Furries Museum of the Reichsmesse City Leipzig

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Fur Museum of the Reichsmesstadt Leipzig. Dermoplastic representation of fur animals and fur animal groups - skeleton and skull collection - fur animal farm models - breeding equipment and other farm material - rabbit breeding - fur sheep breeding - fur catching - fur collection - tobacco processing, etc. Leipzig C 1, Sebastian-Bach-Straße 9. Visits until further notice by arrangement.
From: "Der Rauchwarenmarkt" (1943)

The fur specialist museum of the Reichsmesse city Leipzig was a museum in Leipzig . His collection gave an overview of the entire tobacco industry , fur animal zoology, tobacco industry, fur animal trapping and breeding , the tobacco industry, fur dressing and finishing , skinning and fur fashion as well as other areas of the thematic area. It only existed for a short time from the beginning of the collection in 1926 to 1943, when the museum was destroyed during the air raids on Leipzig . The collection of the world's only museum of its kind was almost completely destroyed.

location

Initially, the museum was temporarily housed in the city's own premises at Zentralstrasse 3 ( map ), a cross street off Gottschedstrasse . In January 1939 the company moved to larger and more beautiful, again urban areas. Like the Reich Center for Fur Animal and Tobacco Research , the Pelzfach-Museum was now located at Sebastian-Bach-Straße 9 ( map ) (former Servièrsche Schule) in the Bachviertel , where it was given its own floor on the second floor. With the simultaneous takeover of the Pelzfach Museum by the city, the Mayor of Leipzig, Alfred Freyberg, was given overall supervision of the institution. The classrooms for the German furrier school were inaugurated there on January 30, 1939, together with the fur specialist museum .

history

Advertisement of the fur compartment museum, before moving to the final rooms (1937)

Up until the 1930s, Leipzig was one of the two most important world trading centers for fur , alongside London . The Leipziger Brühl had until World War II, the reputation as "World Road furs," he was the most important street of the city and contributed significantly to Leipzig's international reputation as a commercial metropolis in. For some time, the tobacco industry companies located there generated the largest share of Leipzig's tax revenue. The initiatives for a fur specialist museum go back to the founding year 1926 of the Reich Center for Fur Animal and Tobacco Research. The following year, the Reichszentrale called on members of the branch to cooperate. Some of the exhibits were made according to the information provided by the Reich Center for Fur Animal and Tobacco Research. The Leipzig tobacco wholesaler made a wide variety of fur types available. German fur farms also provided valuable material. A larger addition took place in 1930, after the end of the International Fur Exhibition (IPA) , through the transfer of part of the inventory. This event remained the world's largest external presentation of the fur industry to date. On March 17, 1931, the working group of the German fur industry agreed to found a museum association. He should accept and process the IPA exhibits and the gifts received earlier. In addition to the museum collection, the Reichszentrale maintained an archive and an extensive literature collection, in which, for example, all domestic and foreign magazines were collected that dealt with any sub-area of ​​fur animals and smoked goods.

Professionals from all over the world were among those interested in visiting the collection. In addition to members of the fur industry, zoologists and geographers were named as beneficiaries . The holdings have often already "provided good service in the preparation of scientific papers". Non-specialists were also able to visit the fur specialist museum, and there were occasional guided tours for interested groups.

In December 1943, the fur museum was destroyed in an air raid , and very little was recovered from the rubble and ashes. In particular, this was “a very small part of the valuable library, the picture archive, the skull collection (fur animals) and part of the fur collection”. During the rescue operation, the boys of the St. Thomas' Choir made a special impression. A member of the fur industry writes in retrospect in a letter to his Leipzig colleague Kurt Häse: “[...] in what was then the Reich Center for Fur Animal and Tobacco Research [...] everything was destroyed on December 4, 1943, except for the fur collection owned by the Thomaner saved as most precious in good faith. Of course, the books and magazines would have been more important, but the young guys couldn't have known that ”.

In the specialist fur industry newspaper, “Der Rauchwarenmarkt”, neither the destruction of the Brühl nor the fur museum was mentioned. In mid-July of the same year, on the other hand, a full-page report “Fur zoology in the fur museum of the Reichsmesse City of Leipzig”, announced as part of a sequel series, was published. Due to the war, the newspaper was discontinued after the September 1944 edition.

After the war, the remaining parts of the museum could be used to rebuild the Leipzig Furrier School, which was reopened in spring 1948 and founded in 1928 . At least part of the remainder, including literature from the Reich Center for Fur Animal and Tobacco Research, was in the rooms of the specialist fur publisher Paul Schöps (* January 6, 1905; † February 13, 1987), Leipzig, until his death.

