In my humble opinion, I have always consider Prof. Dr. Bernhard Klemens Maria Hoffbauer Pius Grzimek to be, if not the greatest zoo director who has ever lived, at least a front runner in Zoological History's Top Ten. I have referenced the "Grzimek Era" many times on this blog because, again in my humble opinion, he was that influential to the zoological profession. Some of his greatest and most brilliant work was done in the Conservation field in the Serengeti, dealing with the greatest tragedy any man can face, the loss of his son while following his dream.
Michael Grzimek - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael Grzimek
Other folks must also have the same opinion of Prof. Dr. Grzimek. At the bottom of this page is the plaque from the memorial to him in his birth town of Nysa, Silesia.
Translate this page The most famous Nysanian
Directly below is the Grzimekhaus, the nocturnal building opened at the Frankfurt Zoo in 1978.
But even more remarkable is the postage stamp, at the top of this thread, issued by the German postal system in 2008 to commemorate the year Prof. Dr. Grzimek would have been 100 years old, if his homeland and mankind had been fortunate enough that he had lived that long, and not died in 1987. That folks, is about the "best, high dollar, top of the line, it doesn't get better then that" paper that any man can be blessed to have hung in his honor.
Before my esteemed friend and mentor, Col. John Milton Herriott asks "where are his credentials," here they are:
After studying Biological Sciences in 1928, first at Leipzig and later in Berlin, he received a doctorate in 1933 in Zoology at Biology faculty.
He married Hildegard Prüfer May 17, 1930 and had 3 sons: Rochus, Michael, and an adopted son, Thomas.
During World War 2 he was a veterinarian in the Wehrmacht and worked for the Reichsernährungsministerium (Food Ministry of the 3rd Empire) in Berlin. In early 1945, the Gestapo raided Grzimek's Berlin apartment, because he repeatedly had supplied food to hidden Jews. Grzimek then fled from Berlin to Frankfurt, which was occupied by the U.S. Army. In April 1945 he was appointed police chief of Frankfurt by U.S. authorities, but he refused the job.
After World War II he became director of the Frankfurt Zoological Garden on 1 May 1945. The zoo then in ruins and all animals killed, except 20, he prevented the permanent closure of the Frankfurt Zoo and the relocation of the "Center Zoo" to the suburbs, which he made into one of the largest zoological gardens in Germany. On 1 July 1945 the Zoo reopened after all bomb craters were removed and buildings were restored temporarily. With festivals, dances and actors, Grzimek lured the Frankfurt population in the zoo and received the assent of the Provisional Government and the U.S. military to obtain the Frankfurt Zoo.
In late 1947, Grzimek was accused to be member of the NSDAP by the U.S. military government, which he denied. He was then removed from office in the Zoo and punished with a fine and sent to the Denazification interrogations where, on 23 March 1948, it turned out he was innocent (Category 5; Exonerated) and had participated in the Resistance War. He was then reinstated as Zoo Director by the U.S. government but his reputation was besmirched. The Zoo Director of Munich, Heinz Heck led a private smear and lawsuit campaign against him. Grzimek was acquitted of any wrongdoing in 1949. He led the zoo for 29 years until his retirement on 30th April 1974. From Wikipedia above, but this next deal isn't:
"To understand the agenda/motive of this action against Grzimek by that hypocrite prick Heck, type Heinz Heck in the search bar at the top of the blog. You will note that in 2008 postings the Heck's were animal hero's of mine, whom I spent most of a childhood and part of an adulthood reading anything and everything I could put my hands on written by or about them. I thought their recreation experiments were the greatest animal accomplishments next to Gunther Gebel Williams. Then the news of their Nazi partnership's hit the world. Whoa, that sucks!!!! I don't want or need any more hit's on my Private Idaho world of childhood hero's. Some day if somebody, anybody comes up with facts that can prove that Roy Rogers wasn't the King of the Cowboys and Trigger wasn't The Wonder Horse, keep them to yourself, don't waste your time on me, because my hands are plugging my ears."
Back to Wikipedia:
At the same time he served as president of the Frankfurt zoological society for over forty years. The society - organized on similar principles as its London and New York counterparts - runs a number of wildlife conservation projects both in Germany and overseas; most well-known is its ongoing work in the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania, East Africa.
In 1954 he founded the image agency Okapia, specialized in animals and nature. Today, the agency specializes in science and gives 650 photographers a job. The firm is led by Christian Bernhard Grzimek, the son of his son who died in the Serengeti.
In 1975 he co-founded the League for the environment and nature conservation (BUND) and bought ten acres of forest areas and wetlands in the Steiger forest near Michelau im Steigerwald which he left to itself.
Grzimek is most famous for the work he undertook for the conservation of the Serengeti. He spent several years studying the wildlife there along with his son Michael, especially on areal observation and counts of large scale annual migrations. In 1959 Michael was killed in an air crash while flying the Dornier Do 27 due to a collision with a Griffon Vulture. He wrote a best-selling book called Serengeti shall not die, which appealed enormously to the public and was key in driving the creation of the Serengeti National Park.
