Wilhelm Schuster (ornithologist)

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Book cover of Wilhelm Schuster's book Appreciation of the Birds (1906)

Wilhelm Schuster or Wilhelm Schuster von Forstner (born October 26, 1880 in Oberroßbach ; † April 3, 1942 Sachsenhausen concentration camp ) was a German ornithologist , pastor, conservationist and naturalist. He was murdered by SS-Oberscharführer Wilhelm Schubert .

family

Schuster comes from a Protestant pastor's family . His father and three brothers were also ornithologists. The ornithologist Ludwig Schuster (1883–1954) was his brother. He grew up in Frischborn .

Life

Wilhelm Schuster studied philosophy, theology and natural sciences at the Universities of Strasbourg, Greifswald and Gießen. He was first pastor in 1905/06 as a seaman's pastor in Liverpool . Later he was pastor in Durmersheim and in Obergimpern . In 1912 he was suspended from church service and later dismissed. After the First World War, he worked in various positions as a tutor and editor, at times also as director of studies at a German university in Leszno in Poland . After his return to Germany he only worked as a private ornithologist.

Working as an ornithologist

From 1900 he published ornithological articles. His bird handbook was published in 1905 (reprinted in 1920). A large number of ornithological articles and books followed.

In 1928 he set up the private ornithological station in Mainz Basin in his newly built house in Gonsenheim . He gave ornithological slide presentations, u. a. at adult education centers and wrote ornithological information publications and newspaper articles. He was an active member of various natural history associations, made suggestions to the authorities for the designation of protected areas and protested against actions and measures that were harmful to the bird fauna.

Period of National Socialism - murder in Sachsenhausen concentration camp

From 1933 he came increasingly into conflict with the authorities. In 1935 he was sentenced by the Mainz criminal chamber to two years in prison for collecting money and using the designation ornithological station. He had to serve the full two years. He named the bird observatory Mainz Basin in ornithologist waiting Mainz Basin to.

In July 1941, the Reichsschrifttumskammer decided to include his last book Vogelfauna von Großhessen and Nassau and neighboring areas "on the list of harmful and undesirable literature." The unsold part of the edition was confiscated and destroyed. Wilhelm Schuster had expressed himself critically about wars in his book. He wrote u. a. "... that there is nothing more pointless u. There are more inhumane ways than war between peoples. "

He was arrested by the Gestapo at the beginning of September 1941 for his book Bird Fauna from Großhessen and Nassau and neighboring areas and taken to Sachsenhausen concentration camp on December 3, 1941. In the concentration camp, Schuster was listed as a pastor out of service and as a writer . At the morning roll call on April 3, 1942, SS-Oberscharführer Wilhelm Schubert insulted Schuster as a priest and hit him with his fists. When Schuster lay on the floor, Schubert kicked Schuster's face several times. Wilhelm Schuster died on the square. His ashes were buried in the village cemetery in Frischborn.

By the District Court of Bonn the killer Schubert was sentenced on February 6, 1959, a life sentence plus fifteen years in prison for 46 murders, including Schuster's murder.

Tertiary hypothesis

In 1902, at the age of 21, Schuster published his tertiary hypothesis about ongoing global warming . Until 1941 he represented the tertiary hypothesis.

This tertiary hypothesis was ridiculed by other ornithologists of the time. Eugeniusz Nowak , on the other hand, wrote in 2010: Wilhelm Schuster was one of the first to point out global warming, which is now seen as a threat to our planet.

Others

Schuster married Bertha Anna Freiin von Forstner (1884–1957) for the second time in 1913 . He then also took the name of his wife and called himself Schuster von Forstner . Since he had not legalized his name change, this led to legal proceedings after the divorce in 1920. He had to change his last name back to Schuster.