Around the beginning of June 1988, at a celebration in honor of the furrier August Dietzsch, a collection in favor of a furrier cabinet as an "expression of the maintenance of tradition" took place within the furrier craft businesses of the GDR . The guests collected 5,250 marks "as a basis". It then said: "It is certainly in the interest of all donors if the money is not spent haphazardly, but rather according to the statutes to be created." The idea that arose relatively shortly before the political change (1989/90) with the subsequent reunification , however, was not realized.

collection

Fur animals and groups of fur animals were shown in taxidermy preparations. As far as possible, they were arranged according to zoological groups and displayed in showcases and on pedestals. A description from 1939 states: “There are both well-known fur animals as well as those that can only be seen very rarely in a realistic representation. A particularly beautiful group shows a bear seal family from the Pribilof Islands ; from the class of predators may be mentioned a magnificent tiger , leopard , Irbis , leopard , panther , wild cats , small cats of all kinds. The raccoon family is fully represented, pine marten , stone marten , sable , badger , wolverine , otter , among others of course are also blue foxes , silver foxes , red foxes to see also a real South american chinchilla and many other things. " The group of fur seals, consisting of males, females and young animals, was “a masterpiece” by the dermoplastic artist ter Meer , “which aroused general admiration at the IPA as early as 1930 ”.

Special departments were devoted to fur farming, rabbit , silver fox, mink and nutria breeding . Models of farms, individual enclosures, breeding instruments, medicines and preparations were exhibited here.

The fur collection was particularly extensive. Many a furrier saw skins here for the first time that they had hardly known by name. In addition Rohfellen witnessed trimmed (tanned) skins, the color samples and plots of the high level, especially the Leipziger Pelzveredelung industry.

The fur collection also included two prepared chinchillas from the Leipzig fur trader Richard Gloeck , called "Chinchilla King" by his colleagues. He traveled to Chile in 1912 to find out whether the chinchillas were threatened with extinction from over-hunting. He found his fears confirmed and imposed an, albeit hardly effective, state fishing ban. However, he found a family in the inland town of La Sereno who kept three chinchillas as pets. He foresaw the possibility of breeding chinchillas and acquired a male animal that he named Hans and brought to Leipzig in good health. He later had a female bought in Chile, but the hoped-for increase did not work out. But Hans lived in his cage in the Gloeck business premises for eleven years, "until his end he wore an excellent-looking fur".

In the vestibule, old hand-colored drawings of fur animals were exhibited on the walls. A collection of 58 plaster casts of ancient coins depicting fur animals was unusual. The animal science collection was supplemented by a skull and skeleton collection of fur animals, which was available for scientific research. The extensive archive for fur fashion and fur costumes enabled a complete presentation of the changing fur fashion. Devices and pictures on display provided information on hair and fur science, skinning, pest control , fur hunting and fur fishing .

Other collections

  • Fur collection of the Federal Fur School Frankfurt am Main
Red fox pelts of the fur collection
The fur collection of the Federal Fur School (previously Bergius Vocational School, today Frankfurt School for Clothing and Fashion, Frankfurt / Main), which is probably unique in its scope, was collected by senior teacher Ludwig Brauser (born September 30, 1924 - † March 17, 2009). The inventory in 1981 was exemplarily documented by the Frankfurt photographer "Mickey" (Karl-Heinz) Bohnacker (* 1928), see the fur collection of the Federal Pelzfachschule . The skins are currently stored in the rooms of the Senckenberg Naturmuseum , Frankfurt / Main. As of 2017 Plans to set up a fur museum in Frankfurt had already progressed so far in March 1985 that the city should offer the fur industry a plot of land for the construction of a four-story building on the left bank of the Main, the "Museumufer", on very favorable terms. However, a branch museum was not set up.
  • Franke collection
G. & C. Franke Collection: Adam and Eve as the first fur bearers (relief)
The G. & C. Franke collection mainly comprised prints and all publications on the tobacco and fur branch in the broadest sense. It arose largely in connection with the publishing activities of the fur finishers, tobacco merchants and specialist publishers Richard Franke and his son Christian Franke. They not only published the fur industry's most important specialist book on fur animal studies, Jury Fränkel's Rauchwaren-Handbuch , but also, according to their own statement, the “only literary and humorous industry magazine in the world”, Die Pelzmotte , for which they constantly needed new material . The sophisticated satirical magazine was published from 1956 to 2007.
The collection, which had been assembled in two generations, was intended for later use in a planned fur museum in Frankfurt am Main . The archive contained, among other things, copies of the partly unpublished original manuscripts of the Berlin smokers commissioner Philipp Manes : The German fur industry and its associations 1900 - 1940. An attempt at a story . Berlin 1940; as well as the London tobacco shop Francis Weiss : From Adam to Madam. A History of Furs ; Working documents of the fur specialist author and publisher Dr. Paul Schöps; and manuscripts by the tobacco shop and author Jury Fränkel . It also contained parts of the collection of the English fur publishers Winckelmann family, most recently Ralf Winckelmann, a large part of which, however, had already fallen victim to the bombing raids on London (" The Blitz "). After the failure of the museum plans, the Franke Collection was almost dissolved.
  • Tranås Fur Museum
Poster for the opening of the Fur Museum in Tranås
In 2003 the fur industry established a fur museum in Tranås in the Swedish province of Jönköpings län in the historical province of Småland , known as the “fur town” . The exhibition “From fur to soft fur” conveys a picture of the “fur town of Tranås”.

