Wilhelm Schmidt and German nationalist ideology

The author of this article reviews the various criticisms of the well-known German ethnologist and religious studies specialist of the first half of the 20th century, the Roman Catholic priest Wilhelm Schmidt. His research was primarily focused on studying the culture and religious views of primitive peoples. In the article, the author presents criticisms that have been made of Schmidt’s work on the part of contemporary Western scholars. As a conclusion, the author demonstrates a possible way of reconciling these differences.