With Walter Markov, he was one of the founders of African Studies in the DDR,[2] and as a student of Carl Meinhof and the successor of Diedrich Hermann Westermann, was part of the "second wave" of German Africanists.
[3] A prodigious scholar of African languages and a one-time missionary in Tanga, Tanzania, he was an early member of the Nazi party, and his scientific work was criticized as imbued with racist ideology.
Dammann's linguistic expertise was said to override his compromised past; his "conservative" politics were well-known, but apparently he was silent about his position as Landesgruppenleiter for the NSDAP/AO in Africa, and copped only to having temporarily filled a vacancy.
His colleagues in Berlin were well aware of his Nazi past and denounced him; one of them, in reporting him to the university's SED leader, noted Dammann was "glorifying the colonial politics of the imperialists ... and of German fascism".
[6] Throughout his life he held a number of positions outside of his academic appointments—he taught at the Lutherische Theologische Hochschule Oberursel [de], and was president of the Berlin Missionary Society.
[6] Dammann traveled regularly to Africa and taught a large number of African languages, including Swahili, Zulu, Herero, Nama, and Oromo.
[3] A Festschrift was published to honor him on his 65th birthday[12] which, according to one reviewer, reflects "the deep respect in which Professor Ernst Dammann is held by colleagues in the many disciplines to which he contributed".