Otto Wittenberg

Otto Wittenberg, 1900

Carl Otto Wittenberg (born March 15, 1834 in Caputh ; † September 4, 1918 Leipzig ) was a landscape gardener and worked as a council gardener and garden director in Leipzig for over 40 years.

Life

Otto Wittenberg was the son of the gardener Friedrich Wittenberg and his wife Marie Dorothee, née Gurth. After attending the high school in Potsdam , he began an apprenticeship with his father in the royal Prussian state tree nursery in Alt- Geltow , which he later continued in the nursery of the Sanssouci Park . It was here that gardening director Peter Joseph Lenné noticed him, and after completing his apprenticeship, he was given responsibility for part of the state nursery.

From 1854 to 1857 Wittenberg did his military service, but was - again at Lenné's instigation - assigned to planting work at Hohenzollern Castle near Hechingen . On October 1, 1857, he began working as a technician with the city of Leipzig, initially maintaining the facilities at Roßplatz (Schillerpark) designed by Lenné . On May 26, 1858 he became council gardener of Leipzig.

Wittenberg's first project in Leipzig was the layout of the Johannapark according to plans by Lenné, which he revised. It is thanks to his initiative that the adjoining meadow areas remained free of buildings and could later - also through him - be turned into parks. As Clara-Zetkin-Park, they form Leipzig's most important central recreation area today.

Wittenberg's grave in the south cemetery in Leipzig

The city's strong expansion during the decades of industrialization in Germany took place during his tenure . In the newly emerging residential areas, spaces for green spaces, so-called decorative spaces, were kept free, which he designed. In the working-class districts in the east of the city ( Sellerhausen , Stünz ) he created parks called Volksgarten and Volkshain.

Wittenberg's best-known work is the Leipzig Südfriedhof , which he designed from 1879 together with city planning director Hugo Licht (architect). With 82 hectares today, it is one of the most important park cemeteries in Germany. The main path system is based on the shape of a linden leaf , the tree that is particularly associated with Leipzig .

On November 7, 1894, Wittenberg was appointed gardening director for the city of Leipzig. He was the first to bear this title. In September 1900 he retired and handed over the official duties to his successor Carl Hampel by the end of the year .

Otto Wittenberg was married to Erdmuthe Dorothea Marie, b. Rentsch (1840-1905). The marriage resulted in the daughter Erdmuthe Marie Elisabeth, married Junne (* 1863), and the son Johannes Erdmann Otto (* 1864), later businessman and factory owner.

Works

The most important parks and green spaces created by Otto Wittenberg in Leipzig:

• Johannapark, 1858–1863 together with PJ Lenné, (location)
• Floßplatz , 1867, (location)
• Disk wood park, 1876/77, (location)
• Marienplatz , 1877, (location)
• Nordfriedhof , 1881, (location)
• Südfriedhof 1879–1886, together with Hugo Licht , (location)
• Albrecht-Dürer-Platz, 1883, (location)
• Heinrich-Schütz-Platz, 1890, (location)
• Volksgarten Sellerhausen , 1895, (location)
• Volkshain Stünz , 1894–1898, (location)
• Stephaniplatz , 1899, (location)
• König-Albert-Park , 1898–1900, (location)
• Southern part of the Eutritzscher Park, 1900, (location)

literature

• The gardens and parks of the city of Leipzig . In: Möller's German gardener newspaper. Central sheet for the entire interests of the nursery 15 (1900), No. 41, ZDB -ID 955101-3 , p. 464 f
• Katrin Löffler; Iris Schöpa; Heidrun Sprinz: The Leipzig South Cemetery. History, gravesites, grave monuments. Edition Leipzig, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-361-00526-4

Web links

• Robert Heinze: Wittenberg, Carl Otto . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography .

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