Imperial arboretum

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The Reichsarboretum was an arboretum project in the time of National Socialism in Frankfurt am Main .

history

prehistory

The idea for a Reichsarboretum came from an article published in October 1936 by the President of the German Dendrological Society , Curt von Friedrich-Schroeter (1886–1946). The idea was taken up by the German Society for Garden Culture and the German Dendrological Society . On March 12, 1937, the first exploratory discussion took place between the Reich Forestry Office, the Reich Ministry of Science , the German Research Foundation, the German Society for Garden Culture (now renamed the German Garden Society ), the German Dendrological Society , the German Municipal Association and experts. On February 25, 1938, at a follow-up meeting, it was decided to form a Reich arboretum. This should not conduct its own research, but make space available to relevant research institutes. Due to its central location and its favorable climate, Frankfurt was chosen as the headquarters.

Founding and board members

On August 25, 1938 took place in Romer , the inaugural meeting of the Society Reichsarboretum e. V. instead. Reichsforstmeister Hermann Göring appointed Heinrich Eberts as chairman. Friedrich-Schroeter became his deputy. The board also included:

Heinrich Wiepking-Jürgensmann was a board member of the Reich Ministry of Science . The Freiburg university professor Eduard Zentgraf was chairman of the scientific advisory board, the Lord Mayor of Frankfurt Friedrich Krebs chaired the administrative advisory board.

history

The importance of the Reichsarboretum project also resulted from the self-sufficiency policy of the National Socialists. Resins, varnishes, oils, tannins, fibers, rubber and medicaments were to be obtained as by-products of the plants to be researched and cultivated, and in this respect to make the empire independent of imports.

The city made the Villa Bockenheimer Landstrasse 102 available to the association rent-free. The villa had passed into the ownership of the city from the Jewish Sondheimer family in 1937. After the family had already left Germany for the Netherlands in 1932, they subsequently emigrated to America in 1939 to avoid persecution by the National Socialists. World icon

Above all, however, the city of Frankfurt made 350 hectares available as the main facility. The area included today's Niddapark as well as adjacent areas that are now built on with the A 66 , Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße , St. Markus Hospital and parts of the Willi Brundert settlement. These areas bordered the existing Grüneburgpark , the Palmengarten and the botanical institute of the university in the east . In addition, subsystems in Freiburg im Breisgau , Graz and Karlsruhe were to become part of the Reichsarboretum. World icon

The establishment of the Reichsarboretum took place during the Second World War . The society, which in the fall of 1941 had a total of 215 individual members and 42 corporations, began preparatory work for the main facility, created a nursery garden at Ginnheimer Landstrasse 56-60 , and began to procure plants and build a library. Due to the war, however, only a few resources and resources were available, so that this preparatory work was limited.

An air raid on September 12, 1944 severely damaged the company's offices. In particular, the collection of cones, seeds and wood, the wood herring and the establishment of the photo laboratory fell victim to the flames.

Development after the Second World War

After the end of the war, the American occupation authorities confiscated the villa. The Reichsarboretum Society moved into rooms at Bockenheimer Landstrasse 97 . The association remained in existence, with the dendrologist Franz Boerner becoming deputy chairman instead of Friedrich-Schroeter .

The first post-war general meeting took place on February 8, 1947. However, the association was in fact unable to work due to the inaccessibility, death or political stress of many board members. The association's library had already been taken over by the city and university library in 1946.

Nevertheless, the Frankfurt city council decided on March 11, 1948 to continue to be interested in the project. The offer to set up the office on Oberschweinstiege in the Frankfurt city forest was accepted in 1952 by the German Arboretum Association, which was newly founded in Kiel on August 7, 1950 . V. refused.

A small remnant of the Reichsarboretum with a group of individual trees of different species has been preserved to the present day on the right bank of the Nidda on the southern edge of the Römerstadt settlement in Frankfurt-Heddernheim . These relics, like most of the former site of the Reichsarboretum (Niddapark) to the left of the Nidda, belong to the Frankfurt Green Belt .

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ City of Frankfurt am Main, Environment Agency (ed.): The green belt leisure map. 7th edition, 2011