Clas Michael Naumann in Koenigsbrück

Clas Michael Naumann zu Königsbrück (born June 26, 1939 in Dresden , † February 15, 2004 in Wachtberg - Pech ) was a German zoologist .

Origin and career

Clas Naumann was a great-grandson of Karl Robert Bruno Naumann zu Königsbrück , the founder of the sewing and typewriter factory Seidel & Naumann and the only son of the farmer Eberhard Naumann zu Königsbrück and Freda-Irene, née Hannemann-Polzin. He first grew up in Königsbrück , Saxony , where his grandfather Robert Bruno Walther was the last nobleman until 1920 . After fleeing in 1945, Naumann spent his youth near Hameln, in Wilhelmshaven and in Braunschweig.

After completing his school education, he studied chemistry, biology and paleontology at the University of Tübingen from 1959 to 1966. His dissertation on the subject of “Investigations into the systematics and phylogenesis of the Holarctic sesidis (Insecta, Lepidoptera)” he completed at the University of Bonn under the supervision of Günther Niethammer on.

Professional life

From 1970 to 1972 Clas Naumann taught at the partnership faculty of Bonn University, at the Faculty of Science in Kabul. From 1973 to 1977 Clas M. Naumann worked as an assistant at the Universities of Bonn and Munich. During these years he had already carried out numerous research trips with field zoological work. The habilitation in 1977 took place at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich with the topic "Tribal history and animal-geographic relationships of the Zygaenini (Insecta, Lepidoptera)". In the same year he was appointed Scientific Councilor and Professor at the Faculty of Biology at Bielefeld University and the new department for morphology and systematics of animals was set up.

From 1978 to 1989 he taught at Bielefeld University. He devoted his time at the young Faculty of Biology at Bielefeld University to building up his department and establishing a good teaching and research structure. From 1982 to 1983 he was dean of the faculty and, together with Siegmar-W. Breckle the AGA Scientific Working Conference in Bielefeld.

In 1988, Clas M. Naumann accepted a call to a C4 professorship for special zoology at the University of Bonn, at the same time as director of the zoological research institute Museum Alexander Koenig . The appointment took place on July 1, 1989. He turned down an offer to the University of Munich in 1993 after successful negotiations to stay for the construction of an extension to the Museum Koenig. He was director until his death and had a lasting impact on the Bonn museum. In 2006 the newly opened annex and extension was named after him.

Personal life

Naumann was a particular connoisseur and friend of Afghanistan. Until the 1980s he always traveled the country and taught at the zoological faculty of the University of Kabul. When he visited the country for the first time after the Soviet occupation in 2002, he described his time at the University of Kabul as "the most harrowing business trip [s] of a lifetime. Until his death he campaigned for the German-Afghan exchange in culture and science. Among other things, he initiated the “A Chair for Kabul” campaign, which collected donations at the University of Bonn and beyond for the reconstruction of the University of Kabul . By January 2004, a total of € 40,000 in donations had been collected, also supported by public lectures and reports from Naumann's experiences.

Mausoleum of the Naumann family in Koenigsbrück

On February 15, 2004, Clas Michael Naumann zu Königsbrück died of cancer. The burial took place in the closest family circle in Königsbrück.

He left a wife and two children.

Web links

• Obituary of the Scientific Working Group Afghanistan