Hans Hvass

Hans Vilhelm Saxild Hvass (born February 15, 1902 in Copenhagen ; † March 10, 1990 in Frederiksberg ) was a Danish zoologist , non-fiction author and animal rights activist .

Live and act

Hans Hvass was the son of Anders Nicolaus Hvass and Anna Augusta Sophie Elisabeth Saxild. His brothers were the diplomat Frants Hvass and the forest manager Jens Hvass. In 1920 Hvass graduated from the Sankt-Jørgens-Gymnasium in Frederiksberg . After completing a medical course in Vienna in 1923, he obtained his Master of Arts in zoology, botany and gymnastics in 1930. In 1932 he became a lecturer at the Frederiksberg High School in Frederiksberg and from 1946 to 1969 he was a lecturer there. In 1937, Hvass was employed by Dansk Kulturfilm, where he wrote manuscripts for educational films about animals. The works in which he was involved include Skrubtudsen (1944), Hugormen (1946) and Pindsvinet (1951). In 1954 Hvass was the narrator of the Danish dubbing of the documentary Australia - Adventurous Continent of Two Worlds (Under the Southern Cross) by the couple Armand and Michaela Denis.

In addition to numerous radio lectures and newspaper articles, Hvass has published more than 30 books that have been translated into ten languages. Several of them were illustrated by the Danish zodiac artists Sikker Hansen and Johannes Larsen. The German animal illustrator Wilhelm Eigener acted as illustrator for the works Mammals of the World (1963), Birds of the World (1964) and Fish of the World (1966) . His handbook Fugle i farver from 1952 had a circulation of 432,000 copies. In addition, he edited several compilations, including the ten-volume work Danmarks dyreverden , which was published between 1969 and 1972.

Hvass was involved in both Danish and international animal welfare organizations. From 1941 to 1950 he was chairman of the Natural History and Geography Dansklærerforeningen (Natural History and Geographical Association of Denmark). In 1944 he was the founder and until 1957 first chairman of the Nordisk herpetologisk Forening (Nordic Herpetological Association). In 1947 he became a board member and in 1955 President of Dyrenes Beskyttelse i Danmark (animal welfare association in Denmark). From 1955 to 1968 he was President of the Danish Animal Welfare Associations in Fællesråd and in 1955 he was President of the Nordisk Dyrebeskyttelsesråd (Nordic Animal Welfare Council). From 1955 to 1962 he was a council member of the World Federation for the Protection of Animals (WFPA). From 1955 to 1962 he was a board member of the International Society for the Protection of Animals (ISPA) and in 1963 he was vice president of that society.

Awards

In 1964 Hans Hvass received the Victoria Medal of Honor from the Royal Horticultural Society .

literature

• Torben Wolff: Hans Hvass In: Dansk Biografisk Leksikon, 3rd edition, 1979–1984.

Web links

• Hans Hvass in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Filmography at the Danske Film Institute