Background
Paul Kirchhoff was born in the German locality of Hörste, in the region of Westphalia.
anthropologist university professor
Paul Kirchhoff was born in the German locality of Hörste, in the region of Westphalia.
In the mid-1920s he undertook further studies at the University of Leipzig in ethnology and psychology, where he first developed his abiding interest in the indigenous cultures of the Americas. completing his studies in 1927. Kirchhoff was instrumental in defining the concept of Mesoamerica, a cultural region sharing a number of common characteristics throughout most of pre-Columbian history, geographically defined as central and southern Mexico and northern Central America. Also, Kirchhoff was a left communist who was a militant of a group called the Grupo de Trabajadores in Mexico.
He died in Mexico City in 1972.
Kirchoff had formerly been a member of the Communist Workers Party of Germany (KAPD) and then formed an opposition tendency within the Revolutionary Workers League (Oehlerite) in the United States of America.