Ferdinand Heine junior

Ferdinand Heine junior (1840–1920)

Ferdinand Heine (born October 9, 1840 in Halberstadt ; † February 12, 1920 in Hadmersleben ) was a German civil servant, plant breeder and ornithologist.

Life

Ferdinand Heine jun. was born on October 9, 1840, the first of eight children of the bird collector and monastery owner Ferdinand Heine senior . He grew up on the family estate of St. Burchardt (Burchardikloster) near Halberstadt and attended the cathedral high school, where he passed a very good Abitur. He also spoke English very well because the family was regularly visited by English relatives who were married through an aunt.

As a child he came into contact with ornithology through his father and made the acquaintance of Jean Louis Cabanis . He worked with him on the 2nd to 4th part of the extensive directory of the Heineschen collection (1859–63). In addition, he published his first essays in the "Journal for Ornithology" during this period.

A logical consequence of his interests was the beginning of a natural science course with a focus on zoology at the University of Heidelberg in 1858. In 1862 he was accepted into the German Ornithological Society (DO-G). He is the author of scientific bird names, mostly as "Cabanis et Heine".

He broke off his studies in 1864, possibly because of the difficult economic situation of the monastery. Nevertheless, his expertise was enormous. Heine jun. joined the Prussian Army in 1863 and took part in the German War in 1866 , particularly the Battle of Königgrätz . He was very interested in seed breeding and the intensification of agriculture. That is why he then took up agricultural training in Ahlsdorf near Mansfeld and Hoym near Aschersleben. In 1869 he married Elisabeth Rimpau, daughter of the respected district administrator and farmer Wilhelm Rimpau , who successfully farmed seeds. After his father's death in 1869 he took over the management of the Sankt Burchardi monastery in Halberstadt, and at the same time he leased the Emersleben manor from his father-in-law. There he made the first attempts at seed breeding.

During his participation in the Franco-German War in 1870/71 with the Uhlans in Berlin, his first daughter was born in Halberstadt. The Heine couple had a total of four children, but their second daughter died at the age of three.

Since 1879, Heine jun. Sugar beet and soon introduced modern accounting. In 1885 the goods of the secularized Hadmersleben Monastery were purchased , where he spent the last years of his life and, for example, ensured the structural expansion and restoration of the monastery complex by the Berlin architect Hans Grisebach . In 1889 the move took place together with many employees.

Heine was very successful as a breeder of new sugar beet and grain varieties. He received several awards from the German Agricultural Society and won the "Grand Prix", the most important award , at the world exhibitions in 1894, 1900, 1904 and 1910. Hadmersleben monastery was the focus of Heine's seed cultivation. The laboratories and test fields were located here. He owned other goods with lands. a. in Zilly, Wiedelah, Querfurt, Schraplau, Möllendorf, Alikendorf and Teuchern, which he had family members administer. Over the years, Heine tested hundreds of types of grain and potatoes and brought 15 original seeds into circulation. He took social responsibility towards his employees seriously, so he founded his own savings bank and had apartments built. Ferdinand Heine also took over the management of the Mahndorf estate for his ward Martha Löbbecke, later wife von Wulffen, and for his orphaned relatives Schrader, whose mother was a Heyne, the management of the Hedersleben monastery estate until they came of age.

He was extremely well educated, read classical Greek and Roman literature as well as the original Bible. Regular trips took him to the most important European cultural cities (Paris, London, Rome). In 1914, Heine jun. a long trip to Switzerland, Italy, France and Corsica, during which he u. a. Studied flora and fauna.

Heine occupied himself with ornithology all his life, maintained a friendly relationship with Cabanis and secured the Heinesche collection. He took part in the annual meetings of the DO-G and obtained "The Ibis", the most important ornithological magazine, directly from London. In 1890 he was co-editor of the so-called Nomenclator of his father (complete catalog of the Heineschen bird collection). On the initiative of the city of Halberstadt, a contract was signed with Heine in 1907, which in 1909 led to the opening of the Heineanum Museum exhibition on Domplatz.

The death of his only son, Dr. jur. Ferdinand Heine (III) hit him hard in the war on the Eastern Front in 1915 . In addition, the last years of his life were overshadowed by physical suffering. He sold the collection to his brother Ernst, as he had no more male descendants. After his death, Heine was buried next to his son Ferdinand on the churchyard wall of the park in Hadmersleben Monastery.

literature

• Alfred Lein:  Heine, Jakob Gottlieb Ferdinand. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1969, ISBN 3-428-00189-3 , p. 293 ( digitized version ).
• Bernd Nicolai, Renate Neuhaus, Rüdiger Holz: Museum Heineanum, History and Meaning , Halberstadt 1994.

Web links

• Ferdinand Heine junior in the Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon