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{{Expand German|topic=culture|date=October 2010|Bernhard Grzimek}}
{{cleanup-date|March 2006}}
{{Infobox person
[[Image:Grzimek.jpg|thumb|The Tomb of Michael and Bernhard Grzimek on the top of the Ngorongoro-Crater, Tanzania]]
| name = Bernhard Grzimek

| image = Bernard_Grzimek_-_Com_L16-0617-0002-0001.jpg
'''Bernhard Klemens Maria Grzimek''' [ˈgʒɪmɛk] ([[April 24]], [[1909]] - [[March 13]], [[1987]]) was the most famous [[zoo]] director, [[zoologist]] and animal welfarer in [[West-Germany]], after [[World War II]].
| caption = Grzimek in Zurich, 1967
| birth_name = Bernhard Klemens Maria Hoffbauer Pius Grzimek
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|4|24|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Nysa, Poland|Neisse]], [[Prussian Silesia]], [[German Empire]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1987|3|13|1909|4|24|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Frankfurt am Main|Frankfurt]], [[West Germany]]
| occupation = television host, filmmaker, author, zoo director, veterinarian, businessman
| years_active = 1954–1987
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Hildegard Prüfer|1930|1973|end=divorce}}
* {{marriage|Erika Grzimek|1978}}
}}
| children = 5, including [[Michael Grzimek|Michael]] (1934–1959)
}}
'''Bernhard Klemens Maria Grzimek''' ({{IPA|de|ˈɡʒɪmɛk}}; 24 April 1909 – 13 March 1987) was a German [[zoo]] director, [[zoologist]], book author, editor, and [[Animal Conservation|animal conservationist]] in postwar [[West Germany]].


==Biography==
==Biography==
===Early years and education===
Grzimek was born in [[Nysa, Poland|Neisse]], [[Upper Silesia]] and died in [[Frankfurt am Main]] while watching a circus performance.
Grzimek was born in [[Nysa, Poland|Neisse]] (Nysa), [[Prussian Silesia]]. His father Paul Franz Constantin Grzimek was a lawyer and civil law notary and his mother was Margarete Margot ([[Married and maiden names|nee]] Wanke).


After studying [[veterinary medicine]] in 1928, first at [[University of Leipzig|Leipzig]] and later in [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Berlin]], Grzimek received a doctorate in 1933.
Grzimek was born as son of Paul Franz Constantin Grzimek (Lawyer and civil law notary) and Margarete (Margot) (born Wanke).
He got married [[May 17]],[[1930]] Hildegard Prüfer, with 3 sons Rochus, Michael and the adopted son Thomas.


He married Hildegard Prüfer on 17 May 1930 and had three sons: Rochus, [[Michael Grzimek|Michael]], and an adopted son, Thomas.
Since [[1928]] he studies [[veterinary medicine]], first in [[Leipzig]] later in [[Berlin]] until [[1932]]. In [[1933]] he got the [[doctorate]].

In 1978, Bernhard Grzimek married Erika Grzimek, his son Michael's widow, and adopted the two children Stephan Michael (b. 1956), and Christian Bernhard (b. 1959, after Michael's death).

{{Expand section|date=May 2008}}

===World War II and aftermath===
During the Second World War he was a veterinarian in the [[Wehrmacht]] and worked for the Reichsernährungsministerium (Food Ministry of the 3rd Empire) in Berlin. In early 1945, the [[Gestapo]] raided Grzimek's Berlin apartment, because he had repeatedly supplied food to hidden Jews. Grzimek then fled from Berlin to Frankfurt, which was occupied by the U.S. Army. In April 1945 he was appointed police chief of Frankfurt by U.S. authorities, but he refused the job.

In late 1947, Grzimek was accused of membership in the [[NSDAP]] (the Nazi Party) by the U.S. military government, which he denied. He was then removed from office in the Frankfurt Zoo, fined, and sent for [[denazification]]. On 23 March 1948, it was determined that he was innocent (Category 5; Exonerated). He was then reinstated at the Zoo by the U.S. government but his reputation was compromised as there was a NSDAP entry as a candidate but not as a member; following a 1949 lawsuit Grzimek was given a fine. According to [[Eugeniusz Nowak]], Grzimek had tried to join the party out of fear, to save himself.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Nowak|first=Eugeniusz|date=2000|title=Erinnerungen an Ornithologen, die ich kannte (2. Teil)|url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/BF01651575|journal=Journal für Ornithologie|language=de|volume=141|issue=4|pages=461–500|doi=10.1007/BF01651575|s2cid=6677659 |issn=0021-8375}}</ref>

