Otto Dibbelt

Otto Ernst Ewald Dibbelt (* July 5, 1881 in Stralsund ; † May 9, 1956 ) was a German biologist , educator and founder of the predecessor museum of today's German Oceanographic Museum in Stralsund.

Childhood, education and teaching

Dibbelt was born on July 5, 1881 in Stralsund as the sixth of eight children of the married couple Wilhelm Friedrich Jacob Dibbelt, an art and commercial gardener, and Wilhelmine Dibbelt. His father was very interested in science and always wanted a natural history museum in Stralsund. Vegetables were grown in the family's nursery at Tribseer Damm No. 18. In addition, the mother ran a seed shop.

On September 11, 1881 he was baptized as a Protestant. He attended the higher boys 'school in Stralsund until 1899 and worked in his parents' gardening during the holidays. After attending middle school, his father wanted him to become a drawing teacher, but he didn't want to do so himself. He applied to the elementary school teacher school in Tribsees , where he failed the entrance exam. In 1899 he began training as a primary school teacher at the Royal Teachers' College in Pölitz . After suffering from severe tuberculosis , he was still bedridden and passed the first teacher examination in 1902 with the grade “good”.

In this activity he worked from 1902 to 1907 in Gräbnitzfelde ( Saatzig district ), where he tried out new pedagogical methods and also worked as a sexton . In April 1904 he passed the second teacher examination. From Easter 1907 to 1909 he was an elementary school teacher in Tribsees in the "upscale city school" and also worked at the advanced training school for craftsmen. He became a member of the Evangelical Youth Association. He was strongly influenced by the works and concepts of Pestalozzi , Comenius and Wichern . From 1909 to 1910 he worked in Anklam , from 1910 for a year in Massow . In January 1911 he began to catch up on the Abitur at the secondary school in Stralsund . In March 1913 he had to drop out of training to help his mother in the business. In 1914 he worked again as a primary school teacher in Pölitz and from 1915 back in Anklam. At the same time, he continued his education and on September 28, 1916, took the external matriculation examination at the Pasewalker Realgymnasium.

In 1915 Dibbelt received a month-long military training in Kolberg . He was deployed in the Landsturm of the 1st Recruit Depot of Infantry Regiment No. 54 . In February 1917 he came to the front in Russia . During this time he raised money for the war loan and was the steward of the replacement battalion. In August and September 1917 he was involved in trench warfare on the Serwetsch . In May and June 1918, he was transferred to a sound measurement squad in Sperenberg . After his transfer to France , he was awarded the Iron Cross II class for his participation in the battles on the Maashehe from July 31 to September 11, 1918. After the First World War he worked as a teacher again in Anklam and Pasewalk.

From 1919 to 1921 Otto Dibbelt studied biology , zoology , geography , chemistry , geology , mineralogy and philosophy at the University of Greifswald , interrupted by a semester in 1920 at the marine research station Kristineberg near Lysekil in Sweden . The almost penniless Dibbelt received support from the director of the Botanical Institute, Franz Schütt . It was also Schütt who recruited Dibbelt to work for the middle class party in the Stralsund area in January 1919 . In 1921 Dibbelt passed the scientific examination, in the same year the pedagogical examination and with a thesis on the subject of contributions to a halophyte flora of the West Pomeranian salt areas with special consideration of the Rosental valley near Greifswald, the doctorate of the Philosophical Faculty. After completing his studies, he initially worked as a volunteer in Greifswald and from 1922 as a teacher at the Lyceum in Kolberg . Dibbelt married on July 12, 1922 in Bokenäs Astrid Laura Emilia Håkansson (1892–1973) from Sweden, whom he had met during his studies in Bohuslän .

The Kolberger Verein für Heimatkunde

From then on, Dibbelt was very interested in the development of local history in Kolberg . In 1924 he founded the " Kolberger Verein für Heimatkunde ". Astrid Dibbelt supported his activities in setting up a museum and in acquiring many museum objects using her inherited assets. Dibbelts spent over 100,000 marks on museum pieces. Otto Dibbelt was the editor of the monthly papers published by the association in the " Kolberger Zeitung für Pommern ". The " Kolberger Heimatmuseum ", in which Astrid Dibbelt had set up a Swedish weaving mill, opened in three rooms of the Lyceum on March 17, 1925 . This soon became a weaving school which Astrid Dibbelt ran. Otto Dibbelt ran the museum, initially on a voluntary basis, later also as a freelancer, until September 1936. From 1925 the local history association also published the "Kolberg-Körliner Heimat-Kalender"; by 1938 he had published 14 volumes under the editorship of Otto Dibbelt. From 1932 he was also a shop steward for soil antiquities of the city and district of Kolberg and from 1934 commissioner for nature conservation in the city of Kolberg.

