Ludwig Zukowsky

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Ludwig (Karl) Zukowsky (born October 26, 1888 in Berlin , † July 17, 1965 in Leipzig ) was a German zoologist and director of the Leipzig Zoo . He is considered an important mammalian systematist.

Life

Zukowsky was born in Berlin-Gesundbrunnen in 1888 as the son of a master car painter. From 1895 to 1903 he attended the 101st community school and then learned the profession of a car painter and lettering painter. From 1906 to 1913 he worked in his parents' business. He also studied zoology at the Berlin University from 1906 to 1910 and was a research assistant at the Berlin Museum of Natural History from 1908 to 1913 . Zukowsky worked in the Natural History Museum as an assistant to the well-known animal systematist Paul Matschie . In 1913, Zukowsky got a job at the Hagenbeck Zoo in Stellingen , where he worked until 1931. His work was only interrupted by his military service, which he performed from 1915. In 1917 he was taken prisoner by the French , from which he did not return to Hamburg until 1920. From 1926 to 1930, Zukowsky was also editor of Carl Hagenbeck's Illustrated Animal and Human World as well as press representative, archivist and librarian for the Carl Hagenbeck company.

Zukowsky made many trips for Hagenbeck, especially to South America. After his release in 1931, he initially remained unemployed until 1935. During this time he worked as a freelance writer and also joined the NSDAP on August 1, 1932 . In 1936 Zukowsky got a job as a scientific inspector at the Frankfurt Zoo . Until 1949 he worked there under the directors Kurt Priemel , Georg Steinbacher and Bernhard Grzimek . Then Zukowsky was commissioned to rebuild the completely destroyed Münster Zoo , which he managed until 1957. Then the almost 70-year-old Zukowsky accepted a call to Leipzig, where the position of zoo director had been vacant for two years. Heinrich Dathe , who had moved to Berlin in 1954 to set up the Berlin-Friedrichsfelde zoo , was also provisional director of the Leipzig Zoo between 1955 and 1957 . The appointment of the director on April 1, 1957 to Zukowsky did not happen by chance, as he had been on friendly terms with the former zoo director Karl Max Schneider for years. In 1950, Zukowsky even named a third subspecies of the snow leopard Uncia uncia schneideri . Through his personal acquaintances from the past, especially with Grzimek, Zukowsky succeeded in 1960 in presenting an okapi for the first time in a zoo in the socialist countries of the time. In order to give the zoo director scientific recognition, Heinrich Dathe applied for an honorary doctorate at Leipzig University , which was also granted after some reservations; Zukowsky was promoted to Dr. rer. nat. H. c. appointed. On his 75th birthday, the Ministry of Culture of the GDR honored Zukowsky with the title of professor. In 1964 he was finally replaced by Siegfried Seifert , who was over 30 years his junior . Zukowsky died a year later and was buried in the Leipzig-Gohlis cemetery.

Fonts (selection)

  • Carl Hagenbeck's empire. A German animal paradise . Wegweiser-Verlag, Berlin 1929.
  • Animals for great men . Diesterweg, Frankfurt am Main 1938.
  • Monkeys as roommates and in the zoo . Philler, Minden [1955].
  • Animals as housemates . Winkler, Munich 1956.
  • With lasso, trap and net. An animal trapping trip around the world . Neumann, Radebeul 1958.
  • On the way to the jaguar and condor. An animal trapping trip through South America . Neumann, Radebeul 1959.
  • Animal geography . Academic Publishing Company, Leipzig 1966.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neue Zeit from August 1, 1957, p. 3.
  2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of February 12, 1960, p. 9.
  3. ^ Heinrich Dathe: Memoirs of a passionate zoo gardener. 2010, ISBN 9783865416360 , p. 76.
  4. ↑ Neue Zeit of October 27, 1963, p. 1.
  5. ↑ Overview of the Leipzig-Gohlis cemetery .
personal data
SURNAME Zukowsky, Ludwig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zukowsky, Ludwig Karl (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH July 17, 1965
Place of death Leipzig