===Zoo director===
[[File:Zoo Frankfurt peng4.JPG|thumb|Grzimek cutout at the Frankfurt Zoo]]
Grzimek became director of the [[Frankfurt Zoological Garden]] on 1 May 1945. With the zoo then in ruins and all but 20 animals killed, he prevented the permanent closure of the Frankfurt Zoo and the relocation of the "Center Zoo" to the outskirts. The Zoo reopened on 1 July 1945, after all bomb craters had been filled and buildings temporarily restored. With festivals, dances and actors, Grzimek attracted the Frankfurt population, while receiving the assent of the Provisional Government and the U.S. military to continue the Zoo. He led the Zoo for 29 years, until his retirement on 30 April 1974. He made it into one of the largest zoological gardens in Germany.

At the same time he served as president of the [[Frankfurt Zoological Society]], this for over forty years. The society – organized on similar principles as its London and New York counterparts – runs a number of wildlife conservation projects both in Germany and overseas; most well-known is its ongoing work in the [[Serengeti]] ecosystem in Tanzania, [[East Africa]].

===Conservationism and other activities===

In 1954 he founded the image agency [[Okapia]], which specializes in science, animals and nature. Today the agency employs 650 photographers, and is led by [[Michael_Grzimek#Personal_life|Christian Bernhard Grzimek]], Bernhard Grzimek's grandson.

Grzimek is significant for the conservation work he undertook in the Serengeti. He spent several years studying its wildlife there alongside his son [[Michael Grzimek|Michael]], especially on observation and counts of large scale annual migrations. The documentary film ''[[Serengeti Shall Not Die]]'' was written and directed by Bernard and Michael Grzimek and won the [[Academy Award for Documentary Feature]] in 1959.

In the same year Michael was killed in an air crash while flying the [[Dornier Do 27]] because of a collision with a [[griffon vulture]]. Grzimek wrote a best-selling book, ''Serengeti Shall Not Die'', which first appeared in German in 1959 and later in 20 other languages. Its popularity was key in driving the creation of the [[Serengeti National Park]]. In the book he prophesied:

{{quote|Large cities continue to proliferate. In the coming decades and centuries, men will not travel to view marvels of engineering, but they will leave the dusty towns in order to behold the last places on earth where God’s creatures are peacefully living. Countries which have preserved such places will be envied by other nations and visited by streams of tourists. There is a difference between wild animals living a natural life and famous buildings. Palaces can be rebuilt if they are destroyed in wartime, but once the wild animals of the Serengeti are exterminated no power on earth can bring them back.}}

In 1975 he co-founded the [[Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland|League for the Environment and Nature Conservation]] (BUND) and bought ten acres of forest and wetlands in the Steiger forest near [[Michelau im Steigerwald]] which he left wild.

In 1978 he married [[Michael Grzimek|his son]]'s widow, Erika. He subsequently adopted his grandsons as sons.

[[File:Grzimek-tablica.JPG|right|200px|thumb|The plaque for Bernhard Grzimek in Nysa]]

===Death===
[[File:Grzimek grave,Ngorongoro.jpg|thumb|Tomb of Michael and Bernhard Grzimek on top of the [[Ngorongoro Crater]], Tanzania]]
Grzimek died in [[Frankfurt am Main]] in 1987 while watching a circus performance with a group of children. His ashes were later transferred to Tanzania and buried next to his son Michael at the [[Ngorongoro Crater]]. In his lifetime, he had wished that after his death, his body would be laid out on the African plains to be eaten by scavengers.<ref name=":0" />
{{Expand section|date=May 2008}}

==Publications==

Grzimek was the [[editor-in-chief]] of (and author of a number of articles in) [[Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia]], a massive and monumental encyclopedia of animal life. After publication in Germany in 1968, the encyclopedia was translated into English and published in 1975 in 13 volumes (covering lower life forms, insects and other invertebrates, fish, amphibia, reptiles, birds and mammals) plus three additional volumes on [[Ecology]], [[Ethology]] and [[Evolution]]. The 1975 work was issued in both hardback and less expensive paperback editions and became a standard reference work. After Grzimek's death, the volumes on mammals were revised, and republished in both German and then in English. In 2004, the entire encyclopedia was revised and published in a new and expanded edition with Michael Hutchins as the new editor in chief. All the versions of the encyclopedia are marked by clear and forceful prose, extensive use of illustrations (both drawings and color plates), and a deep love and concern for animal conservation.