Works

Book cover of Wilhelm Schuster's book Die Hauskatze (1909)
  • Bird handbook: ornithological pocket book and excursion book for the study of bird species, bird clothes, bird eggs, bird songs, bird food ... Systematically short, very extensive and instructive description of our native bird species Pfenningstorff, Berlin 1905 (reprint 1920)
  • Appreciation of our birds: colors, shapes and songs in their aesthetic meaning, benefits and harm to birds in terms of agriculture, fruit and horticulture, forestry, hunting, fishing, beekeeping, etc .: presented in accordance with today's scientific point of view Köhler, Gera 1906
  • with Camillo Morgan: German cage birds instruction for the care, breeding and observation of the native songbirds Pfenningstorff, Berlin 1907
  • with Bruno Geisler, Paul Wemer: Our native birds. According to their economic value (benefit and damage) Heimatverlag, Gera-Reuss 1909
  • The house cat. Descent history, way of life and character traits with a look at their relationship with wildcat, black cat, etc.; their relationship to art, poetry, philosophy; their role in the spiritual life of the peoples cosmos, Stuttgart 1909
  • Monograph of the domestic stork: complete, detailed life story, its local distribution in Germany, important and strange facts from the life of the white stork, the most interesting "domestic bird", benefits and harm, especially in terms of hunting, Worré-Martin, Luxembourg 1909
  • Joke and Satire: The Humor in World War I; Collection of selected contemporary war anger pictures prickarts , Mainz 1915
  • Under the author's name Wilhelm Schuster von Forstner: Neue Mövenstudien , Jahrbücher d. Nassau Association f. Natural history in Wiesbaden. 68th year, Bergmann, Wiesbaden 1915
  • The animal world in World War I AG Müller, Heilbronn 1916
  • Under the author's name Wilhelm Schuster von Forstner with Bruno Geisler, Paul Wemer: Die Vögel Mitteleuropas: Handbook of practical ornithology based on the latest research results with special consideration of the economic value (benefit and damage) of birds in Germany JF Schreiber Eßlingen; Munich 1920 (reprint 1923 and 1928)
  • Under the author's name Wilhelm Schuster von Forstner: Calendar (pocket yearbook) for naturalists and nature lovers Gießen 1928
  • Under the author's name Wilhelm Schuster von Forstner: The meaning of St. Hildegard for the Hessian ornithology as a science In: Fest-Zeitung for the St. Hildegardis anniversary 1929 - 1500 years of the Catholic parish in Bingen, ed. from the "Mittelrheinische Volks-Zeitung", Bingen am Rhein, 1929
  • Bird fauna from Greater Hesse and Nassau and adjacent areas: Lower Franconia, North Baden, Palatinate, Rhineland, South Westphalia, South Hanover, incl. Kassel-Göttingen, Koblenz-Bonn, Heidelberg, Maintal to Bamberg; Center: Frankfurt am Main Vogelforscherwarte Mainz Basin, Gonsenheim 1941

literature

  • Eugeniusz Nowak: Scientists in turbulent times. Die neue Brehm-Bücherei Vol. 676, Westarp Sciences, Hohenwarsleben 2010, ISBN 978-3-89432-248-9
  • Ludwig Gebhardt: Die Ornithologen Mitteleuropas , summary of the volumes 1–4, Aula-Verlag, Wiebelsheim 2006, ISBN 3-89104-680-4
  • Antonius Kunz: censure, condemn, hush up - on the controversial handling of the ornithological work of Wihlem Schuster (von Forstner) (1880-1942) in: Ökologie der Vögel = Ecology of birds 34, 2012, pp. 413–451

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Schuster (ornithologist)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Eugeniusz Nowak: Scientists in turbulent times. Westarp Sciences, Hohenwarsleben 2010, pp. 92–99.
  2. ↑ a b c d Ludwig Gebhardt: Die Ornithologen Mitteleuropas , Vol. 1, Aula-Verlag, Wiebelsheim 2006, p. 330
  3. ^ Genealogical manual of the nobility , CA Starke Verlag, Limburg 1963, p. 144
  4. ↑ Heimat- und Geschichtsvereine Roßbachtal eV and Offdilln eV (Hrsg.): 1355-2005. 650 years of Niederroßbach, Oberroßbach, Offdilln. History of the Roßbach valley and the upper Dill valley. Review of events of more than 180 years in the towns of Dillbrecht, Fellerdilln, Niederroßbach, Oberroßbach, Offdilln and Weidelbach ., 2005, p. 170
  5. ↑ The title is in WorldCat and other sources with bird fauna of central, western and southern Germany, Great Hesse and Nassau, incl Lower Franconia, North Baden, Pfalz, Rhineland, South Westphalia, Südhannover: And adjacent areas. Kassel-Göttingen, Koblenz-Bonn, Heidelberg, Maintal to Bamberg. Center: Frankfurt am Main indicated.
  6. ↑ From entry no. 7, there are entries that concern Wilhelm Schuster (ornithologist).
personal data
SURNAME Schuster, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schuster von Forstner, Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German ornithologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Oberroßbach
DATE OF DEATH April 3, 1942
Place of death Sachsenhausen concentration camp