Clemens Klitsch

Clemens Klitsch (born December 11, 1892 in Großenlüder near Fulda , † August 27, 1964 in Jena ) was a German crop scientist . From 1945 to 1959 he taught as a full professor for arable and crop production at the University of Jena . His research focus was in the field of forage production .

Life path

Clemens Klitsch, son of a farmer, studied agriculture at the universities in Halle (Saale) and Giessen after completing his school leaving examination and a three-year apprenticeship on farms . In 1920 he passed the exam to become an agriculture teacher. In 1923 he received his doctorate under the aegis of Paul Gisevius at the University of Gießen with a dissertation on the effect of one-sided fertilization on the anatomical conditions in rye stalks . He then worked as a scientific assistant at the Agricultural Institute and from 1926 on the soil science department of the Forestry Institute of the University of Gießen.

From 1928 to 1945 edited Klitsch at the Thüringischen main chamber of agriculture and its successor means (1933 Landesbauernschaft Thüringen) the entire area of arable land and crop management including Grassland, first as Fachreferent later as general manager in the position of an upper agricultural Council . In the fall of 1945 his was made appeal to the University of Jena to full professor in the Department of Agronomy and the appointment as director of the Institute of Agronomy and Plant Breeding. He worked here until his retirement in 1959.

Research and Teaching

Klitsch was the first professor of agriculture to be appointed to the University of Jena after the end of the Second World War . He played a decisive role in the reconstruction of the agricultural institutes, in the restructuring of the agricultural studies and its further independence through the establishment of an agricultural faculty. With his appointment he also became head of the Kötschau teaching and research facility belonging to the university. The development of this facility into a nationally recognized model agricultural operation is one of his particular merits as a university lecturer.

Klitsch's preferred areas of work were questions about the sowing rate in agricultural crops, crop rotation and oil crop cultivation . He sustainably promoted hop growing in Thuringia . His research focus was in the field of forage production. The book "Der Futterbau" (1960, 2nd edition 1962), a masterful overall presentation of all aspects of the cultivation of forage crops, is considered to be his main scientific work. In total, he published 200 articles in specialist journals and practice-oriented journals. Under his guidance, 120 diploma theses and twelve dissertations were written at the University of Jena .

For his services to science and practice, Klitsch was awarded the National Prize of the GDR and the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze.

Books and writings

• The effect of one-sided fertilization on the design of the anatomical, in particular the mechanical, conditions in the rye stalk . Diss. Phil. Univ. Gießen 1923. - Excerpt from: Journal of Plant Nutrition and Fertilization, Vol. 2, Part A, 1923, pp. 249-292.
• Principles and guidelines for the creation of meadows and pastures . Weimar 1932 = work of the Thuringian Main Chamber of Agriculture H. 7.
• The technique of growing hops (together with P. Rietzel and G. Diessl). Publishing house Neumann Radebeul 1956.
• The feed question in central Germany. A contribution to their solution . Berlin 1957 = German Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Berlin. Scientific Papers No. 25.
• Forage production . VEB G. Fischer-Verlag Jena 1960; 2. revised Edition ibid. 1962. - Edition in Spanish: Edition Acribia Zaragoza 1965.

literature

• JC Poggendorff: Biographical-literary hand dictionary of exact natural sciences Vol. VIIa, Part 2, 1958, pp. 786–787 (list of publications).
• Prof. Dr. Clemens Klitsch 65 years . In: Die Deutsche Landwirtschaft Vol. 9, 1958, pp. 49–50.
• Prof. Dr. Clemens Klitsch 70 years old . In: Die Deutsche Landwirtschaft Vol. 14, 1963, p. 49.
• B. Märtin: Professor Dr. Clemens Klitsch 70 years . In: Zeitschrift für Acker- und Pflanzenbau Vol. 116, 1963, pp. 213-214 (with picture).

Web links

• Literature by and about Clemens Klitsch in the catalog of the German National Library