Of national importance were his work as co-editor (together with Austrian Nobel-prize winner [[Konrad Lorenz]])<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.zgf.de/download/718/CV+Bernhard+neu.pdf | title=Ein Leben für die Tiere | publisher=Zoologische Gesellschaft Frankfurt | accessdate=August 21, 2012 | archive-date=May 8, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508215128/http://www.zgf.de/download/718/CV+Bernhard+neu.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref> of the then-largest popular magazine on animals and wildlife in German language, ''[[:de:Das Tier (Zeitschrift)|Das Tier]]'' (German for "The Animal") and of a very popular television series on wildlife. He also authored a large number of popular books based on his countless experiences with animals which he raised since his student days, managed as zoo director, and encountered in the wild during many research trips.

==Awards and honors==
* 1956: 2 [[Golden Bear]]´s for ''[[Kein Platz für wilde Tiere]]'' in the categories International Documentary and Audience Award<ref name="Sewig 2009-209">Claudia Sewig 2009, p. 209 (German)</ref>
* 1956: [[Deutscher Filmpreis|German Film Award]] for ''Kein Platz für wilde Tiere''<ref name="Sewig 2009-209" />
* 1959: [[Goldener Bildschirm|Golden Screen]] for the television program ''Ein Platz für Tiere''<ref>Sewig 2009, p. 243</ref>
* 1960: [[Academy Award]] (Oscar) for ''[[Serengeti darf nicht sterben]]'' in the category Documentary<ref>Sewig 2009, p. 260 ff.</ref>
* 1960: Honorary Professor at the Veterinary Faculty [[Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen]]<ref name="sewig 2009-269">Sewig 2009, p. 269</ref>
* 1960: Honorary doctorate from [[Humboldt University of Berlin]], "Dr. med. vet. h. c."<ref name="sewig 2009-269" />
* 1960: Honorary Member of the Scientific Society of Veterinary Medicine of the GDR (WGV)<ref name="sewig 2009-269" />
* 1963: Gold Medal from [[New York Zoological Society]] for "outstanding services in conservation of nature“
* 1964: [[Wilhelm Bölsche]]-Medal for services to the dissemination of science in Germany
* 1968: Tie Man of the Year
* 1969: [[Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland|Grand Federal Cross of Merit]]
* 1969: [[Goldene Kamera]]
* 1973: [[Bambi (Auszeichnung)|Bambi]]
* 1978: Inauguration of the new nocturnal animal house in the Frankfurt Zoo under the name Grzimek-House<ref>Scherpner 1983, p. 155 and 165: Das während der Bauphase ab 1972 noch als 24-Stunden-Haus bezeichnete Tierhaus wurde durch Magistratsbeschluss im September 1978 als Grzimek-Haus eingeweiht.</ref>
* 1981: Honorary Professor of [[Moscow State University|Lomonosov University]]
* 2008: Renaming of a portion of the Frankfurt street ''Am Tiergarten'' in ''Bernhard-Grzimek-Allee''<ref>Sewig 2009, p. 187</ref>


==Works==
==Works==

=== Films ===
=== Films ===
*[[1956]] - [[Kein Platz für wilde Tiere]]
*1956 - ''Kein Platz für wilde Tiere'' {{in lang|de}}
*[[1959]] - [[Serengeti shall not die]] (Serengeti darf nicht sterben)
*1959 - ''[[Serengeti shall not die]]'' (Original German title: ''Serengeti darf nicht sterben'') {{in lang|de}}
*[[1956]] - [[1980]] - Ein Platz für Tiere (TV-Series on [[ARD]]; upto [[1987]] shortened reedited versions)
*1956 - 1980 - ''Ein Platz für Tiere'' (German TV series) {{in lang|de}}