Otto Dibbelt was initially rather uncritical of the National Socialists . He tried to continue his work and came to terms with the new circumstances. Although he was not a member of the NSDAP , he gave lectures for the NS training service on topics such as “family research and genetics” and “popular degeneration and how to combat it”. In 1936, Dibbelt was accused of violating foreign exchange regulations and sentenced to a fine of 20,000 marks. Unaware of these provisions, the Dibbelts had bought museum objects with the Swedish assets without registering the assets invested in Sweden for wealth tax, and they were also charged with having an unregistered account. Dibbelt was therefore considered to have a criminal record.

The museum was moved from the Lyceum to a former lodge house in 1935, with the scientific collection being relocated. Due to unresolved property issues relating to the numerous museum pieces that Dibbelt received or bought himself, but some of which were later bought by the association or the city, Dibbelt was dismissed as museum director in September 1936. In September 1937 he had to resign from the office of curator of the cultural and historical soil antiquities and on October 12, 1938, at the urging of the Gestapo , the office of first chairman of the local history association, which he had suspended since October 1935 because of the ongoing foreign exchange procedure. His wife was now also getting into trouble. The weaving school ceased operations in 1938 because the city of Kolberg prevented the renting of new premises, and Astrid Dibbelt received very little material. Otto Dibbelt was sent to the Bugenhagen School, a state high school for boys, in Treptow an der Rega on June 10, 1940, because of his criminal record and because of a procedure brought about in February 1940 for violating the press law (criminal case 5 Ds.8 / 40) postponed, but Dibbelt stayed in Kolberg because of Treptow's proximity to Kolberg. This was followed by another transfer on October 1, 1940, this time to Franzburg .

In World War II

In Franzburg Otto Dibbelt worked as a teacher at the advanced school. He was also a district specialist for plant drugs. In the spring of 1941 he fell ill with the vocal cords and from then on had difficulties with it in the spring despite a speedy recovery. In December 1942 he underwent radical surgery of the maxillary sinus in Greifswald.

Dibbelt did not want to stay in Franzburg; now that he was close to his hometown again, he was drawn there with the declared aim of building a natural science museum. However, his transfer requests were unsuccessful. For this he got a job at the secondary school in Pasewalk, where he had already worked after 1919. He presented his museum plans to the then NS mayor of Stralsund, Fichtner, who promised him support. In 1943 and 1944, Dibbelt then transferred a total of 85,000 Reichsmarks "to the Stralsund City Treasury (...) for the natural science collections". (Stralsund City Archives, file 38.1716). Despite the chaos of the war, he brought his collections from Kolberg to Stralsund in June 1944, where they were housed in the town hall. After the bomb attack on Stralsund on October 6, 1944 , Dibbelt had to give up one of the occupied rooms and had the Conchilia collection brought to Buchholz near Franzburg, where it was stored in a garage until 1947. The money he transferred was lost after the war due to the currency reforms .

The new beginning after the end of the war in 1945

Dibbelt experienced the end of the war in Franzburg in 1945, which surrendered to the Soviet Army on May 1, 1945 . In Dibbelt's apartment in the school building, Soviet officers celebrated May Day with Otto and Astrid Dibbelt, who both spoke Russian . This also made it possible for the Dibbelts to protect women in the school building from assault and rape in the post-war chaos. After the school had been converted into a hospital, the Dibbelts had to move to another house. The Stralsund commandant Major Rumienzow invited Otto Dibbelt to give lectures on the racial theory of the National Socialists. These, held in the Stralsund Theater , turned out to be to the commandant's favor. Dibbelt was appointed as a department head for the Franzburg children's home , then appointed magistrate in the summer of 1945 . In autumn 1945 he became a teacher and soon afterwards director of the high school in Franzburg, where from December 1945 his wife also worked as a Russian teacher from December 1945. On February 1, 1946, he was given the office of district school council with his place of employment in Barth . When the office was relocated to Stralsund, Dibbelt moved into a small apartment very close to his former parents' house. In Franzburg he reopened the adult education center , which he was able to open on June 11, 1946. In 1947 Otto and Astrid Dibbelt moved to Stralsund to an apartment at 20 Wulflamufer .

Dibbelt applied in June 1946 to the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald and was hired there from October 1, 1946 as a lecturer for methodology and didactics of biology. In 1948 he became a professor in his field. In this activity he establishes connections with the Swedish universities in Lund and Uppsala . As a child of his time, he vehemently advocated the theories of Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin and Trofim Denisovich Lyssenko ; He did not live to see their refutation.

