Jens Iwersen

Jens Iwersen (born April 21, 1893 in Hattstedt ; † July 1, 1954 there ) was a German farmer, consultant for soil culture and professor of cultural technology.

Life

Jens Iwersen was a son of the farmer Christian Iwersen (born December 3, 1863 in Hattstedt; † September 12, 1933 ibid) and his wife Bertha, née Hansen (born June 14, 1864 in Hattstedt, † December 11, 1938 ibid). He came from an old Frisian family in which the Frisian language was spoken.

Iwersen spent his childhood on his parents' farm and attended an elementary school in Hattstedt. From 1911 to 1912 he attended an agricultural school in Bredstedt . In 1913 and 1914 he did his military service and fought in World War I , during which he lost his left arm. In 1915 he returned to Hattstedt as a severely disabled person.

In 1915/16 Iwersen studied at the Flensburg Agricultural School, where he obtained his secondary school leaving certificate. He then studied with great enthusiasm at the Agricultural University in Bonn-Poppelsdorf and at the University of Kiel . In 1919 he made up his Abitur at the secondary school in Flensburg. A year later he finished his studies as a qualified farmer with distinction and received his doctorate.

Iwersen was particularly interested in agricultural management, had great pedagogical skills and therefore devoted himself to teaching. From 1920 to 1941 he worked as director of the agricultural schools in Marne , Neumünster and Heide . In doing so, he succeeded in getting his students enthusiastic about business administration and soil science and bringing his knowledge closer to them.

In addition to teaching, Iwersen spoke and written for Frisianism. In addition, he fought in discussions regarding the ethnicity for the national interests of the region, which was located in the border country with Denmark. In 1941 he received a call from the Kiel Higher Presidium as a speaker for questions about coastal protection, the extraction of new land and the cultivation of old marshland.

Iwersen's knowledge was based on practical experience he had gained in the region. He succeeded in putting these on a scientific basis both in the country and in administration and at the university. Particularly noteworthy are his publications on the reclamation of immature soils of the tidal flats after they were diked. His findings on old cultivated soils were also important. A particular concern for him was to show the close connections between the water balance, the use of the soil and the type of operation.

Iwersen was married to Emma Christine Gottburgsen (born April 9, 1897 in Hattstedt; † February 19, 1924 there). The couple had a son who was killed during World War II.

Works

• Iwersen, Jens: The problem of the cultivation of diked mud flats, in: The Coast, 2 Issue 1 1953, pp. 24-142.

literature

• Johann M. Lorenzen: Iwersen, Jens . in: Schleswig-Holstein Biographical Lexicon . Volume 3. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1974, pp. 161–162