=== Books ===
=== Books ===
*[[1941]] - Wir Tiere sind ja gar nicht so! Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung
*1941 - ''Wir Tiere sind ja gar nicht so!'' Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung {{in lang|de}}
*[[1943]] - Wolf Dschingis: Neue Erlebnisse, Erkenntnisse und Versuche mit Tieren, Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung
*1943 - ''Wolf Dschingis: Neue Erlebnisse, Erkenntnisse und Versuche mit Tieren'', Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung {{in lang|de}}
*[[1951]] - Affen im Haus und andere Tierberichte, Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung
*1951 - ''Affen im Haus und andere Tierberichte'', Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung {{in lang|de}}
*[[1952]] - Flug ins Schimpansenland: Reise durch ein Stück Afrika von heute, Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung
*1952 - ''Flug ins Schimpansenland: Reise durch ein Stück Afrika von heute'', Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung {{in lang|de}}
*[[1956]] - 20 Tiere und ein Mensch
*1956 - ''20 Tiere und ein Mensch'' {{in lang|de}}
*[[1956]] - Thulo aus Frankfurt Rund um die Giraffe, Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung
*1956 - ''Thulo aus Frankfurt - Rund um die Giraffe'', Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung {{in lang|de}}
*[[1959]] - Serengeti darf nicht sterben (''über die Arbeit am Film'')
*1959 - ''Serengeti darf nicht sterben (über die Arbeit am Film)'' {{in lang|de}}
*[[1960]] - Kein Platz für wilde Tiere
*1960 - ''Kein Platz für wilde Tiere'' {{in lang|de}}
*[[1961]] - Unsere Brüder mit den Krallen
*1961 - ''Unsere Brüder mit den Krallen'' {{in lang|de}}
*[[1963]] - Wir lebten mit den Baule. Flug ins Schimpansenland
*1963 - ''Wir lebten mit den Baule. Flug ins Schimpansenland'' {{in lang|de}}
*[[1965]] - Wildes Tier, weißer Mann
*1965 - ''Wildes Tier, weißer Mann'' {{in lang|de}}
*[[1968]] - [[Grzimeks Tierleben]]
*1968 - ''Grzimeks Tierleben'', 16 vol. {{in lang|de}}
*[[1969]] - Grzimek unter Afrikas Tieren: Erlebnisse, Beobachtungen, Forschungsergebnisse
*1969 - ''Grzimek unter Afrikas Tieren: Erlebnisse, Beobachtungen, Forschungsergebnisse'' {{in lang|de}}
*[[1974]] - Auf den Mensch gekommen: Erfahrungen mit Leuten
*1974 - ''Auf den Mensch gekommen: Erfahrungen mit Leuten'' {{in lang|de}}
*[[1974]] - Vom Grizzlybär zur Brillenschlange: Ein Naturschützer berichtet aus vier Erdteilen, Kindler
*1974 - ''Vom Grizzlybär zur Brillenschlange: Ein Naturschützer berichtet aus vier Erdteilen'', Kindler {{in lang|de}}
*[[1974]] - Einsatz für Afrika: Neue Erlebnisse mit Wildtieren, Kindler
*1974 - ''Einsatz für Afrika: Neue Erlebnisse mit Wildtieren'', Kindler {{in lang|de}}
*[[1974]] - Tiere, mein Leben: Erlebnisse und Forschungen aus fünf Jahrzehnten, Harnack
*1974 - ''Tiere, mein Leben: Erlebnisse und Forschungen aus fünf Jahrzehnten'', Harnack {{in lang|de}}
*1975 - ''[[Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia]]'', 13 vol., Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York [translation of 1968 work]
*[[1977]] - Und immer wieder Pferde. Kindler
*1977 - ''Und immer wieder Pferde''. Kindler {{in lang|de}}
*1988 - ''Grzimeks Enzyklopädie der Säugetiere'', Kindler Verlag, München.
*1990 - ''Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals'', 5 vol., McGraw-Hill, New York, {{ISBN|0-07-909508-9}} [translation of 1988 work]
*2004 - ''[[Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia]], 2nd. Ed.'', 17 vol., Thomson-Gale, Detroit, {{ISBN|0-7876-5362-4}} [revision of 1975 work]


=== Magazines ===
=== Magazines ===
* since [[1960]] - ''Das Tier'' (Herausgeber zusammen mit [[Konrad Lorenz]] und Dr. Heini Hediger)
* since 1960 - ''Das Tier'' (joint editor with [[Konrad Lorenz]] und Dr. [[Heini Hediger]]) {{in lang|de}}


