Otto Kleinschmidt

This article deals with the German theologian Otto Kleinschmidt. For the surgeon of the same name, see Otto Kleinschmidt (Mediziner) .

Memorial stone for Otto Kleinschmidt in Dedersleben

Illustration from The Songbirds of the Homeland (1921)

Otto Kleinschmidt (completely Konrad Ernst Adolf Otto Kleinschmidt ; born December 13, 1870 in Kornsand near Geinsheim am Rhein , † March 25, 1954 in Wittenberg ) was a German Protestant clergyman and biologist .

Life

Born as the son of factory inspector Adolf Karl Julius August Kleinschmidt († November 4, 1918) and his wife Anna Elise Caroline Dreydorff († September 2, 1907), he attended secondary school in Oppenheim , went to high school in Mainz and enrolled at the in 1891 University of Marburg to study theology. But from the beginning ornithological studies were on an equal footing with theological studies. During his studies several ornithological articles appeared, including a work on varieties of the jay in 1893 , which was printed shortly after a study trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina . He made this trip with Ernst Hartert , with whom he had a lifelong friendship. Kleinschmidt moved to the University of Berlin and back to Marburg, where he passed his first theological exam in 1895. He became assistant to the old master of ornithology Count Hans Hermann Carl Ludwig von Berlepsch at Berlepsch Castle near Kassel. It was there that he met his future wife. In 1898 he moved to Schönstadt near Marburg as vicar and was ordained a Protestant pastor on November 2, 1899 after passing the second theological exam. His first pastor was Volkmaritz near Eisleben. In 1905 he was a prize winner in a competition for advertising designs for joint advertising by Ludwig Stollwerck and Otto Henkell . In 1910 he changed to the neighboring Dederstedt as a pastor and in 1927 became provincial pastor in the Wittenberg , where he was the founder of the ecclesiastical research home for Weltanschauungskunde (later known as the church research home), which he headed for 26 years.

Basic knowledge

Kleinschmidt researched geographical varieties in the animal kingdom. He recognized that animal forms, which are represented in their geographical distribution, are races of one and the same species , even if they vary greatly morphologically and anatomically. Conversely, animal forms that may look very similar to one another and occur in the same area, but do not mix sexually, belong to different species. In order to document this new concept of species, he no longer spoke of "species" but of "circles of form". Ernst Mayr , who created the term “ super species ” in 1931 , thus continued Kleinschmidt's impulse. From a taxonomic point of view, Mayr's “super species” is exactly what Kleinschmidt meant by “circle of forms”. The publications in which Kleinschmidt presented his theory of the circle of shapes most clearly are "Types or Circles of Forms" (1900) and "Falco Peregrinus" (1912 ff). Mayr praised Kleinschmidt's circle of forms in 1963, saying it was "perhaps the greatest conceptual revolution, that has taken place in biology".

However, Kleinschmidt did not stop at the field of taxonomy, but came to conclusions about the possibility of descent and was able to refute hypotheses about trans-specific evolution in some detailed questions and provide evidence for (only) intraspecific processes ( i.e. race regeneration instead of species regeneration ), for example with Pithecanthropus erectus , which he assigned to the genus Homo as Homo sapiens erectus as early as 1928 and which is now referred to as Homo erectus . Conversely, he reconstructed skull fragments from Ehringsdorf primitive man so that they show a Neanderthal man , but not a transitional form from Neanderthal man to modern man.

Collector, draftsman, taxidermist for the research home

Kleinschmidt built an exhibition in Wittenberg Castle , where the research center was located, which contained many of his own preparations. His animal preparations are praised for their liveliness and charm. His animal drawings are considered real works of art. As a collector, Kleinschmidt had already published a catalog of his ornithological collection in 1935, which contained around 10,000 copies. At that time, when he was 65 years old, he didn't really want to continue collecting, but by the time he died, around 2,000 more bellows and preparations were added. The first collection was bought in 1935 by the Reich Minister for Science, Education and National Education and the District President in Cologne for the Museum Koenig in Bonn, which underlines the importance and recognition. Another part was sold to the Museum für Tierkunde Dresden in the 1970s and 1990s . During his time with Count Berlepsch, he had rediscovered the threatened collection of the “bird pastor” Christian Ludwig Brehm and saved it by selling it to the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum in Tring near London.

Even an expert in both disciplines, the dialogue between biology and theology has been the focus of his work since 1927. Unlike the majority of his theological colleagues, he did not have to accept the scientific findings uncritically in order to passively adapt the theology to the scientific worldview, but he was able to scientifically question anti-theological front positions, which were enriched with scientific arguments, and present alternative designs. This also happened, especially with questions of new species and paleanthropology.

