Otto Willke

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Otto Willke (born January 28, 1876 in Braunschweig ; † November 30, 1961 ) was a German local researcher and conservationist .

Life

Willke was born as the son of the grocers Heinrich Willke and Luise Willke , née Adenstedt . After attending a Fröbel kindergarten , Willke first went to the community school in Braunschweiger Okerstraße and from the age of 10 to the Martino Katharineum grammar school in his hometown. In 1895 Willke graduated from high school and studied medicine in Leipzig , Göttingen and Berlin until 1902 . Willke had previously considered becoming a musician, head forester or pastor. From 1902 to 1904 he worked as an assistant doctor in the Braunschweig Marienstift before he settled as a general practitioner in Braunschweig on October 1, 1904.

Volunteering

In 1904 he helped found the German Federal Homeland Security and in 1908 was one of the founding members of the Braunschweigisches Landesverein für Heimatschutz . In 1910 he founded the Braunschweigische local group of the Federation for Bird Protection , which made him an honorary member in 1938. From 1915 he also worked for the Reich Agency for Nature Conservation in Berlin as a shop steward for the state of Braunschweig. Since 1924 he was a member of the board of the Braunschweigische Landesverein für Heimatschutz. Here he became an honorary member in 1946. From 1925 to 1946 he was a member of the state committee for the preservation of monuments of the state of Braunschweig.

Since 1920 he was a member of the Advisory Board of the Lower Saxony Homeland Federation . Here, too, he became an honorary member in 1955. Willke wrote a large number of articles for the magazine Braunschweigische Heimat . In 1929 he created a bibliography on Braunschweigische Heimatkunde.

In 1933, the Braunschweig State Ministry appointed him State Commissioner for Nature Conservation in the State of Braunschweig. After the official restructuring of the Reich Nature Conservation Act in 1940 , he became the district commissioner for nature conservation in Braunschweig.

In the course of his voluntary work, he was involved in the establishment of eight nature and landscape protection areas with a total area of ​​2374 hectares . The designation of 18 natural monuments in Braunschweig also went back to his activity . In particular, he was responsible for maintaining the Riddagshausen and Buchhorst pond area .

From 1952 onwards, Willke was also strongly committed to preserving the 40,000 copies of the Heinemann Beetle Collection for his hometown, which he succeeded in 1955.

Awards

In 1954 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. As early as 1951, on his 75th birthday, the city of Braunschweig named a central hiking trail in the Riddagshausen nature reserve as Dr.-Willke-Weg .

Works

  • Bibliographs of regional and local literature about the Free State of Braunschweig. 1929.

literature

  • Ernst Bode: Otto Willke. Life picture of an exemplary homeland protector. in: Braunschweigische Heimat. 42nd year, 1956, issue 1, p. 1ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stadtchronik Braunschweig, entries for the year 1961 on braunschweig.de
personal data
SURNAME Willke, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German homeland researcher and conservationist
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Braunschweig
DATE OF DEATH November 30, 1961