Society of German Rose Friends

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Gesellschaft Deutscher Rosenfreunde eV (GRF; until 2007 Verein Deutscher Rosenfreunde (VDR)) is an association of rose lovers founded on September 28, 1883 in Hamburg. The company has its seat in Baden-Baden and is registered at the local court there. It currently has around 9,000 members from Germany and abroad. In the statutes, the aim of the association is to promote rose culture, rose research and rose cultivation within the framework of popular education .

Foundation of an association

In the second half of the 19th century, numerous rose lovers in Germany felt the desire for unity grow stronger. The drawing teacher Friedrich Schneider (1833-1911) , who lives in Wittstock, played a decisive role in the preparations for an organizational merger . As a gardener and chairman of the Wittstocker Association for Horticulture and Agriculture, Schneider was particularly interested in growing roses. To assess the quality of new rose varieties, he drafted the first questionnaire in 1878, which he sent to rose gardeners under the title "Voting on the most beautiful rose varieties" and published in various rose and garden newspapers. The extremely positive response that his campaign generated was an important motivation for a call to found a “Rosist” association. This plan was to be implemented in July 1883 as part of a rose exhibition in Erfurt , but was not implemented until September 28, 1883 in Hamburg . Friedrich Schneider officiated as the recorder of the meeting, during which, after extensive discussion, an understanding was reached about the establishment of the association and the name "Association of German Rose Friends". Ulrich Maximilian von St. Paul-Illaire (1833–1902) was elected the first president.

activities

Rosen-Zeitung (1902): Rosa 'Leuchtstern' ( Kiese & Schmidt , 1899).

Publications

One of the basic goals of the association's work from the beginning was the publication of publications on rose culture, rose cultivation and rose care as teaching and illustrative material , as stated in the association's current statutes. The Rosen-Zeitung , published from 1886 to 1933 and from 1991 to 1993, served this purpose .

The membership magazine has been called Rosenbogen since 1994 , under which it was published from 1964 to 1990.

The first editor of the Rosen-Zeitung was from 1886 to 1890 Conrad Peter Strassheim (1850–1923), after which the Trier- based rose breeder Peter Lambert (1859–1939) took over the function of secretary. From 1923 to 1933 the editorial work was in the hands of Ewald Gnau (1853–1943), who at this time also held the position of managing director of the VDR. In the early years, the Rosen-Zeitung was produced with great technical effort. Each booklet was provided with a chromolithography of a rose watercolor . For the years 1886 to 1920 there were covers decorated with gold print and jewelry.

In addition to the Rosen-Zeitung, a rose yearbook was published for the first time in 1934 , which was also published in the following years up to 1939. One of the editors in these years was the rose grower Wilhelm Kordes . With the beginning of the Second World War , the publication of the yearbook had to be stopped. It appeared again in the years 1950–1973 and since 1990 again continuously.

Promotion of public rose plants

From the beginning, the members of the society saw the promotion of public rose plants as an urgent task of their association's activities. An example of this is the East German rose garden in Forst (Lausitz) , which emerged in 1913 from a rose and garden exhibition organized in honor of the 25th anniversary of the throne of Kaiser Wilhelm II and which became an important rose garden in Germany developed.

The Uetersen Rosarium , which was founded in 1934, based on an idea by the rose breeders Wilhelm Kordes and Mathias Tantau , was also significantly supported by the Association of German Rose Friends. The facility comprises around 35,000 roses of around 1,000 varieties on an area of ​​7 hectares, making it the largest rose garden in northern Germany .

More recently, the establishment of the German Rosarium in the Westfalenpark in Dortmund , based on a contract concluded on May 19, 1969 between the city of Dortmund and the association, has grown into an extensive rose collection since the official opening on July 14, 1972 (approx . 2600 varieties).

The rose garden on the Beutig in Baden-Baden and Europe's rose garden in Zweibrücken should also be mentioned .

The club's own Rosarium Sangerhausen

In order to better accommodate the goal of rose breeding and research, the idea of ​​setting up an association's own rose garden arose early on. With reference to a proposal by Peter Lambert, a corresponding resolution was passed on July 10, 1898 at the general meeting of the association in Gotha . Old, endangered and forgotten rose varieties should be collected and preserved in the association's rosarium .