The discussion between theology and the natural sciences is mainly contributed by Kleinschmidt's books "Natural Science and Faith Knowledge" (1930), "Der Urmensch" (1931) and the essay "New to the old topic 'Thoughts of Development and Faith in Creation" (1936). However, there was no understanding with Darwinists. In basic questions of the doctrine of descent, apologetics and accusation remained, often on both sides.

time of the nationalsocialism

Initially, the National Socialists wanted to use his book “Kurzgefße deutsche Rassenkunde” (Brief German Racial Studies) (1933) as a school book in Bavaria, and Kleinschmidt thought this was possible. But his conceptions of race and species could not be used for the purposes of the National Socialists. In 1933, the book was confiscated and banned. This superficial presentation overlooks the fact that the book had only been confiscated in September 1933 because Kleinschmidt had gotten into an internal party scientific dispute through the propagation of a "German race" without being a party member himself. His only marginally changed book was published two months later under the new title "Rasse und Kind". A fundamental opposition to the Nazi system cannot be derived from this. Kleinschmidt has remained silent on the subject of “human races” since then, although the geographical variation in animals and humans was his special topic. The liberation from National Socialism , therefore, he experienced as a personal exemption.

After 1945

As a result, the Soviet military administration allowed the original name "Research Home for Weltanschauungskunde" again, which had been eliminated during the Nazi era. Immediately after the GDR was founded and the German Communists came to power, the research center had to add the additional “Church Research Home”. Before that, Kleinschmidt opened the special exhibition “The fascist madness in front of the forum of liberated science”, in which he settled especially with the fascist “eugenics”, but also presented his own “formal theory”.

In 1949 his essay "The hazel grouse of the Soviet Union from the point of view of world form research" appeared. In doing so, he continued research from the pre-war period. In the Wittenberg Ziemsen publishing house he initiated the " Neue Brehm-Bücherei ", whose editor he was until his death. Kleinschmidt also wrote two volumes for the Brehm library.

Otto Kleinschmidt got involved in local politics after the end of the war. To the annoyance of the GDR CDU , of which he had become a member, he ran as a non-party member of the SED in 1946 . He then left the CDU and became an independent city councilor for the SED. A little later, however, he announced his resignation from this office. He continued his work in the research center until 1953 and died at the age of 83. His son, pastor Hans Kleinschmidt, continued his work in the research home. He also got the 3rd edition of the bird of prey book, in which he tried to build a bridge between the Kleinschmidtschen and the conventional animal system. Otherwise, Siegfried Eck (Dresden) carefully picked up on the natural scientific legacy and commented on it foresight.

Honors

When the church appointed Kleinschmidt to head the research center, he had already been honored several times by the scientific community, although he had strong opponents, especially among the Darwinists. In 1923 the medical faculty in Halle ad Saale made him an honorary doctorate for his masterful anatomical and morphological studies, in 1924 the German Ornithological Society made him an honorary member and in 1926 Kleinschmidt became a member of the Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina in Halle.

Fonts

• The Palearctic Marsh Tits. In: Ornith. Jahrb., 1897, 45-103
• Types or form circles? In: Journ. Orn. 1900, 134-139
• Ornis of Marburg, 1903
• Falco Peregrinus. In: Berajah. Zoographia infinita. From 1912
• The songbirds of home. Leipzig 1913, 9th edition Heidelberg 1951
• Homo Sapiens (L.) A natural history monograph of man. In: Berajah. Zoographia infinita. From 1922
• The theory of form circles and the becoming of life. Halle ad Saale, 1926
• Guide through the exhibition collections of the Research Center for Weltanschauungskunde in Wittenberg. Wittenberg 1929
• The task of the research home for Weltanschauung. In: Leopoldina. Reports of the Imperial Leopoldine German Academy of Natural Scientists in Halle, Vol. 5. Leipzig 1929, 9-14
• Science and belief. Berlin 1930
• The primitive man. Leipzig 1931
• Brief German racial studies. Wittenberg 1933
• Blood and race. The position of the evangelical Christian on the demands of eugenics. Berlin 1933
• The birds of prey at home. Leipzig 1934, 3rd edition Wittenberg 1958
• Catalog of my ornithological collection. Halle ad Saale 1935
• News on the old topic "Thought of development and belief in creation". In: Zeitschr. Theol. u. Church 1936, H. 3, 241-254
• The hazel grouse of the Soviet Union from the point of view of world form research. In: Contribution taxon. Zool. 1949, 101-121
• Die Kolibris, Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei Vol. 1 , Wittenberg 1949, 4th edition Hohenwarsleben 2007
• From AE Brehm's diaries, Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei Vol. 28 , 3rd edition Hohenwarsleben 2002
• The magic of Brehm's animal life, Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei Vol. 20 , 3rd edition Hohenwarsleben 2002
• About the variation of the Garrulus glandarius and its related species. In: Orn. Jahrb., 1983, 167-219