The nature museum in Stralsund

Dibbelt had never given up his dream of setting up a nature museum in his native town. From the end of 1946 he put it into practice and began with such a structure. The Lord Mayor of Stralsund , Salinger, encouraged him in his efforts. In view of the shortage of materials, the state government was skeptical of this plan. At Greifswald University, however, he received a research assignment for the "establishment of a local nature museum in Stralsund as part of youth and adult education". In the Katharinenkloster Stralsund , which had been a grammar school until the end of the war , a 70 m² room, the former drawing room, was made available to him. His private collections formed the basis for building up the Stralsund Natural History Museum, which today has achieved world fame as the German Marine Museum . In 1950, 725 m² were already available as museum space. Dibbelt continued to buy numerous objects with his own money. He also succeeded in inspiring many important collectors, researchers and scientists to his idea of ​​a natural history museum. He received support from Stralsund citizens and artists who helped him design the exhibition.

On June 24, 1951, the Nature Museum was opened, which from then on was well received by the population. Dibbelt continued to work tirelessly to keep expanding the museum. This was all the more difficult because in the post-war period in the young GDR there were other priorities than building a museum.

In 1952 he suffered a heart attack and then stopped teaching for health reasons. Dibbelt retired on September 1, 1952 and got a job from January 1, 1953 at the City Council of Stralsund. From 1952 Dibbelt was nature conservation officer in Stralsund. On April 30, 1954, he was entrusted with the professional guidance and inspection of the local museum on Hiddensee and the natural history departments of all local museums in the Rostock district.

After the museum he had built became the target of numerous reviews by other museum directors, Dibbelt suffered a stroke while staying in Greifswald . He remained partially paralyzed. Otto Ernst Ewald Dibbelt died on May 9, 1956 in the Sund hospital . He was buried on May 12, 1956 in the St. Jürgen cemetery in Stralsund with great sympathy from the people of Stralsund. At his grave is a Weigelia rosea , which is named after a researcher from Stralsund who is very much appreciated by Dibbelt. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Marine Museum in 2001, the museum dedicated a medal to its founder, Otto Dibbelt.

Social activity after 1945

As a Christian, Dibbelt was enthusiastic about the idea of ​​rebuilding a democratic Germany under socialist auspices. On February 2, 1946, he joined the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). In 1947 he became a member of the FDGB . In August 1947 he became a board member of the Stralsund local group of the "Society for the Study of Culture of the Soviet Union". He was a founding member and board member of the “Cultural Association for the Democratic Renewal of Germany” and chaired the “Geographical Society” in Stralsund. He was also a lecturer at the Stralsund Adult Education Center and founding member of the Society for the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge (URANIA) in the Rostock district . He was a member of the "District Peace Committee", from October 12, 1951 chairman of the "District Peace Committee" Stralsund.

Works

• Otto Dibbelt, numerous articles in
  • Monthly newspaper of the Kolberger Verein für Heimatkunde
  • Kolberg-Körlin home calendar
  • Yearbook of the Kolberger Verein für Heimatkunde
  • East Germanic graves near Mechenthin on the lower reaches of the Persante in the Kolberg-Körlin district , in: ElbingJb Heft 15, 1938, p. 92
  • The treasure trove of Stöckow u. a. in: Manfred Vollack: The Kolberger Land Its cities and villages. A Pomeranian Heimatbuch , ISBN 3-88042-784-4
  • From the Kolberger Museum in: Pommersche Heimatpflege l (1930), pp. 87–92.
  • Heimatmuseum and Volksbildung in: Bücherei und Bildungspflege 8 (1928), pp. 223–231.

literature

• Ignacy Skrzypek: Dr Otto Dibbelt: Pedagog, badacz ziemi kołobrzeskiej i muzealnik in: Dzieje wsi pomorskiej = The history of the Pomeranian village  : II Międzynarodowa konferencja naukowa , Włościbórz, Gmina Dygowo, owiat kołobrzeski , 23 - 24 maja 2003 / ed .: Gaziński, Radosław, 2003. - pp. 57-74: Ill.
• Ulrich Gehrke: From the stone ax find to the Kolberg City Museum. Otto Dibbelt and his work for Kolberger Heimatkunde , Bd 3, 2 Tle
• Harald Benke (German Oceanographic Museum), "Sea and Museum" series , Volume 19, 2006
• Grete Grewolls: Who was who in Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania. The dictionary of persons . Hinstorff Verlag, Rostock 2011, ISBN 978-3-356-01301-6 , p. 2099 .
• Burkhard Kunkel: About the 'duration of works'. Manuscript and early print fragments as historical sources. The collection of the Kolberg scholar Otto Dibbelt . In: Natalija A. Ganina and others (ed.): Medieval and modern holdings in Russian libraries and archives (German-Russian research on book history 3). Stuttgart 2016 ISBN 978-3-515-11228-4 , pp. 229-247.

Web links

• Literature about Otto Dibbelt in the state bibliography MV
• Marine Museum: No looted art from the Nazi era (Juliane Voigt)