Heinrich Christian Burckhardt

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Heinrich Christian Burckhardt

Heinrich Christian Burckhardt (born February 26, 1811 in Adelebsen ; † December 14, 1879 in Hanover ) was an important German forester of the 19th century, who shaped forestry and silviculture of the time through his work and his publications . He was head of the forest administration of the Kingdom of Hanover and, after the subsequent annexation by Prussia, of the Prussian province of Hanover .

Live and act

Heinrich Christian Burckhardt was born on February 26, 1811 at Adelebsen Castle on the southern edge of the Solling . His father was employed as a riding forester by Freiherr von Adelebsen , for whom he cultivated the forests and also lived in a small official apartment at the castle.

Shaped by his father's profession, Burckhardt began a practical forestry apprenticeship at the age of 15 with the riding forester Brauns in the Ertinghausen district near Hardegsen . In 1828 he was sworn in as a Hanoverian military police. Instead then as usual for young foresters, leading to the Kingdom of Hanover owned forestry school in Clausthal to visit, he decided, to the University of Göttingen to go where he enrolled on October 29, 1831 to primarily mathematics and science to to study. However, he had to drop out of the course after two semesters due to lack of money.

After he had worked for the Nörten head forester as an assistant for surveying and appraisal work, he was ordered as an auxiliary hunter to Westerhof on the edge of the Harz region by the Royal Hanoverian Domain Administration . At the age of 23 he took over the forest management in Adelebsen from his father, but only got 3/4 of his salary. In 1835 he married Charlotte Wilhelmine Bornträger, the daughter of a tap master. The couple had three sons and a daughter.

Heinrich Christian Burckhardt's house in Hannoversch Münden from 1844 to 1849, today "Burckhardthaus"

In 1836 Burckhardt became the royal Hanoverian sub-forester in Bühren . This position was paid less than his previous one, but offered him promotion opportunities. In 1844 he was transferred to Hannoversch Münden . There he took over the management of the Kattenbühl district as a riding forester . He also worked as a teacher at the Hannoversch Münden Forestry School , which was moved here from Clausthal. However, it was dissolved in 1849 due to significant changes in the Hanoverian forest organization.

In 1849 Burckhardt was transferred to the domain chamber in Hanover as a forestry member . After the head of the forestry department in Hanover, Johann Christian von Düring , retired in 1851 and the office remained vacant for two years, Burckhardt actually became the successor and thus the first civil head of the forest administration of the Kingdom of Hanover in 1853 . When the Domain Chamber was abolished in 1858, he was appointed Forest Director and General Secretary for Forests in the Ministry of Finance. After the annexation of Hanover in 1866 by Prussia , Burckhardt was responsible for the forest management of the Prussian province of Hanover. He turned down the call to the headquarters of the Prussian forest administration in Berlin.

At his request, a foundation was set up in 1878 to support forest officials in need and their surviving dependents, which was named after him "Burckhardt Foundation" and is now called "Burckhardt Foundation of Green Color" . However, since the social security of the foresters has improved significantly, the income from the foundation is now mainly used for forest training and research.

On December 7, 1879, Burckhardt suffered a stroke while working at his desk, from the consequences of which he died seven days later on December 14, 1879.

Tomb

The Tomb of Heinrich Burckhardt found on the city cemetery Engesohde in Hannover , Department 13 , grave number 30 .

Services

Burckhardt's importance can be seen above all in his teaching activities in Hannoversch Münden and in his function as organizer of the Hanoverian forest administration - at that time the third largest in Germany. The district forester system was introduced under him . The division of labor in the forest management through the separation of the higher from a technical forest career was groundbreaking. The newly introduced district forester was responsible for the practical work in the operational execution, while the chief forester was primarily responsible for the economic and administrative tasks. This system was later also referred to as the Hanover district forester system.

In addition, Burckhardt drafted numerous laws, especially for the replacement of pasture and litter usage rights in the forest. It is also thanks to him that from 1860 onwards, wasteland and heathland were reforested on a large scale in the Lüneburg Heath and in the County of Lingen . These formerly agricultural areas were devastated by intensive use and no longer produced any income. The newly created forests were not particularly productive, but over time they allowed the soil to recover.

Honors

Portrait medallion on the monument in the Eilenriede in Hanover

Burckhardt received numerous awards and medals , including in 1872 the honorary doctorate of the political science faculty of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich , in 1878 the honorary doctorate of the law faculty of the Georg August University of Göttingen and on November 19, 1878 the honorary citizen of the city of Hannoversch Münden, on the occasion of his 50 year service anniversary.