He prophesied in his book:
Large cities continue to proliferate. In the coming decades and centuries, men will not travel to view marvels of engineering, but they will leave the dusty towns in order to behold the last places on earth where God’s creatures are peacefully living. Countries which have preserved such places will be envied by other nations and visited by streams of tourists. There is a difference between wild animals living a natural life and famous buildings. Palaces can be rebuilt if they are destroyed in wartime, but once the wild animals of the Serengeti are exterminated no power on earth can bring them back.
The documentary based on the film won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 1959.
He was the editor-in-chief of (and author of a number of articles in) a massive and monumental encyclopedia of animal life. After publication in Germany in 1968, Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia was translated into English and published in 1975 in 13 volumes (covering lower life forms, insects and other invertebrates, fish, amphibia, reptiles, birds and mammals) plus three additional volumes on Ecology, Ethology and Evolution. The 1975 work was issued in both hardback and less expensive paperback editions and became a standard reference work. After Grzimek's death, the volumes on mammals were revised, and republished in both German and then in English. In 2004, the entire encyclopedia was revised and published in a new and expanded edition. All the versions of the encyclopedia are marked by clear and forceful prose, extensive use of illustrations (both drawings and color plates), and a deep love and concern for animal conservation.
Of national importance were his work as co-editor (together with Austrian Nobel-prize winner Konrad Lorenz of the then largest popular magazine on animals and wildlife in German language, Das Tier (German language, i.e. "The Animal") and of a very popular television series on wildlife. He also authored a large number of popular books based on his countless experiences with animals which he raised since his student days, managed as zoo director, and encountered in the wild during many research trips.
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9 comments:
Wade -- I'm 99 44/100% sure. But not totally sure because I don't have my Gunther Gebel-Williams biography handy. But there must be something about Silesia and loving animals. I think G G-W was born there, also.
ToddP
Todd,
I don't know it is so much about Silesia, per se as it is about living/growing up in a rural area or farm. John Herriott and I were surprised a number of years ago, when cutting up jackpot's to realize how many trainers came from the Midwest of the United States, and had a farm/rural upbringing. I bet if someone ever looked at it deeply they would find that about 90% of folks who spent their life with animals had a rural/farm upbringing.
Wade
A former zoo director told me that after Grzimek's son Michael died Grzimek and his wife were divorced and he married his own son's widow. I have no idea whether this is true. I was also told that after WWII other zoo directors did not want to associate with Grzimek because there were still a lot of bad feelings towards Germans. Sincerely Paul
Paul,
I have never heard that, but he did have a son who committed suicide, whom is never mentioned.
Wade
I never heard about the son who committed suicide. Sincerely Paul PS: I believe that he started the gorilla studbook and was told by some circus people in the US that some people exhibited chimpanzees as gorillas. I should have saud he married his daughter in law, or his former daughter in law, and became stepfather to his own grandchildren. I think Frankfurt Zoo still keeps the gorilla studbook. That's a tribute to him, if I'm not mistaken. Sincerely Paul
Paul,
The son who committed suicide was Michael's adopted brother Thomas. He died in 1980. There has always been much speculation about how Michaels death impacted Grzimek, and Thomas may be a residual of that impact. He also had/has two illegitimate children born in 1940 and 1945(war years). Michaels son Christian Bernard was born after Michael was killed.
It is a dream of mine to write a book, as complete and as brunt as possible about German zoos and German circus's during the war. I would concentrate particularly on who received confiscated animals from the Nazis and why? The rumors that are occasionally quietly spoken, suggesting that a certain circus in "neutral" Switzerland was kept supplied through the war with animals the Nazi confiscated from Circus Krone, as well as other German circus's, would be amazing to research, in light of the recent finding about the Swiss banking system. It would be a book about who collaborated and why, and who gained or lost what. I would need two "co-authors". One who I trusted to be interpret and read to me off of the find documents what is actually there, and one who will give me his credit card to use carte blanc, until the first week on the New York Times Bestseller List.
Wade
Thank you for the history lesson Wade. Very interesting.
Can we take a moment to discuss economics? What were the recent findings regarding the Swiss banking system?
I'm surprised that animals were confiscated from Krone by the Nazi's, as Hitler himself sometimes rented the Krone building for rallies in the early days of his rise to power. I read the accounts of Hitler and Krone taken from 'Mein Kamph' online, but never saved the link.
Though, I do know that many circus horses were taken to be used by the military. Konyot has many mentions in his book 'White Rider'
Anonymous,
When you mention "Mein Kamph" are you talking about Adolf Hitler's self written autobiography with a full dose of his political ideologies? That "Mein Kamph?" Do you suppose telling some one "you will give me the use of your building, when ever I need it, or I will destroy it" might be interpreted as "renting" in Hitlers twisted mind? Do you suppose if allies in one country needed goods or product from an enemy territory, the Nazi's might not be open to "borrowing" said goods or products, and giving them to their allies?
How about you tell Radar what has been discovered about the neutral, very successful Swiss banking system and Nazi factions during the war. It stinks as bad as the Vatican's see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil involvement.
Wade
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