Wilhelm Hollstein

Wilhelm Hollstein (born April 30, 1898 in Berlin , † June 12, 1973 in Hanover ) was a German soil scientist . It has the small and Large scale soil mapping methodology developed and a binding for the Federal Republic of Germany pedological Mapping worked with.

Professional life path

Wilhelm Hollstein, son of a doctor, began an agricultural apprenticeship after graduating from high school in 1917 , but had to break it off after several months because he was called up for military service. From 1919 he studied geology and mineralogy, first at the Humboldt University in Berlin and from 1920 at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster . In 1922 he received his doctorate there with a geological dissertation on the Teutoburg Forest . He then worked briefly as a miner and geologist in Westphalian collieries .

From 1923 to 1939 Hollstein worked as a scientific assistant at the geological and mineralogical institute of the Technical University of Danzig, which was headed by Hermann Stremme . Here he found his way to soil science , especially soil mapping . From 1940 to 1944 he worked in the mapping department of the Reich Office for Soil Research in Berlin on the production of soil appraisal maps . In 1945 he evaluated the results of the soil assessment at a geographic research center in Kiel - this time for military geological purposes on behalf of the British occupation authorities. From 1946 to 1965 he was a key co-designer of the newly founded soil department of the Federal Institute for Soil Research in Hanover and head of the corresponding Lower Saxony State Office for Soil Research.

Research services

At the Technical University of Danzig , Hollstein initially worked in the fields of soil systematics , soil type theory and regional soil science . Study trips through Germany and European countries expanded his knowledge. The bottom cartography was paid to his special interest. He was significantly involved in the development of the " General Soil Map of Europe ", which was published in 1927 on a scale of 1: 10,000,000. Noteworthy is his "Soil Map of the Earth ", first published in 1930 in the "Handbuch der Bodenlehre", on a scale of 1: 125,000,000. Together with Hermann Stremme , he created the " Soil Map of the German Empire and the Free City of Danzig " in 1936 on a scale of 1: 1,000 000 issued.

The strong claim by the Institute work and teaching tasks was obviously the reason is that Hollstein until 1937 at the Technische Hochschule Danzig habilitated , with the writing " A Scoring earth on agricultural and soil science basis ". Here he turns against the one-sided geological orientation of soil science. He deals with similar fundamental questions of soil science in his 1939 study " Nutritional Power and Landscape ". His work at the Reich Office for Soil Research in Berlin from 1940 to 1944 was interrupted by repeated conscription to the Wehrmacht, so that only a few soil maps were created during this time.

In 1946, Hollstein moved to the newly established Office for Soil Research in Hanover, where he was initially the only civil servant soil scientist responsible for the state of Lower Saxony. Among his first actions the development belonged to a soil map of Lower Saxony in the scale 1: 1 000 000. In addition, created overview maps for more Lower Saxon counties in scale 1: 200 000. For the planned resettlement of displaced Germans in Emsland received Hollstein 1950 commissioned suitable soil maps to manufacture. The map series with a total of 582 individual maps on a scale of 1: 5,000 was developed under his aegis and was created between 1952 and 1962 and became the most important planning basis for the settlement and agricultural use of the moorland and mineral soils of the Emsland.

In 1963, in collaboration with specialist colleagues in soil science, Hollstein published an exemplary "Soil Map of the Federal Republic of Germany ". He was also significantly involved in the development of a methodological handbook for mapping soils in the Federal Republic of Germany. This book, first published in 1965, is now available in its fifth edition under the title "Soil Science Mapping Instructions".

Important publications

• The Teutoburg Forest between Werther and Borgholzhausen . In: Negotiations of the Natural History Association of the Prussian Rhineland and Westphalia, Vol. 80, Bonn 1925. Zugl .: Diss. Phil. Univ. Münster (oral examination: July 22, 1922; official doctoral degree: June 26, 1926).
• Soil map of the earth . In: Handbuch der Bodenlehre. Edited by Edwin Blank. J. Springer Verlag Berlin Vol. 3, Berlin 1930, section Podsolboden, Plate III.
• A rating of the earth on an agricultural and pedological basis . Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen, Erg.-H, 234, Gotha 1937.
• Food strength and landscape . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen Vol. 85, 1939, pp. 80–85.
• Landscape and soil history of the Lüneburg Heath . In: Journal of Plant Nutrition, Fertilization and Soil Science Vol. 84, 1959, pp. 282–289.
• Soil map of the Federal Republic of Germany . Edited in the Lower Saxony State Office for Soil Research with the cooperation of the geological state offices. Overall processing: Wilhelm Hollstein. - 1: 1,000,000. Federal Institute for Soil Research Hanover 1963. - In addition: The soil map of the Federal Republic of Germany . In: Transactions of 7th International Congress of Soil Science, Madison, Wisc., USA, 1960, Vol. 4, pp. 71-76. Groningen 1960.
• Soil maps and their special display problems . In: Kartographische Nachrichten Vol. 13, 1963, pp. 106-110.

literature

• Ernst Schönhals: Wilhelm Hollstein † 1898–1973 . In: Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart Vol. 25, 1974, pp. 296–297 (with picture). doi : 10.3285 / eg.25.1
• Günter Roeschmann: Wilhelm Hollstein. April 30, 1898 - June 12, 1973 . In: Geologisches Jahrbuch, Series F, Bodenkunde, H. 3, 1976, S. 3–8 (with picture and list of publications).
• Hans-Peter Blume: Wilhelm Hollstein, German soil scientist . In: H.-P. Blume: 1926-2001. 75 years of the German Soil Science Society = communications from the German Soil Science Society vol. 97, 2001, p. 300 and others (with picture).
• Günter Roeschmann: Wilhelm Hollstein (1898–1973) and soil mapping . In: Personalities of Soil Science I. Edited by Hans-Peter Blume and Rainer Horn. Series of publications Institute for Plant Nutrition and Soil Science University of Kiel No. 78, 2008, pp. 49–60 (with picture and list of publications).

Web links

• Literature by and about Wilhelm Hollstein in the catalog of the German National Library