Dean of Archivists

Coming of Age in the Kaiser's Berlin

Ernst Posner was born in Berlin, Germany, on August 9th, 1892. His father, Dr. Carl Posner, was a famous doctor known around the world for creating the “Posner Test”, a method of detecting albumins in urine. His mother is unknown, except that she might have had some Jewish heritage, which would affect Posner’s life later on. Most influential on his career path, however, may have been Posner’s predeceased uncle Max Posner, who worked as an archivist for the Prussian Privy State Archive, the same institution where Ernst would later gain experience.

Posner’s early education was fairly typical, and he graduated from a gymnasium in Berlin in 1910. A gymnasium, in this context, is more akin to a grammar or prep school. Once graduated, he went on to attend the University of Berlin and took classes on philosophy, history, and languages. He briefly paused his education in 1911 to fulfil Germany’s then peacetime service requirement, but returned soon to attend a seminar class on US Constitutional History taught by renowned German historian Otto Hintze. Later on, Posner would describe this class with Hintze as his preparation for his work at the US National Archives.

Fighting the Great War

When World War I began in 1914, Posner answered his country’s call alongside a whole generation of young men. As a non-commissioned officer, he was called to the Eastern Front against the Russian Empire, where he fought in the Battle of Tannenburg and the Battles of the Masurian Lakes. He was wounded in Poland, received the First and Second Class Iron Cross for his service, and was mustered out of the regular army at the end of the war in 1918. Once out of the army, he resumed his studies at the University of Berlin.

Entering the Archives

In 1920, Posner had earned his doctorate from the University of Berlin and had begun teaching at a gymnasium when he was offered a job at the Prussian Privy State Archive, like his late uncle. Posner accepted the post, and up until 1935 worked for the archive in various capacities. Throughout his tenure there, he was largely responsible for reorganizing the stacks, including the oldest documents dating back to the days of the Prussian monarchy. Notably, he was also a guide for foreign archivists when they came to visit, one time including Eugene Anderson of American University

Persecuted by the Nazis: Fleeing to America

In 1935, the infamous Nuremberg Laws were passed in Germany, making it easier for the ascendent Nazi government to persecute Jews. Posner, of Jewish heritage, was among those persecuted, and he lost his editorship of the Acta Borussia magazine, but his status did protect him somewhat. By 1937, the pressure had become so great that Posner and his wife, Kathe, had decided to emigrate to the United States. 

In 1938, Posner undertook a 2-month tour of the US hunting for jobs, where he reconnected with Eugene Anderson of AU, who in turn put him in contact with Solon J Buck of the National Archives. Buck then invited Posner to guest lecture at NARA, but wasn’t able to offer him a permanent position, due to his immigrant status.

Posner also scoped out Harvard, Yale, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Oberlander Trust, but nothing materialized by the time he was forced to return to Germany in November. When he did, the infamous Kristallnacht riots occurred, and Posner was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Posner remained in Sachsenhausen for six weeks until his wife, Kathe, was able to intercede with a Nazi officer on his behalf and set him free.

In 1939, Buck managed to land Posner a position in the American University Archives; however, Posner lacked the proper paperwork to travel to the US. Unwilling to remain in Nazi Germany any longer, Posner instead makes it to Sweden, taking refuge in Stockholm for four months. While in Stockholm, the staff of the Swedish Royal Archives arranged for him to earn some money by giving a series of guest lectures. These guest lectures were noticeably on the virtues of the archival system in the United States, which may have sweetened his cause with the American Consulate; Posner and his wife were granted the correct visas to travel, thanks in no small part to financial support from Eugene & Polly Anderson and Merle & Margaret Curti. 

Though Kathe had remained in Berlin, the pair successfully reunited in London before boarding a ship crossing the Atlantic. Their belongings, however, weren’t as lucky; nearly all the Posners’ worldly possessions were halted in Bremen, and seized by the Nazis. They themselves, however, were scot free, and began their new life in America. Unfortunately, the records from Posner’s life in Germany were likely destroyed by the Nazi government, as Posner himself suggests in his personal papers.

Teaching the Next Generation of Archivists

Ernst Posner taught archives administration and history at American University beginning in 1939. That fall, Solon Buck and Posner co-taught a course for National Archives staff, titled “The History and Administration of Archives.” Among the students were prominent archivists, including Helen Chatfield, who would later become the first archivist of American University.

Throughout his twenty-two years at American, Posner held multiple positions: Adjunct Professor, Professor of History and Archives, Dean of the Graduate School, Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, and Chairman of the Department of History. In each of these roles, he directly shaped the next generation of Archivists, making his mark on individual careers and the field as a whole.

