Walther Emeis

Hermann Carl Thomas Walther Emeis (born May 10, 1891 in Flensburg ; † May 28, 1973 there ) was a German biologist and conservationist.

Life

Walther Emeis was a son of Thomas August Willibald Emeis (born November 2, 1862 in Plön ; † February 18, 1947 in Flensburg) and his wife Marie Hermine Rebecka, née Baumann (born October 26, 1867 in Ottensen ; † December 30, 1926 in Flensburg). The father worked as a landscape gardener and owned a tree nursery in Flensburg. The maternal grandfather was the goldsmith David Peter Herrmann Baumann (1803-1891). The paternal grandfather was the provincial forest director Carl Emeis .

Emeis finished a visit to the old grammar school in Flensburg in 1910 with a university entrance qualification. He then studied natural sciences and geography at universities in Freiburg, Halle and Kiel. He completed his studies in Kiel in 1914 with a doctorate as Dr. phil. from. He wrote "About the development of eggs in the Coccidae" (scale insects). During the First World War he fought as a volunteer. He was seriously injured and returned to his homeland in 1916. In the same year he got a position as an assistant at the Zoological Institute of the University of Kiel .

In 1917 Emeis passed the state examination for the higher teaching post. From 1919 to 1924 he worked as a study assessor at the high school in Rendsburg . He then taught as a student councilor and later as a senior student councilor at his former school, the old grammar school. From 1946 he worked as a lecturer for biology at the University of Education in Flensburg . In September 1949 he accepted a professorship, which he held until his retirement in 1959.

Working as a biologist and conservationist

Emeis came from a family that had been involved in forestry since his great-grandfather. His parents' house also shaped him. Even as a schoolboy he dealt extensively with the flora and fauna of Schleswig-Holstein. As a biologist, he later mostly carried out ornithological studies and researched insects in the region. From the mid-1920s onwards, he focused on the common hymenoptera and the two-winged species.

Based on his geography studies, Emeis conducted extensive research on the geology of Schleswig-Holstein. He often traveled across Europe, doing comparative scientific studies. He published over 200 works and gave lectures, which he provided with his own drawings and photographs. He was therefore considered the leading local scientist in Schleswig-Holstein. The "Introduction to the animal and plant life of Schleswig-Holstein", which he wrote in 1950, developed into a standard work.

In addition to its work, Emeis has been involved in nature and landscape conservation on a voluntary basis for more than fifty years. In 1916 he represented the province of Schleswig-Holstein at the 8th annual conference for the preservation of natural monuments in Berlin . In the same year he took over the management of the Schleswig-Holstein Provincial Committee for Natural Monument Preservation. Later he was appointed "Provincial Commissioner for the Preservation of Natural Monuments" and in 1935 the State Commissioner for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management. He ended his activities in 1968. In nominal terms, he was able to put so many natural monuments under protection and created landscape protection areas that Schleswig-Holstein became a leader in German nature conservation. He achieved pioneering work in the area of ​​nature conservation, which was only being developed at the time.

Emeis also wanted to create a natural history museum in Flensburg. He was in charge of what was initially a small collection that was located in the city library. This resulted in the Flensburg Natural Science Museum, an exemplary display collection. Most of the exhibits came from Emeis himself.

Honors

Emeis has received numerous awards for his work:

• In 1961 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class.
• The Ornithological Working Group for Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg appointed him honorary chairman in 1961.
• In 1965 he got the Lornsen chain of the Schleswig-Holstein Homeland League .

In addition, he was an honorary member of several natural history associations in Schleswig-Holstein.

family

Emeis married Elisabeth ( Lisa ) Witt on July 29, 1919 in Kiel (born March 18, 1897 in Kiel; † October 14, 1980 in Flensburg). Her father Johannes Gottlob Julius Witt (1862-1934) worked as technical director of the Kieler Landesbrandkasse and was married to Ernestine, née Henning (1871-1946).

The Emeis couple had two sons and a daughter.

literature

• Emeis, Walther . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 8. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1987, pp. 92-94.