In the article the author deals with the years the famous Turkologist and historian Ahmet Zeki Velidi Togan (1890–1970), who is known for his great edition of the 10th-century Arabic travel account of Ibn Faḍlān was working and teaching at Rheinische Friedrich- Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn (1935–1938). Various documents relating to events from this period are reproduced in the article (including his appointment to the Oriental Seminar at the university, his appointment as a member of the Finno-Ugric Society in Helsinki, his appointment as an honorary professor, a research stay in Turkey, his leave of absence to carry out a lectureship at the Georg August University in Göttingen, and finally his defence in response to accusations regarding his “political reliability”, which are not known in detail. This defence was made both by Paul Kahle and by himself in the form of an account of his political activities in the years 1917–1929, the full text of which is appended and which was later also used by Togan himself in his autobiography.