Wolfgang Hegemeister
Wolfgang Hegemeister (born December 15, 1924 in Teltow-Seehof ; † June 14, 2020 ) was a German teacher and federal leader and co-founder of the German Forest Youth .
Life
Wolfgang Hegemeister came from a Saxon officer family and grew up in Teltow-Seehof. He first attended elementary school, then the Lillenthal high school for boys, which he graduated with a secondary school diploma in 1943 , as he was drafted into the Wehrmacht that same year . Hegemeister was a member of the German Young People from 1936 and was then accepted into the Hitler Youth in 1941 , from which he was dismissed in 1942 because of " lack of service ." During the war, Hegemeister was badly wounded and fell into the hands of partisans in Italy . After an exchange via Switzerland , Hegemeister first came to Dresden . There he was wounded again - after an Allied bombing raid on the hospital - and then came to Thuringia via Berlin . There he was first taken prisoner by the US and later by the Soviets . His left lower leg was amputated, and due to his poor health, Hegemeister was released from captivity at the end of 1945.
After the war he attended a graphics school in Berlin and worked as a photographer ; from 1949 he caught up with the Abitur. Hegemeister was not admitted to the Humboldt University in East Berlin due to his origins. In 1952 he began studying biology and in 1956 joined the Hamburg school service . Due to a worsening of his war injury, he was given early retirement.
Hegemeister had five children from two marriages and one adopted son. He lived in Remmels in Schleswig-Holstein .
Forest youth
Hegemeister is considered a "ranger from the very beginning"; He founded the Deutsche Waldjugend, Landesverband Hamburg, and actively contributed to the development of the Waldjugend in Germany . This was followed by duties as state ringmaster in the North and Hamburg associations. Later he founded the buffalo nursery, which today functions as the federal government of the German Forest Youth. From 1976 to 1987 he was federal leader of the forest youth.
He was also involved in the German Forest Protection Association (SDW); In addition to his work as a board member, he headed the “Literature” working group. From 1984 he worked as an editor for the SDW magazine Unser Wald . In addition to forest operations and campaigns for environmental and nature protection, he organized trips and federal camps for forest youth. In addition, Hegemeister and twelve forest rangers took part in the disaster response after the severe storm surge in February 1962 in the southern Elbe region. For this commitment, all those involved received the golden youth badge of the SDW. In his place of residence Remmels, Hegemeister founded the "Roter Marder" daycare center. In 1989 Hegemeister received the Klaus Gundelach Prize . The German Forest Protection Association made him an honorary member, as did the North and Hamburg regional associations of the German Forest Youth.
Hegemeister also created the member newspaper Info , which has been published since 1971 and for which he wrote numerous publications. He also brought the leadership magazine Fang with him. In 1999 he wrote the Chronicle of the Forest Youth .
War grave relief
From 1993 to 1998, Hegemeister worked with the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge to restore East Prussian cemeteries that were overgrown from the two world wars in the Kaliningrad Oblast . Since some forest operations were necessary, contact between VDK and DWJ came about. For this purpose, the forest youth, under Hegemeister's direction, organized youth camps. Through the work in the work camps , for example, the German military cemetery Insterburg ( Tschernjachowsk ) was inaugurated in 1996 . The camps were manned by Russian and German young people and took place under the Volksbund's motto “Reconciliation over the graves - work for peace” . A total of 14 military cemeteries were restored.
Individual evidence
- ↑ German Forest Youth: Obituary of the German Forest Youth. German Forest Youth, June 17, 2020, accessed on June 25, 2020 .
- ↑ Relatives: Obituary in the SHZ. SHZ, June 20, 2020, accessed June 25, 2020 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hegemeister, Wolfgang |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German teacher and former federal leader and co-founder of the German Forest Youth |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 15, 1924 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Teltow-Seehof |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 14, 2020 |