Hermann Reichling

Hermann Reichling 1890–1948

Hermann Reichling (born January 24, 1890 in Heiligenstadt (Eichsfeld) , † June 6, 1948 in Münster ) was a German nature conservation pioneer . From 1919 to 1921 he headed the “Provincial Museum for Natural History”, today's LWL Museum for Natural History in Münster, and from 1921 to 1948 he was its director.

Life

The father Dietrich Reichling moved to Münster with his wife Adelheid and ten children in 1896. Reichling attended the Paulinum grammar school and graduated from high school in 1909 . After studying natural sciences in his hometown, he received his doctorate in 1913 on the "wing feather marks of north-west German birds" (published in 1915) in the "Journal for Ornithology".

After taking over the management of the museum in 1921, he fundamentally revised the museum concept and reorganized the exhibition collections according to modern scientific criteria. During these years, his photo collection also grew, which has become known primarily for the recordings of the bird world. Outstanding are picture series about catching the then "fieldfare" mentioned Fieldfare that u. a. in Ostbevern - Vadrup and Lienen - Kattenvenne .

From November 1926 the "Westphalian Provincial Committee for the Preservation of Natural Monuments" was reconstituted and Hermann Reichling was its managing director. After the Nazi takeover of power, Reichling, who with his direct and often uncompromising manner and his accumulation of offices had not only made friends and also expressed his opinions about the new regime, was relieved of all offices. In 1934 he was denounced for making disrespectful comments in the pub about members of the Reich government and was temporarily imprisoned in the Esterwegen concentration camp in Emsland , but released after three months. Reichling then successfully sued the concentration camp commandant and a member of the security team because of the physical damage he had suffered. In 1937 he was partially rehabilitated, but was not reinstated as museum director, instead he was entrusted with a research assignment on nature on the Dümmer and the endangered bird life of the north-west German moors. After the war he got his old office back. Reichling experienced the reopening of the zoo in Münster seriously ill and now almost without a voice. He died in 1948, a. a. the long-term consequences of his imprisonment in a concentration camp.

Services

Hermann Reichling is considered a pioneer in nature photography. His pictures are historical evidence of the natural area and the animal world in Westphalia and in western Lower Saxony , especially in Emsland and in the county of Bentheim. The extensive photo estate is now stored in the image archive of the LWL media center for Westphalia and can be accessed online. Reichling was a well-known ornithologist and published various specialist articles.

Works

• The wing feather marks of the north-west German birds . From d. Zool. Inst. D. Univ. Muenster. Bernburg 1915. (Münster, Phil. Diss., 1916)
• Call for cooperation for an Ornis of Westphalia . Munster 1919.
• Instructions for participation in the exploration of the Ornis of Westphalia . Munster 1920.
• The beauty of the Lower Saxony landscape. A home book in pictures. Aschendorff, Münster 1927.
• Nature conservation booklet for the province of Westphalia. 2., ext. Edition. Theissing publishing house, Münster i. W. 1929.
• On the rediscovery of the golden plover, Charadrius apricarius oreophilus Meinerzhagen, in northwest Germany , in: Treatises from the Westphalian Provincial Museum for Natural History, 2nd year, Münster 1931, pp. 153–172.
• Contributions to the Ornis of Westphalia and the Emsland , in: Treatises from the Westphalian Provincial Museum for Natural History, 3rd year 1932, Münster 1932.

literature

• Nature photographer and nature conservation pioneer: the photo collection Dr. Hermann Reichling (1890–1948) . Johannes Hofmeister, Stephan Sagurna, Ulrike Gilhaus, Bernd Tenbergen. Edited by the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe (LWL), LWL Media Center for Westphalia, LWL Museum Office for Westphalia. Münster 2016, ISBN 978-3-944327-37-2 .
• Bird catchers, veneer bags and pest catchers. Nature and landscape 100 years ago, pictures and films by Dr. Hermann Reichling (1890–1948). Book accompanying the traveling exhibition of the same name. Bernd Tenbergen, Münster 2016, ISBN 978-3-940726-44-5 .
• Johannes Hofmeister / Markus Köster / Stephan Sagurna: Nature and homeland conservation photography between 1912 and 1944. To the photographic estate of Dr. Hermann Reichling and its development , in: Rundbrief Fotografie Vol. 23 (2016), No. 4, NF 92, pp. 42-51.
• Johannes Hofmeister: The Emsland and the Grafschaft Bentheim in the photographs of the nature conservation pioneer Dr. Hermann Reichling (1890-1048) , in: Study Society for Emsländische Regionalgeschichte (Ed.), Emsländische Geschichte 23, Haselünne 2016, pp. 98–121.
• Joachim Seitz: The birds of Lower Saxony and the state of Bremen. Contributions to the history of ornithology in Lower Saxony and Bremen (nature conservation and landscape management in Lower Saxony, special series B 1.1), Hanover 2012, pp. 284–287.

Web links

Commons : Hermann Reichling  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Hermann Reichling collection: Natural history research and nature conservation in Westphalia - 1910 to 1960s: Hermann Reichling's picture collection in the picture archive in the LWL media center for Westphalia