Franz Fukarek

Franz Fukarek (born January 21, 1926 in Rumburg , Czechoslovakia , † May 20, 1996 in Greifswald ) was a German vegetation scientist and university professor.

Youth and Studies

Fukarek grew up in Czechoslovakia and in the Reichsgau Sudetenland , where he also attended school. In May 1944 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht, was wounded and released as a soldier in April 1945. As a German he was expelled from the Sudetenland and came to Zittau in June 1945 , where his father had been arrested and died a few weeks later in the Hirschfelde internment camp .

After brief stays in Gera and Hildburghausen , since he stated that he wanted to study, the authorities moved him to Ahrensdorf near Halle. He also had his mother come there and, since he only had the “ emergency qualification for those who were called up” , seized the opportunity to catch up on the Abitur in the Francke Foundations in Halle. After four months of teaching, he was able to take his Abitur there in 1946.

From 1946 Fukarek studied history, geography and biology at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg , with the aim of becoming a teacher. Already in the 7th semester he got a (half) position as an assistant at Hermann Meusel , which he shared with Siegfried Danert . In 1951 he received his doctorate with a dissertation on the forest communities of the Muschelkalkgebiet on the lower Unstrut with Hermann Meusel.

Career entry

Fukarek got to know the methods and problems of floristic mapping from Meusel, who had resumed a plant-geographical mapping of the Hercynian area from Halle after the war and soon afterwards received an offer from Werner Rothmaler for a position as senior assistant at his chair at the University of Greifswald , where from 1953 he was to participate in the construction of floristic maps . Among other things, his task was to gain a sufficient number of active mappers and to organize regular florist meetings, which then took place regularly from 1957. In addition, Fukarek worked at the " Biological Station " set up by Rothmaler in Ahrenshoop , from where he worked on the flora and vegetation of the Fischland and Darß with the Neudarß. Fukarek summarized the results of this work, in which, among other things, pollen analysis methods were used, as a habilitation thesis entitled “ The Darß Vegetation and its History ”. In this work, Fukarek not only described the vegetation units, but also treated historical aspects of this area. Among other things, he evaluated the Swedish matriculation cards and record books from 1696. These are the evaluations of the measurements made by the Swedes. The documents consist of 40 calculation and annotation books and 40 maps, which are unique in Europe for their high quality at this time.

In 1960 Fukarek was appointed private lecturer. In 1963 he was appointed professor. In 1969 he was appointed full professor. Fukarek, who, in addition to his function as professor, was director of the Botanical Garden at the University of Greifswald from 1972 , retired in 1991. His successor was Michael Succow , who studied with Fukarek and received his doctorate.

In addition to numerous specialist publications, Fukarek has published numerous books on floristry and plant ecology and plant sociology for the interested layperson.

Problems of a Researcher in the GDR

After Rothmaler died in 1962, the " Institute for Agricultural Biology " he had headed up until then was dissolved and largely incorporated into the University's Biological Institute. The management of the floristic mapping center of the GDR passed into the hands of Fukarek, and he also became head of the taxonomy and vegetation department at the Institute of Biology. However, the work of Fukarek's department was set back by the so-called third university reform in 1969, as this “reform” had the goal “ to improve the training and socialist education of students, to redesign the Marxist-Leninist further education of the teaching staff and to increase the research capacities to concentrate structure-determining projects ”. Since, from the point of view of politics, these goals could only be achieved with structural, i.e. above all personnel changes, it was also determined that " all decisive management functions should be performed by experienced university lecturers who are actively involved in the socialist reorganization of the university ".

Since Fukarek did not do justice to this “requirement profile”, he was given the task of head of the small working group for taxonomy and vegetation science, whereby he was advised to stop geobotanical research, as this biological branch of science could not be assigned to any “ structure-determining project ”. Several employees left Fukarek's work group due to a lack of perspective. In addition, Fukarek was deprived of the opportunity to hire auxiliary assistants or to obtain third-party funding.

Despite later self-critical remarks by the SED: “ The change in the leadership profile of the university resulted in an increase in unproductive employment; the prognostic work was overestimated, important areas of science had been given up carelessly ", Fukarek looked for a way out of the untenable situation, and released the" Working Group of Mecklenburg Florists "from its dependence on the university in order to incorporate it into the" Biological Society ". As a “ social organization ”, it enjoyed a certain recognition within the “ social system ”. The situation of the "working group" improved further when it was incorporated by Fukarek into the cultural association and there assigned to the "Society for Nature and Environment". With better financial and personnel (especially voluntary) commitment, numerous areas of the Rostock, Schwerin and Brandenburg districts with a size of over 26,500 km² could be mapped floristically in a short time.

