Interviews with German anthropologists - Video Portal for the History of German Anthropology post 1945

Dominik Schröder was born in Eiweiler/Saar in 1910. He attended the high school of the Steyler missionaries (SVD) in St. Wendel and subsequently studied at the Philosophical-Theological Faculty in St. Augustin.

Schröder was ordained a priest in 1937. The following year he started his journey to Northwestern China, but was forced to stay in Schandong region. In 1942 he continued his studies at the Fu-Yen-University in Beijing, where he attended lectures on Chinese language, Anthropology and Sinology. He graduated in 1945.

After briefly lecturing at the Fu-Yen-University, Schröder went to the Gansu region, where he worked as a missionary and anthropologist. Being banished by the communists in 1949, Schröder returned to Europe. He studied Anthropology both in Fribourg/Switzerland and Frankfurt/Main.

Schröder completed his dissertation thesis on the religion of the Tujen people in 1951. He subsequently worked for the Anthropos journal and moreover held the chair for Anthropology at the Philosophical-Theological Faculty in St. Augustin.

In 1960 Schröder took up a professorship at the Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan. Besides lecturing he did field research in Taiwan in 1964 and 1965/66, where he did research on shamanism and religious practices among the Puyuma people. He returned to Europe in 1969 but eventually did two further field researches .

Dominik Schröder died in St. Augustin in 1974.



(Text written by Vincenz Kokot in March 2012, based on information provided by the Anthropos Institute; photo source: Anthropos Institute)