== Literature ==
== Further reading ==
* Franziska Torma: ''Eine Naturschutzkampagne in der Ära Adenauer. Bernhard Grzimeks Afrikafilme in den Medien der 50er Jahre''. Martin Meidenbauer Verlag, München 2004, ISBN 3-89975-034-9
* Franziska Torma: ''Eine Naturschutzkampagne in der Ära Adenauer. Bernhard Grzimeks Afrikafilme in den Medien der 50er Jahre''. Martin Meidenbauer Verlag, München 2004, {{ISBN|3-89975-034-9}} {{in lang|de}} (Media studies; on his films on African wildlife)
* Gerhard Grzimek, Rupprecht Grzimek: ''Die Familie Grzimek aus Oberglogau in Oberschlesien'', in: "Deutsches Familienarchiv", Band X, Verlag Degener & Co., Neustadt (Aisch) 1958. - 4., erweiterte und überarbeitete Ausgabe, Herder-Institut, Reutlingen 2000.
* Gerhard Grzimek, Rupprecht Grzimek: "Die Familie Grzimek aus Oberglogau in Oberschlesien", in: ''Deutsches Familienarchiv'', Band X, Verlag Degener & Co., Neustadt (Aisch) 1958. 4., erweiterte und überarbeitete Ausgabe, Herder-Institut, Reutlingen 2000. {{in lang|de}} (genealogy)

== Film ==
In 2004 and 2008 public German TV broadcast 2 documentaries on Grzimek, and in 2015 an almost 3 hour long biopic featuring [[Ulrich Tukur]] as Bernhard Grzimek.{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}

=== Documentaries ===
* Thomas Weidenbach: ''Bernhard Grzimek – Ein Leben für die Tiere.'' [[ZDF]] 2004; ca. 54 Minuten <ref>[https://www.welt.de/print-welt/article362237/Ein-Leben-fuer-die-Tiere-ZDF-Dokumentation-ueber-Grzimek.html „Ein Leben für die Tiere“: ZDF-Dokumentation über Grzimek]</ref>
* Erika Kimmel, Bernd Isecke: ''Legenden – Bernhard Grzimek.'' [[ARD (broadcaster)|ARD]] 2008; 45 Minuten <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.daserste.de/information/reportage-dokumentation/legenden/sendung/2008/bernhard-grzimek-100.html |title=Legenden – Bernhard Grzimek |access-date=2015-05-17 |archive-date=2015-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403175459/http://www.daserste.de/information/reportage-dokumentation/legenden/sendung/2008/bernhard-grzimek-100.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Biopic ===
* [[Roland Suso Richter]]: ''Grzimek.'' [[ARD (broadcaster)|ARD]] 2015; 165 Minuten. Mit [[Ulrich Tukur]] als Hauptdarsteller.<ref>[http://www.daserste.de/unterhaltung/film/themenabend-grzimek/film/index.html Grzimek - Der Film]</ref><ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/tv/grzimek-film-mit-ulrich-tukur-von-roland-suso-richter-a-1025353.html TV-Film „Grzimek“: Tiere, Frauen, Dramen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521233311/http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/tv/grzimek-film-mit-ulrich-tukur-von-roland-suso-richter-a-1025353.html |date=2015-05-21 }} ''Der Spiegel''</ref>


== External links ==
== External links ==
* [http://www.zgf.de/wirueberuns/pdf/cvbernhard.pdf Bernhard Grzimek - sein Leben] - Lifestory in PDF-format (2,8 MB)
* [http://www.zgf.de/wirueberuns/bernhardgrzimek_eng.html Biography in English]
* [http://www.zgf.de/wirueberuns/pdf/cvbernhard.pdf Bernhard Grzimek - sein Leben] - Biography in PDF-format (2,8 MB), including photographs. {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.zoo-ag.de/dirk/frankfurt/bernhard_grzimek.html Private Homepage of Dirk Petzold on the Frankfurt Zoo]
* [http://www.zoo-ag.de/dirk/frankfurt/bernhard_grzimek.html Private Homepage of Dirk Petzold on the Frankfurt Zoo] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.hr-online.de/website/specials/wissen/index.jsp?rubrik=7314&key=standard_document_10808526 Audio und Manuskript: Wie Bernhard Grzimek 1945 den Frankfurter Zoo rettete]
* [https://archive.today/20070630004752/http://www.hr-online.de/website/specials/wissen/index.jsp?rubrik=7314&key=standard_document_10808526 Audio und Manuskript: Wie Bernhard Grzimek 1945 den Frankfurter Zoo rettete] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/16/0,1872,2221872,FF.html ZDF: Bernhard Grzimek - Eine deutsche Legende]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051125173556/http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/16/0%2C1872%2C2221872%2CFF.html ZDF: Bernhard Grzimek - Eine deutsche Legende] {{in lang|de}}
* [http://www.hr-online.de/website/rubriken/nachrichten/index.jsp?rubrik=8462&key=standard_document_1644480 Würdigung durch seinen "Haussender" Hessischer Rundfunk]
* [http://www.hr-online.de/website/rubriken/nachrichten/index.jsp?rubrik=6630&key=standard_document_853914 Würdigung seines Sohnes Michael durch den Hessischen Rundfunk]
* [https://archive.today/20050502153227/http://www.hr-online.de/website/rubriken/nachrichten/index.jsp?rubrik=8462&key=standard_document_1644480 Würdigung durch seinen "Haussender" Hessischer Rundfunk] {{in lang|de}}
* [https://archive.today/20050502153242/http://www.hr-online.de/website/rubriken/nachrichten/index.jsp?rubrik=6630&key=standard_document_853914 Würdigung seines Sohnes Michael durch den Hessischen Rundfunk] {{in lang|de}}
* {{IMDb name|id=nm0344850}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}