The forestry faculty of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen awarded the Heinrich-Christian-Burckhardt-Medal to honor personalities “who have made a special contribution to forest science , to its practical impact and to the promotion of the forestry faculty in research and teaching to have. The name Heinrich Christian Burckhardt is intended to express in a special way the spirit of solidarity between the personalities to be honored and the forestry faculty in Hannoversch Münden ” . The close connection between the Forestry Faculty and Burckhardt can be seen in the fact that the Royal Prussian Forest Academy Hannoversch Münden was founded in 1868 at the instigation of Burckhardt in Hannoversch Münden . In 1922, it was decided to rename the Forestry University with a rectorate constitution, the right to award doctorates, and the right to habilitation and appointment, and it was proclaimed on May 3, 1923. On May 6, 1939, it was incorporated into the Forestry Faculty of the Georg-August University of Göttingen and relocated to Göttingen for the 1970/71 winter semester. Since 1954, 37 people have been awarded the medal.

Monuments

Burckhardt monument in the Eilenriede in Hanover
  • His hometown Adelebsen has both a street and in 1986, on his 175th birthday, the primary school named after him. Burckhardt is one of the few foresters who has received such an honor.
  • In his place of work Hann. Münden is the listed "Burckhardthaus". In addition, as in Hanover since 1897, there is also a Burckhardtstrasse .
  • In the village of Kirchwehren near Seelze , a stone was erected in memory of Burckhardt as early as 1880 south of the forester's house on the edge of the Bössel.
  • The city of Hanover erected a monument created by Carl Dopmeyer in 1889, a “granite obelisk with a relief portrait” in its city forest, the “front Eilenriede ”.
  • Slightly off a (forest) hiking trail in Bad Rehburg, there is also a memorial stone with the words H. Burckhardt on the front and 1880 on the back.
  • Burkhardtshöhe is a mountain peak in the Sackwald near Woltershausen. There is a memorial plaque and a bench; the view of the valley is no longer possible today, which was certainly the case in the past.
  • Heinrich Burckhardt Platz in Deister, Barsinghausen. Stone with the inscription "Heinr. Burckhardt Platz, 1880"

Fonts (selection)

Cover of the book Jagd- und Waldlieder by Heinrich Christian Burckhardt (first edition 1866)

In addition, Burckhardt was also the founder and editor of the series Aus dem Walde. Communications in (10) informal notebooks (1865–1881). The memorandum of the Lower Saxony Forest Administration is still from the forest today.

literature

  • Zoltán Rozsnyay: Heinrich Christian Burckhardt - A descendant of the forest classics and Zoltán Rozsnyay, Frank Kropp: Heinrich Christian Burckhardt (short biography with detailed bibliography), in this: Lower Saxony Forest Biography. A source volume. From the forest (1998): Messages from the Lower Saxony State Forest Administration (Issue 51). Lower Saxony Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forests (MELF), Wolfenbüttel 1998. pp. 108–119 and pp. 543–560
  • HW Ch. Burckhardt, his life and work , Der Forst- und Holzwirt No. 16, 1961, pp. 215-217 (Address by State Forest Director Stalmann given on February 28, 1961 on the occasion of the 150th birthday of Heinrich Wilhelm Christian Burckhardt at his memorial of the city of Hanover id Eilenriede)
  • Walter Kremser : Lower Saxony forest history. An integrated cultural history of north-west German forestry . Rotenburg writings (special volume 32). Heimatbund Rotenburg / Wümme, Rotenburg 1990
  • Walter Kremser : Heinrich Christian Burckhardt , Aus dem Walde (Booklet 30), Hanover 1979, pp. I – XVII
  • Walter Kremser : Heinrich Christian Burckhardt - A Forester in the Nexus Spiritualis of the 19th Century , Der Forst- und Holzwirt No. 24, 1979, pp. 545-549 (special issue on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Heinrich Christian Burckhardt's death)
  • New German Biography , ed. from the historical commission at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , vol. 1ff. Berlin 1953; here: vol. 3, p. 40
  • German Biographical Encyclopedia , ed. by Walther Killy and (for vol. 4ff) Rudolf Vierhaus , vol. 1ff. Munich etc. 1995ff .; here: Vol. 2, p. 231
  • Wilhelm Rothert : Hannoversche Biographie , vol. 1: Hannoversche men and women since 1866 , Hanover, 1912, pp. 88–94

Web links

Commons : Heinrich Christian Burckhardt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karin van Schwartzenberg (responsible): Graves of honor and graves of important personalities at the Engesohde town cemetery , A3 leaflet with overview sketch, ed. from the City of Hanover, The Lord Mayor, Department of Environment and Urban Greenery, Department of Urban Cemeteries, Department of Administration and Customer Service, Hanover, 2012
  2. ^ A b c d Waldemar R. Röhrbein : Burckhardt, Heinrich Christian. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 99 f.
  3. ↑ From the statutes for the award of the medal.
  4. ↑ Not to be confused with a conference center of the same name and a publisher of the same name in the area of ​​the Evangelical Church with the focus on work with girls and young women in Gelnhausen, named after Johannes Burckhardt
  5. ↑ Historic promenades Romanticism Bad Rehburg (pdf)
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on April 12, 2007 .
personal data
SURNAME Burckhardt, Heinrich Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German forest scientist
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1811
PLACE OF BIRTH Adelebsen
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 1879
Place of death Hanover