Walter Hulverscheidt

Walter Hulverscheidt (born December 14, 1899 in Aachen , † June 19, 1989 in Hoya ) was a German forester and author. The long-time director of the Ahlhorn Forestry Office became known nationwide for his humorous hunting books and extensive lecturing.

Live and act

Walter Hulverscheidt was born as the son of the cloth manufacturer Carl Hulverscheidt and his wife Elfriede, née Schulze, on December 14, 1899 in Aachen. After attending the humanistic Royal Kaiser Wilhelm High School and the Adolfinum High School in Moers , he registered as a war volunteer with the Guard Jäger Battalion in Potsdam, where he also took a secondary school diploma. In 1918 he fought on the Western Front , where he was wounded. For his war effort, Hulverscheidt received the Iron Cross 2nd class. It was not until 1919 that he was able to catch up on a full high school diploma at the Viktoria Gymnasium in Potsdam.

Walter Hulverscheidt then studied law for two semesters at the University of Berlin and from 1920 to 1921 did his forestry apprenticeship at the Prussian Forestry Office in Gramzow in the Uckermark . This was followed by studying forest sciences at the Hann. Münden and Eberswalde , which he completed in 1924 with the trainee exam. After the clerkship and the state exam (Grand Forestry State Examination) 1927, he promptly as Forsteinrichter in forestry office Fritzen in the district of Konigsberg used. On June 14, 1927, he married Karola Schildt (1903–1986) in Oldenbrok . The couple had twin daughters Christel and Ilse (* 1928) and son Walter (* 1935).

As early as November 1927, Hulverscheidt received a job as administrator of the Fürstenwalde / Spree urban forest , which in the 1930s was the third largest urban forest in the state of Brandenburg with 5035 hectares (as of 1937) . In Fürstenwalde, the young family moved into the "Kleine Tränke" chief forester on the Spree . The Fürstenwalde city forest, however, consisted almost exclusively of pure pine stands . During his 18-year activity in Fürstenwalde, Hulverscheidt established 526 hectares of new forest there, 127 hectares of which were made of hardwood , mainly oak . “In terms of silviculture, Fürstenwalde was the poorest forest office , but in terms of hunting it was the most appealing that I have ever managed,” he said later, looking back on his work on the Spree. He was alluding to the occurrence of red deer and fallow deer , although the avid hunter Hulverscheidt was particularly fond of hunting for the latter. In Fürstenwalde he also held the office of district hunter master for a long time. His hunting guests included Reich Forest Master Hermann Göring and General Forest Master Friedrich Alpers .

When Hulverscheidt, who had been a member of the NSDAP since 1935 , made derogatory comments on the crimes of the Reichspogromnacht in November 1938, he ran the risk of being arrested by the Gestapo for making statements hostile to the state . Hulverscheidt responded successfully to a denunciation by one of his forest rangers with a charge of defamation against the informer, citing his high-ranking hunting guests from the ranks of the party and the state forest administration.

He then held the function of Fürstenwalder Stadtforstmeister until he was expelled by the Russian military in April 1945. He followed his wife, who had fled to the Oldenburger Land with the children in February . There, forester Hulverscheidt was appointed head of the Ahlhorn Forestry Office from January 1946 , where he was mainly engaged in large-scale construction and firewood chopping on the orders of the Allied occupying powers in the first post-war years. The need for wood was so great that even a third of the historic forest area "Baumweg" fell victim to it. The numerous clear-cutting areas that were created in the forestry department had to be reforested afterwards. Mainly coniferous woods ( pine , larch , Douglas fir , strobe and spruce ) were used, but also hardwoods such as oak , birch and beech .

Hulverscheidt also played a key role in the construction of a new forestry office building in 1948/1949 as a replacement for the old building, which burned down due to the effects of the war in 1945. The new building in the Lower Saxon half-timbered style in red tiles and with a thatched roof was built on the same property, but further back. Walter Hulverscheidt then lived in the new building with his family.