Preserving Cultural Heritage Overseas

With the help of friendly contacts in the archival community, Posner launched his professional career in the US. Shortly after, WWII reached US territory after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The country’s call to the front lines marked the beginning of Posner’s well-recognized relationship with the National Archives (NA). He worked under the auspices of the NA to guide the official American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas formed by FDR. With valuable knowledge of European archives, Posner researched and compiled priceless information for the war department on location, contents, and records of enemy and enemy-occupied territories.

 Posner’s contributions to the NA during this time are well-documented, yet his relationship with the institution is elusive. Colleagues and others who wrote reflections on his career frame Posner as a fundamental to the creation of the NA and its processes, but Posner tells a different story. How exactly did Ernst Posner contribute to the country’s National Archive?

Posner placed himself at the disposal of the NA only when it became necessary during the war to provide information on archival institutions across the European continent at risk of danger from war-related destruction and enemy abuse.

Posner prepared extensive guides for the use of Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives officers attached to the armed forces. He prepared a detailed list of archival repositories across Europe, including a guide of repositories in Italy only a few days before the invasion of Sicily. Many of these guides contained the name, location, official head, holdings, and buildings for each archive.

“Alien from Germany”: Immigrant Labor in WWII USA

Posner’s experience in the Prussian Privy State Archive made him a valuable yet contested asset to preservation efforts during World War II due to his German origins. His contributions to the war department were cut short by the consistent assaults of Senator Kenneth McKellar in 1942.

On February 16, 1944, Solon J. Buck appeared before the Senate Subcommittee on Independent Agencies for a hearing regarding funding for the National Archives. Instead, the hearing turned into an attack on Posner and Buck. Many government officials shared McKellar’s sentiment and saw Posner’s immigrant status as a direct affront to the nation and its wartime mission.

McKellar suspected that Posner was involved in plots which would increase the United States and the National Archives risk for bombing. His suspicions stemmed from Posner’s status as an “alien from Germany”, and spotlights the discrimination faced by numerous immigrants and minority groups in wartime America.

Those who migrated from Germany, Japan, and Italy before and during World War II encountered state-sanctioned suspicion concerning their loyalties to the war effort. These experiences disrupted immigrants’ social, familial, and labor routines. This consequence is exemplified by Posner, who chose to step down from his recently appointed position as secretary to the Commission’s Committee on Books and Manuscripts due to McKellar’s investigation of his activities and loyalty.

Founding the Summer Archival Institutes

While being pushed out of government, Posner turned towards his work at American University. In the summer of 1945, Ernst Posner launched an intensive training program on the Preservation and Administration of Archives with Solon J. Buck and Helen Chatfield, the Archivist of AU. They sought to teach professionals how to care for and organize records from the government, business, and religious organizations. Many Americans considered the recently founded National Archives to be the best in the world run with the most modern archival principles. The Summer Institutes helped to train new government hires and share the most up to date practices with archives across the country.

Archives Across DC

Dr. Posner and Helen Chatfield held the Summer Archival Institute classes on site at the National Archives with frequent trips to the Maryland Hall of Records. As they gained a better understanding of their students' needs, subsequent institutes added trips to archives where Posner and Chatfield had professional connections, including the Library of Congress, Catholic University Archives, and the Baltimore Cathedral Archives. Starting in 1953, the institute also offered an optional extension to visit the United Nations Archives in New York, where an earlier “Summer Archivist” worked.

Archivists from Across the World

The Summer Archival Institute connected Ernst Posner with international students from Canada, Venezuela, Italy, and Australia. The institute’s students came with a wide range of interests. About a third of the students were connected to academic institutions with another third coming from various government institutions. The remainder represented primarily private businesses and religious organizations

An Ally in the White House

Ahead of the 1952 summer institute, a representative from AU wrote to the President asking him to meet the cohort. He referenced the President’s “own intense interest in political and administrative history” and believed that meeting with this year’s students could be the “high point” of these visitors’ time in Washington. The students and Dr. Posner met with the President at the White House on June 18th that summer.

Return to Germany

After retiring in 1972, Ernst and and Kathe Posner returned to Europe seeking medical treatment for an issue with Ernst’s leg. After his leg was amputated, they moved once more back to Germany in search of a working prosthetic. Ernst passed away on April 18th, 1980 in Wiesbaden, Germany. His continued to foster close relationships with archivists across the world throughout the end of his life. After his death, his friends and former students memorialized him through articles, obituaries, and gatherings.