Conducting in-depth research into the biography of Andre(as) Eckardt (1884–1974), the doyen of German and international Korean studies, with the help of materials from public archives is a new project that is fundamentally welcome in terms of scientific progress, and which is the subject of the article under discussion here. It would be a pleasure to certify that this project has been carried out appropriately. Unfortunately, however, this is not possible for the following reasons. Basic knowledge of how to handle archival materials correctly is, of course, a prerequisite for achieving scientifically sound results. However, if one, like the author, mistakenly believes that all material from public archives is "official material" that can be used without any validation and is therefore entirely credible, then the existence of this basic knowledge is questionable. If, as in the article, the contents of a completely anonymous letter are blindly accepted without any information about the author, recipient, date, or purpose, then this is untenable as a scientific method. Furthermore, informations from archival materials must be understood in context in order to be correctly grasped. This requires thorough literature research. This aspect of basic knowledge in dealing with archival materials is also a major shortcoming of the article. To cite just one basic example, the author accuses Eckardt of collusion with the German Nazi regime. In all (!) of his publications on Korea, Eckardt portrayed Korean culture as independent and autonomous from China and Japan. A person like Eckardt, with his unconditional attachment to Korea, did not fit in at all with the political stance of the Nazi regime, which cooperated with Japan and recognized its territorial claims in East Asia, for example in the Tripartite Pact. This basic fact should have been recognized and taken into account by the author. But she completely failed to do so. Even more serious is the fact that the author of the article does not follow up on references to further materials in archivs, deliberately omits information from existing materials, misrepresents the content of German-language materials in the Korean translation, and labels statements by third parties with direct reference to Eckardt as false statements without proof. Are ethical principles of scientific work taken into account here? The number of archives visited by the author in Germany is limited to four or five. Research in additional archives would have been particularly important for the article. In conclusion, the article unfortunately cannot be recognized as a serious scientific achievement.
Albrecht Huwe (Thu,) studied this question.