The suitable place was found - arranged by the businessman Albert Hoffmann and the high school professor Ewald Gnau, two active rose friends from Sangerhausen - in a fallow area above the city park of Sangerhausen. The Erfurt horticultural architect Friedrich Doerr provided the first draft for the facility, but it was already evident during the implementation that - if one wanted to include not only the hybrid rose cultivars of the time , but also the numerous old shrub roses that were still present at the turn of the century - the the space envisaged would not be sufficient. Peter Lambert therefore designed the plan to expand the original, already completed part of the garden with an additional park . In this expanded form, the Sangerhausen Rosarium was ceremoniously opened for the 1903 German Rose Congress. More than 2000 rose species and varieties were presented on an area of ​​six acres . In the first summer, 20,000 rose lovers visited the gardens. Up until the First World War , the area and the rose collection were expanded several times, including in 1909 a collection of wild roses owned by the botanist Georg Dieck , which was previously shown at the Paris World Exhibition .

With a great deal of commitment, it was possible to maintain the rosarium over the period of the First World War and the subsequent, economically difficult 1920s with inflation and the economic crisis . Ewald Gnau, who took over the management of the Rosarium in 1922, played a major role in this. One of the innovations he initiated was the establishment of the first official test center for new roses and the establishment of an extensive library for the VDR and the Sangerhausen Rosarium. In 1924 Gnau was honored with the award of the honorary citizen's letter of the rose town Sangerhausen. In 1933 Gnau refused to be brought into line by the National Socialists and resigned from his offices.

In 1935 a “Central Office for Rose Research” was attached to the Rosarium, under the direction of Harald von Rathlef (1878–1944). Rathlef also took over the management of the rosarium. During the Second World War, the rose collection was poorly preserved. The garden suffered serious losses in the first years after the war, when a large part of the rose collection and the extensive library with over 3,000 titles were brought to the USSR as reparations .

After 1945 - also because the Association of German Rose Friends was then no longer allowed to operate in the GDR - the rose garden was financed with funds from the budget of the city of Sangerhausen. Despite limited possibilities, especially with regard to maintaining international relations, the rose collection was able to be expanded considerably in these years and the task of species and variety conservation was carried out on a large scale. The Rosarium retained its status as a scientific institution and was at the same time a cultural attraction for rose lovers from home and abroad.

After the fall of the Wall , the rosarium quickly regained its international importance. In 1993 the collection was recognized by the Ministry for European Affairs of the State of Saxony-Anhalt as "Europe Rosarium". The General German Rose Examination (ADR) has been held in Sangerhausen since 1994 .

GRF Foundation Europa-Rosarium Sangerhausen

To further promote rose cultivation and research in the Sangerhausen Rosarium, the Association of German Rose Friends established a “VDR Foundation Europe Rosarium Sangerhausen” (today's name “GRF Foundation Europe Rosarium Sangerhausen”). With their help, the Rosarium in Sangerhausen is to undergo further expansion as a world gene bank for roses. In addition, most of the foundation's funds, made up of donations, are used to maintain and expand the gardens.

public relation

Today the association has over 40 groups of friends all over Germany. They offer events on the topic of rose at the regional level, organize rose shows and advise interested garden and rose friends on questions of rose knowledge and use.

Once a year interested association members come together for the rose congress . This event takes place in different locations in Germany and always serves the goal of making the association and its work known to the public.

A special form of public relations work is the awarding of the honorary title Rosenstadt or Rosendorf to municipalities in which roses are cultivated as a defining part of the place.

literature

  • Society of German Rose Friends (ed.): World of roses - history, culture, gardens, personalities. Aquensis Verlag, Baden-Baden 2008, ISBN 3-937978-21-6 .
  • Ingomar Lang (Ed.), Hella Brumme : Europa-Rosarium Sangerhausen. The largest rose collection in the world , DuMont Verlag , Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-7701-3544-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b S etching of the Society of German rose friends e. V. (PDF) June 23, 2018, accessed October 21, 2019 .
  2. ↑ History | Gesellschaft Deutscher Rosenfreunde eV Retrieved on October 21, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Rosarium in Westfalenpark Dortmund, accessed August 2012
  4. ↑ Ingomar Lang (Ed.), Hella Brumme: Europa-Rosarium Sangerhausen. The largest rose collection in the world. DuMont Verlag, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-7701-3544-X , p. 9.
  5. ↑ Ingomar Lang (Ed.), Hella Brumme: Europa-Rosarium Sangerhausen. The largest rose collection in the world. DuMont Verlag, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-7701-3544-X , p. 32.
  6. ^ Rosen Foundation, accessed August 2012
  7. ^ Friends of the Society of German Rose Friends, accessed August 2012