Ernst Pein

Ernst Pein (born September 3, 1883 in Halstenbek ; † April 18, 1962 ) was a German entrepreneur . Under his leadership, the Halstenbeck company Pein & Pein developed into the largest German forest nursery .

Live and act

As a nursery entrepreneur

Ernst Pein was the great-grandson of a Halstenbeck farmer who had grown forest plants as a sideline from around 1820/1821 . The success of the neighboring " Flottbeker Nurseries" inspired him to do this . In 1848 Hans Hinrich Pein, who was known as "Boom-Pein", founded the first forest tree nursery on Halstenbeck's light geest soils . However, it developed very slowly. By 1870, the forest cultivation area had only grown to about five hectares . The upswing came when Halstenbek received a train station in 1883 and thus a connection to the railway network . In addition, in the course of brisk reforestation activities within forestry, the artificial regeneration of forest stands became fashionable.

As a result, the company Pein & Pein, later managed by Ernst Pein, developed into the largest forest nurseries in Europe until the “ economic miracle ” after the Second World War . In addition to the headquarters in Halstenbek in Holstein near Hamburg , there were branches in Neuhäusel in the Westerwald and in Gunzenhausen in Middle Franconia . In addition to forest plants, the company also cultivated hedge and windbreak plants .

Aerial view of the Halstenbeck tree nurseries

Halstenbek developed through the activities of the forest nursery entrepreneurs there to the center of this branch of business in Germany. The forest plant growing area in the Halstenbek area was around 750 hectares at the beginning of the First World War , but it grew to more than 1,300 hectares by the end of the 1950s - not least due to the large afforestation projects to compensate for the consequential damage of the Second World War. At the time, that was well over half of the total growing area of ​​commercial forest nurseries in the Federal Republic of Germany. Halstenbeck's municipal coat of arms, developed in 1969, takes this into account: three conifers ( spruces ) embody the tree nurseries as an important economic branch of the municipality. Thanks to his commercial skills, which helped him even in difficult economic times, Ernst Pein played a decisive role in this development.

In the "Third Reich"

Pein also advocated improved control of forest seeds early on . He headed the Association of Control Nurseries Halstenbek eV, founded in 1911, and was involved as a board member in the Main Committee for Forest Seed Recognition, which was established in 1925. Due to the Forest Art Act passed in 1934 , its activity in the state-controlled Reich Association of Forest Seed and Forest Plant Companies . Despite considerable political reservations of the National Socialists against his person, Pein was given the management of both this association and the management of the group of forest seeds and forest plants. At the same time, he was granted certain state powers. With a great deal of tactical skill, Pein succeeded in integrating the forest nurseries and forestry nurseries he represented into the totalitarian economic system during the period of the “ Third Reich ” , while also maintaining their private economic independence.

After the Second World War

Immediately after the end of the Second World War, Pein set about re-organizing the Central Association of Forest Seed and Forest Plant Companies as re-elected President , maintaining the uniformity of his profession and bringing the North and South German entrepreneurs back to one table. In addition, he worked in the management bodies of the German Forest Protection Association (SDW) - of which he was a co-founder in 1947 - and of the German Poplar Association and Ligniculture . In addition, he held numerous other honorary posts , including local political positions.

He put his experiences in the book Forest Seed Extraction and Forest Plant Cultivation in the USA and Germany. Observations on my study trip to the USA compared to my experiences in more than 50 years of forest nursery practice (Hanover 1953). This work has also been translated into Russian and Chinese .

On the occasion of his 70th birthday in 1953, his home town of Halstenbek made him an honorary citizen . In recognition of the special achievements in his field, Ernst Pein was also awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class . The Central Association of Forest Seed and Forest Plant Companies eV appointed him its honorary president. On the occasion of his 75th birthday in 1958, he received the Golden Badge from the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry for “special services to German forestry” , and the German Forest Protection Association awarded him the Golden Badge of Honor as its co-founder.

Ernst Pein died on April 18, 1962.

The end of the traditional company

When the entire forest nursery and service market collapsed between 1994 and 2004, this also meant the downfall for the traditional company Pein & Pein. When there was no longer any chance of running the largest German forest tree nursery profitably in its existing form, it was finally wound up in 1999. The P&P Group emerged from the old company in 1997, but it also suffered from the persistently poor economic situation and repositioned itself on February 1, 2006 after insolvency in 2005. The P&P Group, of which Rolf Neugebauer is the managing director, has five production sites and 18 regional agencies. The group of companies has produced almost 9 million forest plants annually since 2002 and has reforested between 700 and 1200 hectares with 3 to 5 million plants every year during this time (as of 2007).

literature

• W. Langner: On the 75th birthday of Ernst Pein , in: Allgemeine Forst Zeitschrift (AFZ), 13th year, issue 35/1958, p. 506, ISSN  0002-5860
• W. Langner: Ernst Pein † , in: Allgemeine Forst Zeitschrift (AFZ), 17th year, issue 19/1962, p. 300, ISSN  0002-5860
• W. Neugebauer: The development of the Halstenbeker Forest Plant Center , in: Allgemeine Forst Zeitschrift (AFZ), 13th year, issue 35/1958, p. 488, ISSN  0002-5860
• Pein & Pein: The Pein & Pein Halstenbek forest nurseries in Holstein . Hamburg around 1930, 63 pp.

Web links

• One of the websites of today's P&P Group

Individual evidence

1. ↑ W. Neugebauer: The development of the Halstenbeker Forest Plant Center , in: Allgemeine Forst Zeitschrift (AFZ), 13th year, issue 35/1958, p. 488
2. ↑ Christian Bürstinghaus: reborn from old buildings: P & P nursery and P & P services company , in: AFZ / The forest , 61. volume, issue 6/2006, p 306; As a PDF file ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Self-reported by the P&P Group ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.