family

On November 9, 1899, Kleinschmidt married the educator Clara Krebel (born September 20, 1875 in Barby; † May 19, 1957 in Wittenberg), daughter of the secret building officer Moritz Krebel († January 11, 1926) and the Philippine Christiane Auguste Martha (b . Kleckow; † 1936). From this marriage come a daughter and two sons:

• Elisabeth-Charlotte Kleinschmidt, married Weyl (born September 12, 1900 in Wittenberg; † February 21, 1988)
• Adolf Kleinschmidt (born April 14, 1904 in Wittenberg; † May 9, 1999), zoologist
• Hans Kleinschmidt (born October 1, 1908 in Wittenberg; † March 28, 1986 in Wittenberg), pastor and director of the Wittenberg Research Center from 1953 to 1975

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hofacker, Prof. Karl: Kunstgewerbeblatt 16th year, Leipzig, 1905.
2. ↑ Cf. Antje Schober (2005), Otto Kleinschmidt - Theologe, Naturwissenschaftler und Rassenkundler , pp. 43–45, http://www.hof.uni-halle.de/wb-nach-der-uni/download/A_Schober_MA. pdf (accessed March 19, 2018). See also the discussion page.

literature

• Michael Beleites : Otto Kleinschmidt's theory of the circle of shapes - a different view of nature. In: Letters for orientation in the human-earth conflict. Wittenberg (Kirchliches Forschungsheim), 17th year, No. 39 (documents an exhibition that was shown from June to December 1996 in the Wittenberg Research Center).
• Siegfried Eck: Geographical animal and human forms named or co-named by O. Kleinschmidt. In: Zool. Dep. Mus. Tierk. Dresden, Vol. 31, 1970, pp. 63-84.
• Siegfried Eck: Directory of O. Kleinschmidt's circle names with comments on the circle nomenclature. In: Zool. Dep. Mus. Tierk. Dresden, Vol. 31, 1970, pp. 85-137.
• Siegfried Eck: The development of super-specific terms in zoological taxonomy since the turn of the century. In. Biologische Rundschau 16 (1978), no. 2, pp. 98-103.
• Siegfried Eck: Otto Kleinschmidt's second ornithological collection in the Museum für Tierkunde Dresden. In. Zool. Dep. Mus. Tierk. Dresden, Vol. 51, 2001, pp. 119-132.
• Hans-Peter Gensichen: Nature and natural science in the work of Otto Kleinschmidt, doctoral thesis, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Theological Faculty, Halle (Saale) 1977, 2 volumes (typewriter)
• Hans-Peter Gensichen : Otto Kleinschmidt's theory of shapes: zoogeography, systematics, evolutionary research. Anthropologie, In: Biologische Rundschau 17 (1979), No. 2, pp. 73-84.
• Hans-Peter Gensichen: Theology and natural science with Otto Kleinschmidt. In: Theological Trials XV, 1985. pp. 65-76.
• Hans-Peter Gensichen: From Church to Society. The movement of the Wittenberg research home. In: Jens Hüttmann u. Peer Pasternack (ed.): Traces of knowledge. Education and science in Wittenberg after 1945, Wittenberg 2004, 168–189.
• Hans Kelm: Otto Kleinschmidt and Ernst Hartert. From their correspondence 1895-1932. In: Journ. Orn. Vol. 101, No. 4, 1960, 404-471.
• Jürgen Haffer: The ornithologists Ernst Hartert and Otto Kleinschmidt: Darwinist versus typological views on the species problem. In: Mitt. Zoo. Mus. Berlin (1995) Suppl: Ann. Orn. 19, pp. 3-25.
• Adolf v. Jordans et al. Fritz Peus (ed.): Syllegomene Biologica. Festschrift for Otto Kleinschmidts. Leipzig u. Wittenberg 1950.
• Ernst Mayr: Systematics and the Origin of Species. New York 1942.
• Ernst Mayr: Animal Species and Evolution. Cambridge (Mass) 1963.
• Pastors' book of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony, Leipzig 2006, Vol. 4, 574.
• Adolf Kleinschmidt:  Kleinschmidt, Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 4 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Otto Kleinschmidt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Otto Kleinschmidt in the catalog of the German National Library