Memberships and honors

• Chairman of the district technical committee for botany in the Rostock district
• Member of the district board of the Society for Nature and Environment of the GDR
• Awarded the Johannes R. Becher Medal for extraordinary activities in the field of nature and environmental protection
• Gold badge of honor for nature conservation (1987)
• Honorary member of the floristic-sociological working group (1993)
• Naming of the Fukareksee on the Darß in Fukarek's honor (in "National Park Info" No. 6; September 1996)

literature

• Haubold Krisch: Professor Dr. Franz Fukarek appointed honorary member. In: Tuexenia. 13, Göttingen 1993, pp. 3-10.
• Günther Natho: In memoriam Prof. Dr. Franz Fukarek: January 21, 1926 to May 20, 1996. In: Gleditschia. 24. (1-2), 1996, pp. 3-11.
• Heinz executioner: Franz Fukarek (1926–1996). In: Tuexenia. 17, Göttingen 1997, pp. 11-13.
• Friedrich Schulz : Research assignment: The flora of the Darß peninsula. Memories of the Greifswald botany professor Franz Fukarek. Scheunen-Verlag, Kückenshagen 2003, ISBN 3-934301-72-X .
• Heinz Henker: My memories of two German botanists Werner Rothmaler (1908–1962), Franz Fukarek (1926–1996). In: Fedde's repertory. 119 (3-4), 2008, pp. 163-165.
• Short biography for:  Fukarek, Franz . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Fonts (selection)

• The forest communities in the Muschelkalk breakthrough area of ​​the lowest Unstrut. Hall / S. 1951.
• The Darss vegetation and its history. G. Fischer, Jena 1961.
• Plant sociology. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1964.
• Terms phytosociologici linguis Germanica et Bohemica et Polonica expressi. G. Fischer, Jena 1964.
• Fitosocjologia. Państw. Wyd. rolnicze i leśne, Warszawa 1967.
• Flora of the earth. 1st edition. Urania-Verlag, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1979.
• Flora of the earth. 1st edition. Aulis-Verlag Deubner, Cologne 1980.
• Excursion flora of Germany. Volume 2: Vascular Plants. 10th edition. 1981.
• Red lists of the endangered plants and animals in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania / Red list of the endangered higher plants in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. 4th version, as of October 1991.
• Urania plant kingdom - mosses, ferns, naked seeds. 1st edition. Urania-Verlag, 1992, ISBN 3-332-00495-6 .
• Urania plant kingdom - vegetation. 1st edition. Urania-Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-332-00550-2 .
• Urania plant kingdom - flowering plants. 1st volume, Urania-Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-332-01169-3 .
• Urania plant kingdom - flowering plants. 2nd volume, Urania-Verlag, 2000, ISBN 3-332-01170-7 .
• The ferns. 2., unchanged. Edition. Westarp-Wiss.-Verlag-Ges., Hohenwarsleben 2005, ISBN 3-89432-614-X .
• Flora of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Weissdorn-Verlag, Jena 2006, ISBN 3-936055-07-6 .

literature

• Haubold Krisch: Professor Dr. Franz Fukarek appointed honorary member. In: Tuexenia. 13, Göttingen 1993, pp. 3-10.
• Günther Natho: In memoriam Prof. Dr. Franz Fukarek: January 21, 1926 to May 20, 1996. In: Gleditschia. 24. (1-2), 1996, pp. 3-11.
• Heinz executioner: Franz Fukarek (1926–1996). In: Tuexenia. 17, Göttingen 1997, pp. 11-13.
• Friedrich Schulz : Research assignment: The flora of the Darß peninsula. Memories of the Greifswald botany professor Franz Fukarek. Scheunen-Verlag, Kückenshagen 2003, ISBN 3-934301-72-X .
• Heinz Henker: My memories of two German botanists Werner Rothmaler (1908–1962), Franz Fukarek (1926–1996). In: Fedde's repertory. 119 (3-4), 2008, pp. 163-165.
• Short biography for:  Fukarek, Franz . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ all information on this according to Haubold Krisch: Professor Dr. Franz Fukarek appointed honorary member. In: Tuexenia. 13, Göttingen 1993, pp. 3-10.
2. ^ Friedrich Schulz: Research assignment: The flora of the Darß peninsula. Memories of the Greifswald botany professor Franz Fukarek. Scheunen-Verlag, Kückenshagen 2003, ISBN 3-934301-72-X , p. 41f

Web links

• Literature by and about Franz Fukarek in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature about Franz Fukarek in the state bibliography MV