[[Category:German zoologists|Grzimek, Bernhard]]
[[Category:Conservationists|Grzimek, Bernhard]]
[[Category:1909 births|Grzimek, Bernhard]]
[[Category:1987 deaths|Grzimek, Bernhard]]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Grzimek, Bernhard}}
[[af:Bernhard Grzimek]]
[[de:Bernhard Grzimek]]
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[eo:Bernhard Grzimek]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century German zoologists]]
[[nl:Bernhard Grzimek]]
[[Category:German conservationists]]
[[Category:German documentary filmmakers]]
[[Category:Hessischer Rundfunk people]]
[[Category:People from Nysa, Poland]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Silesia]]
[[Category:Leipzig University alumni]]
[[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni]]
[[Category:Directors of Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany]]
[[Category:Zoo directors]]

Latest revision as of 05:53, 22 December 2024

Bernhard Grzimek
Grzimek in Zurich, 1967
Born
Bernhard Klemens Maria Hoffbauer Pius Grzimek

(1909-04-24)24 April 1909
Neisse, Prussian Silesia, German Empire
Died13 March 1987(1987-03-13) (aged 77)
Frankfurt, West Germany
Occupation(s)television host, filmmaker, author, zoo director, veterinarian, businessman
Years active1954–1987
Spouses
Hildegard Prüfer
​
​
(m. 1930; div. 1973)​
Erika Grzimek
​
(m. 1978)​
Children5, including Michael (1934–1959)

Bernhard Klemens Maria Grzimek (German pronunciation: [ˈɡʒɪmɛk]; 24 April 1909 – 13 March 1987) was a German zoo director, zoologist, book author, editor, and animal conservationist in postwar West Germany.

Biography

[edit]

Early years and education

[edit]

Grzimek was born in Neisse (Nysa), Prussian Silesia. His father Paul Franz Constantin Grzimek was a lawyer and civil law notary and his mother was Margarete Margot (nee Wanke).

After studying veterinary medicine in 1928, first at Leipzig and later in Berlin, Grzimek received a doctorate in 1933.

He married Hildegard Prüfer on 17 May 1930 and had three sons: Rochus, Michael, and an adopted son, Thomas.

In 1978, Bernhard Grzimek married Erika Grzimek, his son Michael's widow, and adopted the two children Stephan Michael (b. 1956), and Christian Bernhard (b. 1959, after Michael's death).

World War II and aftermath

[edit]

During the Second World War he was a veterinarian in the Wehrmacht and worked for the Reichsernährungsministerium (Food Ministry of the 3rd Empire) in Berlin. In early 1945, the Gestapo raided Grzimek's Berlin apartment, because he had repeatedly supplied food to hidden Jews. Grzimek then fled from Berlin to Frankfurt, which was occupied by the U.S. Army. In April 1945 he was appointed police chief of Frankfurt by U.S. authorities, but he refused the job.

In late 1947, Grzimek was accused of membership in the NSDAP (the Nazi Party) by the U.S. military government, which he denied. He was then removed from office in the Frankfurt Zoo, fined, and sent for denazification. On 23 March 1948, it was determined that he was innocent (Category 5; Exonerated). He was then reinstated at the Zoo by the U.S. government but his reputation was compromised as there was a NSDAP entry as a candidate but not as a member; following a 1949 lawsuit Grzimek was given a fine. According to Eugeniusz Nowak, Grzimek had tried to join the party out of fear, to save himself.[1]

Zoo director

[edit]
Grzimek cutout at the Frankfurt Zoo

Grzimek became director of the Frankfurt Zoological Garden on 1 May 1945. With the zoo then in ruins and all but 20 animals killed, he prevented the permanent closure of the Frankfurt Zoo and the relocation of the "Center Zoo" to the outskirts. The Zoo reopened on 1 July 1945, after all bomb craters had been filled and buildings temporarily restored. With festivals, dances and actors, Grzimek attracted the Frankfurt population, while receiving the assent of the Provisional Government and the U.S. military to continue the Zoo. He led the Zoo for 29 years, until his retirement on 30 April 1974. He made it into one of the largest zoological gardens in Germany.

