
APA

Ahnenerbe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Ahnenerbe

MLA

“Ahnenerbe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Ahnenerbe. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Ahnenerbe,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Ahnenerbe.

Source: Ahnenerbe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.