Why did the Soviet Union and the Nazis battle over this millennium-old skeleton?

The identification of a skeleton from the 10th century that was discovered in Prague Kassel has taken decades for archaeologists. However, the Soviets and Nazis used that residue for their ideological ends in the interim.

But more information about us is known than about the skeleton, which dates back thousands of years, making it difficult to identify which species it belongs to.

The skeleton's right hand is resting on an iron sword, while his head is to the left. He is holding two swords in his left hand. They appear to be touched by his fingertips.

There was a kindling flint on his elbow. The remnants of a tiny wooden pail were lying at his feet. It appears to be a porcelain drinking vessel that the Vikings, who were Scandinavian pirates and traders in the tenth century, used. An iron axe rests at the head.

However, it is the 10th century rusted warrior's sword that is one meter long that fascinates us.

Is this man a Viking?

The Czech Academy of Sciences' Professor Jan Frolik, a mediaeval archaeologist, stated, "His sword is of good quality, probably made in Western Europe."

This kind of blade was wielded by the Vikings in Central Europe, modern-day Germany, England, and Northern Europe.

The majority of his belongings are Viking in origin. However, Frolik stated, "It is questionable what his nationality is."

In 1928, Ivan Borkowski, a cranial archaeologist, excavated the skeleton in Prague Kassel.

Historians have been perplexed by it ever since.

Under the supervision of Borkovsky, who was banished from the nation during the Russian Civil War, these excavations were conducted.

Despite being in charge of the Department of Archaeology at the Prague National Museum, he was unable to publish his own findings.

The Nazi and Soviet battle

The Viking doctrine served the Nazis well when they seized control of Prague in 1939. because it makes sense in the narrative the German gives about the race.

The nation contends that because the Vikings were also Nordic, they were German. The area that the Vikings walked on is theirs, they say.

Hitler's thesis, according to which the German race was only reoccupying their ancestral territory, was supported by this argument.
Afraid that he might be deported to a concentration camp by the Germans, Borkowski did what Nazi scholars advised.

His writings were released with extensive editing to bolster German historical assertions.

Following the war, Prague saw a rise in Soviet influence. This compelled Borkowski to revise his works once more. Regarding the assertion that the Vikings were Germanic, he was forced to retract it.

The skeleton actually belonged to an important figure of the Slavic Premyslid dynasty. This dynasty ruled Bohemia for over 400 years until 1306.

Which species is the skeleton from?
Seventy years later, archaeologists such as Professor Frolik are allowed to voice their thoughts, but they can no longer do so on the basis of theory.

"It is established that the skeleton was not born in this region of Bohemia. The warrior was identified as a northern European based on the analysis of radioactive isotopes of striatum in his taxon. The southern coast of the Baltic Sea, possibly Denmark, was his birthplace, according to Frolik.

Is that the land of the Vikings?

"Yes," Frolic retorted, "but just because he was born in the Baltic doesn't mean he's a Viking." "Slavs and Baltic tribes still live on the southern coast of the Baltic," he stated.

He is reported to have originated in the North and passed away at the age of roughly fifty.