At the same time he served as president of the Frankfurt Zoological Society, this for over forty years. The society – organized on similar principles as its London and New York counterparts – runs a number of wildlife conservation projects both in Germany and overseas; most well-known is its ongoing work in the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania, East Africa.

Conservationism and other activities

[edit]

In 1954 he founded the image agency Okapia, which specializes in science, animals and nature. Today the agency employs 650 photographers, and is led by Christian Bernhard Grzimek, Bernhard Grzimek's grandson.

Grzimek is significant for the conservation work he undertook in the Serengeti. He spent several years studying its wildlife there alongside his son Michael, especially on observation and counts of large scale annual migrations. The documentary film Serengeti Shall Not Die was written and directed by Bernard and Michael Grzimek and won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 1959.

In the same year Michael was killed in an air crash while flying the Dornier Do 27 because of a collision with a griffon vulture. Grzimek wrote a best-selling book, Serengeti Shall Not Die, which first appeared in German in 1959 and later in 20 other languages. Its popularity was key in driving the creation of the Serengeti National Park. In the book he prophesied:

Large cities continue to proliferate. In the coming decades and centuries, men will not travel to view marvels of engineering, but they will leave the dusty towns in order to behold the last places on earth where God’s creatures are peacefully living. Countries which have preserved such places will be envied by other nations and visited by streams of tourists. There is a difference between wild animals living a natural life and famous buildings. Palaces can be rebuilt if they are destroyed in wartime, but once the wild animals of the Serengeti are exterminated no power on earth can bring them back.

In 1975 he co-founded the League for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) and bought ten acres of forest and wetlands in the Steiger forest near Michelau im Steigerwald which he left wild.

In 1978 he married his son's widow, Erika. He subsequently adopted his grandsons as sons.

The plaque for Bernhard Grzimek in Nysa

Death

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Tomb of Michael and Bernhard Grzimek on top of the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

Grzimek died in Frankfurt am Main in 1987 while watching a circus performance with a group of children. His ashes were later transferred to Tanzania and buried next to his son Michael at the Ngorongoro Crater. In his lifetime, he had wished that after his death, his body would be laid out on the African plains to be eaten by scavengers.[1]

Publications

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Grzimek was the editor-in-chief of (and author of a number of articles in) Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, a massive and monumental encyclopedia of animal life. After publication in Germany in 1968, the encyclopedia was translated into English and published in 1975 in 13 volumes (covering lower life forms, insects and other invertebrates, fish, amphibia, reptiles, birds and mammals) plus three additional volumes on Ecology, Ethology and Evolution. The 1975 work was issued in both hardback and less expensive paperback editions and became a standard reference work. After Grzimek's death, the volumes on mammals were revised, and republished in both German and then in English. In 2004, the entire encyclopedia was revised and published in a new and expanded edition with Michael Hutchins as the new editor in chief. All the versions of the encyclopedia are marked by clear and forceful prose, extensive use of illustrations (both drawings and color plates), and a deep love and concern for animal conservation.

Of national importance were his work as co-editor (together with Austrian Nobel-prize winner Konrad Lorenz)[2] of the then-largest popular magazine on animals and wildlife in German language, Das Tier (German for "The Animal") and of a very popular television series on wildlife. He also authored a large number of popular books based on his countless experiences with animals which he raised since his student days, managed as zoo director, and encountered in the wild during many research trips.