literature

Web links

Commons : Pelzfach-Museum der Reichsmessestadt Leipzig  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Without indication of the author: From the Pelzfach-Museum in Leipzig . In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt No. 13/14, March 26, 1943, p. 5.
  2. ^ A b Walter Fellmann: The Leipziger Brühl . VEB Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, 1st edition, 1989, pp. 157–158.
  3. ^ Gottlieb Albrecht: The Leipzig fur market with special consideration of its tobacco trade . W. Postberg, Bottrop 1931, pp. 37-38.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Without indication of the author: The Pelzfach-Museum in Leipzig . In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt No. 15, April 14, 1939, p. 9.
  5. ^ Paul Schöps: a) Correspondence ; b) The Reich Center for Fur Animal and Tobacco Research. Your Institutions for Practice and Science - A Review. In: Winckelmann Pelzmarkt No. 601, July 17, 1981, pp. 6-9.
  6. ↑ Richard Franke to Kurt Häse , Leipzig Thomaner save materials from the burning fur museum.
  7. ↑ Editor in conversation with August Dietzsch: A master furrier remembers (VII). In: Brühl , September / October 1988.
  8. ↑ Christine Speer, Lienhard Jänsch: From times long past . In: 1923 - 1998. 575 years of the furrier guild in Leipzig . P. 43.
  9. ^ In: Die Pelzwirtschaft , January 1, 1956; and Winckelmann International Fur Bulletin , editor Winckelmann Publications Ltd., London. No. 2068, February 13, 1987.
  10. ↑ Michael Kaufmann: Dear Mrs. Unrein! Letter to the editor-in-chief of the fur magazine Brühl dated June 10, 1988, Udo Meinelt & Sons collection . Note: The amount was paid into a special account at Sparkasse Leipzig.
  11. ↑ a b Without indication of the author: Fur animal zoology in the fur museum of the Reichsmesse city Leipzig . In: Der Rauchwarenmarkt No. 27, July 16, 1943, p. 4.
  12. ↑ Josef Zettl: The chinchilla . FC Mayer Verlag, Munich-Solln, 1953, pp. 41-45.
  13. ↑ Edmund Bickel: South American chinchillas, how to keep and breed them. 2nd improved edition, Albrecht Philler Verlag, Minden (Westf.) 1961, pp. 27-29.
  14. ^ Date according to information from the publisher Peter Gesellius, CB-Verlag Carl Bold, Berlin, where the slides were published.
  15. ↑ www.journal-frankfurt.de, Jan-Otto Weber: The unknown face Mickey Bohnacker . July 7, 2008 . Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  16. ↑ Without an author's name: Fur Museum in Frankfurt . In: Winckelmann Pelzmarkt , No. 788, March 15, 1985, p. 9.
  17. ↑ The fur moth . Commons: collection of images.
  18. ↑ On August 11, 1981, the English fur specialist publisher Winckelmann wrote to his German colleague Christian Franke about Arthur Frayling's specialist collection, that of Francis (Franz) Weiss, the specialist fur museum in Leipzig and the planned (which did not materialize) fur museum in Frankfurt am Main .
  19. ^ Fur Museum advances ; Center for Fur Industry. Research and History 1926 to 1945, Leipzig . In: Fur Bulletin , Winckelmann Publications Ltd., London 1981 (English).
  20. ↑ www2.visitsmaland.se: Eriksbergsmuseum
  21. ↑ www.museum-aktuell.de (English)