The passionate hunter Hulverscheidt has written three humorous books about the hunt, which he illustrated himself in the style of the drawings by Wilhelm Busch, whom he admired . Everyone fed on experiences from the Fürstenwald time. "I started to write and rhyme in order to gentle teaching my Berlin shooting tenant " he once said about his literary activity from the 1935th

His works made him known throughout Germany, as did his numerous radio lectures and "lecture tours" throughout Germany, during which he spoke about hunting and forest topics. He benefited from his excellent rhetorical talent. He was also welcome as a guest speaker at hunters' meetings and spiced up some of the annual “Green Evenings” of the Oldenburg forest people with his infectious cheerfulness. Hulverscheidt, a great admirer of Theodor Fontane , was able to declaim entire pages from memory, for example from Effi Briest . He was also an excellent imitator of bird calls and the sounds of fallow deer.

Hulverscheidt also recognized the importance of forest education very early on . So it was very important to him to introduce the post-war youth to the forest . For this purpose, he gave lectures on forests and game in schools and organized numerous forest tours in the Ahlhorn Forestry Office. For the Blockhausbriefe , the organ of the Protestant youth home “Blockhaus Ahlhorn”, which was published annually from 1956 to 1986 by Rolf von der Dovenmühle (1915–2001), he wrote several contributions.

At the end of 1964 he retired. Forester a. D. Walter Hulverscheidt died on June 19, 1989 at the age of 89 in Hoya.

Works

• The laughing teaching prince. The hunter and the hunt. Stared at and laughed at, described and illustrated and devised by Walter Hulverscheidt , Neudamm and Berlin 1939 (currently as 3rd edition, Melsungen 2001, ISBN 3-7888-0744-X )
• ... and there said the Jägermeister. A cheerful book , Berlin and Hamburg 1950 (3rd edition, Hamburg and Berlin 1966)
• Rudolf the hunter. A happy book for young and old , Hanover 1952

Quote

"It is the tragedy in the work of the forester that he does not reap what he has sown, and it is his joy that his work outlasts him."

- Walter Hulverscheidt

literature

• Eilert Tantzen : Walter Hulverscheidt . In: Ders .: Oldenburgische Försterchronik 1650-1950. Including the former Oldenburg region of Lübeck (1773-1937) and Birkenfeld (1817-1937) ( Aus dem Walde , vol. 53). Isensee, Oldenburg 2000, pp. 147-149, ISBN 3-89598-753-0 .
• Thomas Weber: Walter Hulverscheidt . In: Albrecht Milnik (Ed.) Et al .: In the service of the forest. Life paths and achievements of Brandenburg forest people. Brandenburg pictures of life . Verlag Kessel, Remagen-Oberwinter 2006, pp. 342–343, ISBN 3-935638-79-5 .

Concrete individual evidence

1. ↑ see Thomas Weber: Walter Hulverscheidt . In: Albrecht Milnik (Ed.): In the service of the forest. Life paths and achievements of Brandenburg forest people. Brandenburgische Lebensbilder , p. 343
2. ↑ ^{a b} see Thomas Weber: Walter Hulverscheidt . In: Albrecht Milnik (Ed.): In the service of the forest. Life paths and achievements of Brandenburg forest people. Brandenburgische Lebensbilder , p. 342.
3. ^ Eilert Tantzen: Walter Hulverscheidt . In: Ders .: Oldenburgische Försterchronik 1650-1950. Including the former Oldenburg regions of Lübeck (1773-1937) and Birkenfeld (1817-1937) , p. 148.
4. ↑ Walter Hulverscheidt: Landschaft im Wandel der Zeit , in: Blockhausbrief number 6 (1961) Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Web links

• Literature by and about Walter Hulverscheidt in the catalog of the German National Library
• Walter Hulverscheidt: Landscape through the ages , in: Blockhausbrief number 6 (1961)
• Walter Hulverscheidt: The "Damzicken" in Baumweg , in: Blockhausbrief No. 8 (1963)