Hans-Robert Knoespel

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Hans-Robert Knoespel with polar falcons in Greenland 1938

Hans-Robert Knoespel (born August 7, 1915 , † June 30, 1944 in Spitzbergen ) was a German ornithologist and polar explorer . He invented the Knoespel Cube .

Knoespel worked in the 1930s as a falconer at the Rossitten ornithological station and in the Brunswick Reichsjägerhof "Hermann Göring" . During this time he took part in ornithological research trips to Northern Europe and Iceland .

In 1938 he was selected as a participant in the Herdemerten-Greenland expedition . During the expedition, Knoespel examined the bird life of West Greenland and gained polar experience. The expedition leader Kurt Herdemerten chose Knoespel above all as a knowledgeable falconer, as the primary goal of the expedition was to research the white gyrfalcon . After the expedition returned, Knoespel was also involved in setting up the Goldhöhe polar research station in the Giant Mountains , where the results of the research trip were to be evaluated.

In addition to his work at the research station, Knoespel began studying biology at the University of Breslau in 1939 .

In 1940 he broke off his studies, volunteered for the marine weather service and, due to his polar experience, became the training manager for the so-called marine weather troops (MWT) at the Goldhöhe station , which was now also a military training station.

Knoespel's first mission was the second voyage of the Saxony weather ship , on which he carried out biological research. Between October 1941 and August 1942 he was in charge of the " Knospe Company " and set up a weather station on Svalbard. In 1943/44 he headed another mission, the “Operation Crusader”, on Spitzbergen, where he was killed when the station was blown up on June 30, 1944.

literature

  • Theodor Guspietsch: Hans-Robert Knoespel in memory (PDF; 1.7 MB). In: Polar Research . Volume 15, No. 1/2, 1945, pp. 25-27.
  • Kurt Herdemerten: Jakunguaq. The Greenland Book of the Hermann Göring Foundation. Georg Westermann publishing house, Braunschweig 1939.
  • Peter N. Klüh: Hans Robert Knoespel. In: Greifvögel und Falknerei 1997. Yearbook of the German Falcon Order, 1998, pp. 10–19.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ R. Holzapfel: Deutsche Polarforschung 1940/45. Polarforschung, 21, 2, 1951, p. 89.
  2. ^ R. Holzapfel: Deutsche Polarforschung 1940/45. Polarforschung, 21, 2, 1951, p. 91.
personal data
SURNAME Knoespel, Hans-Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German falconer, meteorologist and polar explorer
DATE OF BIRTH August 7, 1915
DATE OF DEATH June 30, 1944
Place of death Spitsbergen