Awards and honors

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Works

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Films

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  • 1956 - Kein Platz für wilde Tiere (in German)
  • 1959 - Serengeti shall not die (Original German title: Serengeti darf nicht sterben) (in German)
  • 1956 - 1980 - Ein Platz für Tiere (German TV series) (in German)

Books

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  • 1941 - Wir Tiere sind ja gar nicht so! Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung (in German)
  • 1943 - Wolf Dschingis: Neue Erlebnisse, Erkenntnisse und Versuche mit Tieren, Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung (in German)
  • 1951 - Affen im Haus und andere Tierberichte, Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung (in German)
  • 1952 - Flug ins Schimpansenland: Reise durch ein Stück Afrika von heute, Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung (in German)
  • 1956 - 20 Tiere und ein Mensch (in German)
  • 1956 - Thulo aus Frankfurt - Rund um die Giraffe, Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung (in German)
  • 1959 - Serengeti darf nicht sterben (über die Arbeit am Film) (in German)
  • 1960 - Kein Platz für wilde Tiere (in German)
  • 1961 - Unsere Brüder mit den Krallen (in German)
  • 1963 - Wir lebten mit den Baule. Flug ins Schimpansenland (in German)
  • 1965 - Wildes Tier, weißer Mann (in German)
  • 1968 - Grzimeks Tierleben, 16 vol. (in German)
  • 1969 - Grzimek unter Afrikas Tieren: Erlebnisse, Beobachtungen, Forschungsergebnisse (in German)
  • 1974 - Auf den Mensch gekommen: Erfahrungen mit Leuten (in German)
  • 1974 - Vom Grizzlybär zur Brillenschlange: Ein Naturschützer berichtet aus vier Erdteilen, Kindler (in German)
  • 1974 - Einsatz für Afrika: Neue Erlebnisse mit Wildtieren, Kindler (in German)
  • 1974 - Tiere, mein Leben: Erlebnisse und Forschungen aus fünf Jahrzehnten, Harnack (in German)
  • 1975 - Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 13 vol., Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York [translation of 1968 work]
  • 1977 - Und immer wieder Pferde. Kindler (in German)
  • 1988 - Grzimeks Enzyklopädie der Säugetiere, Kindler Verlag, München.
  • 1990 - Grzimek's Encyclopedia of Mammals, 5 vol., McGraw-Hill, New York, ISBN 0-07-909508-9 [translation of 1988 work]
  • 2004 - Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd. Ed., 17 vol., Thomson-Gale, Detroit, ISBN 0-7876-5362-4 [revision of 1975 work]

Magazines

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Further reading

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  • Franziska Torma: Eine Naturschutzkampagne in der Ära Adenauer. Bernhard Grzimeks Afrikafilme in den Medien der 50er Jahre. Martin Meidenbauer Verlag, München 2004, ISBN 3-89975-034-9 (in German) (Media studies; on his films on African wildlife)
  • Gerhard Grzimek, Rupprecht Grzimek: "Die Familie Grzimek aus Oberglogau in Oberschlesien", in: Deutsches Familienarchiv, Band X, Verlag Degener & Co., Neustadt (Aisch) 1958. 4., erweiterte und überarbeitete Ausgabe, Herder-Institut, Reutlingen 2000. (in German) (genealogy)

Film

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In 2004 and 2008 public German TV broadcast 2 documentaries on Grzimek, and in 2015 an almost 3 hour long biopic featuring Ulrich Tukur as Bernhard Grzimek.[citation needed]

Documentaries

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  • Thomas Weidenbach: Bernhard Grzimek – Ein Leben für die Tiere. ZDF 2004; ca. 54 Minuten [9]
  • Erika Kimmel, Bernd Isecke: Legenden – Bernhard Grzimek. ARD 2008; 45 Minuten [10]

Biopic

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References

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  1. ^ a b Nowak, Eugeniusz (2000). "Erinnerungen an Ornithologen, die ich kannte (2. Teil)". Journal für Ornithologie (in German). 141 (4): 461–500. doi:10.1007/BF01651575. ISSN 0021-8375. S2CID 6677659.
  2. ^ "Ein Leben für die Tiere" (PDF). Zoologische Gesellschaft Frankfurt. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 8, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Claudia Sewig 2009, p. 209 (German)
  4. ^ Sewig 2009, p. 243
  5. ^ Sewig 2009, p. 260 ff.
  6. ^ a b c Sewig 2009, p. 269
  7. ^ Scherpner 1983, p. 155 and 165: Das während der Bauphase ab 1972 noch als 24-Stunden-Haus bezeichnete Tierhaus wurde durch Magistratsbeschluss im September 1978 als Grzimek-Haus eingeweiht.
  8. ^ Sewig 2009, p. 187
  9. ^ „Ein Leben für die Tiere“: ZDF-Dokumentation über Grzimek
  10. ^ "Legenden – Bernhard Grzimek". Archived from the original on 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  11. ^ Grzimek - Der Film
  12. ^ TV-Film „Grzimek“: Tiere, Frauen, Dramen Archived 2015-05-21 at the Wayback Machine Der Spiegel
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