- Email: [email protected]
Forgotten treasure: Lives and fates of members of the German Society of Mammalogy (DGS) forced to resign after 1933
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Abstracts / Mammalian Biology 81S (2016) 3–18
in their genome with Forward Genomics, and (iv) experimentalists to test the discovered associations in model organisms. In the talk, I will present the work of our consortium and explain how Forward Genomics discovers the genomic basis of phenotypic differences. Our interdisciplinary project connects zoology and natural history with comparative genomics, helps to find associations between phenotype and genotype, and will contribute to our understanding of how nature’s phenotypic diversity has evolved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2016.07.027 The palaeogenomic revolution in zoology Michael Hofreiter University of Potsdam, Germany E-mail address: [email protected]. The invention of next generation sequencing technologies, replacing traditional Sanger sequencing during the last decade, has led to a revolution in basically every research field that investigates nucleic acid sequences. However, probably no other field has been transformed to the extent as it is the case for research on ancient DNA. Initially relying on short fragments of mitochondrial DNA sequences, it has become possible over the last years to reconstruct entire nuclear genomes, even to high coverage from ancient DNA. So far, this approach has mainly been used on fossil humans, but research on animal species is finally picking up speed. I will introduce the basics of palaeogenomic analyses and then demonstrate with three case studies on bears, bison and elephants how fundamental the changes are that palaeogenomic analyses bring to our view of animal evolution. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2016.07.028 Forgotten treasure: Lives and fates of members of the German Society of Mammalogy (DGS) forced to resign after 1933 Rainer Hutterer Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, Germany E-mail address: [email protected]. The “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Säugetierkunde” enjoyed a few years of growth, productive science and international cooperation soon after its foundation in 1926. Members from all possible disciplines were welcome, and the journal “Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde” was internationally accepted. The takeover by Hitler and the NSDAP in 1933 marked a deep crisis for the entire cultural and scientific life in Germany. A set of laws launched by the Nazi government made life and work for people with a Jewish or otherwise unwarranted background impossible. They were dismissed, their property confiscated, some were imprisoned or even murdered. This presentation deals with the lives and fates of some members of the DGS who suffered from the political change in pre-war Germany, and whose professional careers were abruptly terminated. The secretary of the DGS at that time, Hermann Pohle, did not exclude any member, but the new laws forced many to resign because they could not afford the annual membership fee or were not even admitted to buildings where meetings were held. Data on the lives of Oscar Neumann, Gabriele Neuhäuser, BathScheba Aharoni, Benno Wolf, Hans Friedenthal, Max Hilzheimer, and Jan Zabinski are presented. They demonstrate the loss of cultural diversity, which characterized the DGS in its early years. The revival of the society after 1945 was only possible with the help of
members such as Hermann Pohle, Erna Mohr, Julius Riemer, or Dietrich Starck, whose honest and decent behaviour during the times of Nazi terror helped to re-establish the reputation of the German Society for Mammalian Biolgy in the world. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2016.07.029 Visual history: Group pictures taken at annual meetings of the DGS Rainer Hutterer ∗ , Jan Decher Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, Germany E-mail address: [email protected] (R. Hutterer). Since the foundation of the DGS in 1926 formal group pictures were taken at annual meetings of the Society. From 1926 to 1936 such group pictures were often taken by professional photographers with large format cameras on large-sized glass plate or film negative. A few high quality prints survived in the archives of the DGS, and these were supplemented by prints subsequently donated by members of the Society. We analysed a total of twenty-two formal group pictures taken between 1926 and 2014. The number of individuals depicted varies from 16 (1926) to 104 (1972). However, the quality of the photos, i.e. their resolution, is only high enough to enlarge and identify single individuals on prints in the older black and white photos. More recent pictures were often taken more informally with digital cameras and allow no strong magnification. We suggest that during future meetings formal group pictures should again be taken with high-resolution cameras (>10MP) on a tripod and some care should be taken to arrange the group to fill the viewfinder frame. For an exhibition to be presented at the 90th annual meeting in Berlin we have selected 10 of the most representative group pictures, two of which were taken in Berlin (1936, 1952). They were scanned at high resolution and printed on glossy paper. Combined with our attempts to identify as many attendants as possible, they represent an important part of the visual history of the mammal society on one hand and of specific researchers on the other. However, the correct identification of the persons shown in these photos is becoming a race against time. Particularly the group pictures from 1926 to 1936 include portraits of members who were subsequently forced to emigrate or were even arrested and killed. For some of them, we keep their only visual memory. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2016.07.030
Abstracts / Mammalian Biology 81S (2016) 3–18
in their genome with Forward Genomics, and (iv) experimentalists to test the discovered associations in model organisms. In the talk, I will present the work of our consortium and explain how Forward Genomics discovers the genomic basis of phenotypic differences. Our interdisciplinary project connects zoology and natural history with comparative genomics, helps to find associations between phenotype and genotype, and will contribute to our understanding of how nature’s phenotypic diversity has evolved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2016.07.027 The palaeogenomic revolution in zoology Michael Hofreiter University of Potsdam, Germany E-mail address: [email protected]. The invention of next generation sequencing technologies, replacing traditional Sanger sequencing during the last decade, has led to a revolution in basically every research field that investigates nucleic acid sequences. However, probably no other field has been transformed to the extent as it is the case for research on ancient DNA. Initially relying on short fragments of mitochondrial DNA sequences, it has become possible over the last years to reconstruct entire nuclear genomes, even to high coverage from ancient DNA. So far, this approach has mainly been used on fossil humans, but research on animal species is finally picking up speed. I will introduce the basics of palaeogenomic analyses and then demonstrate with three case studies on bears, bison and elephants how fundamental the changes are that palaeogenomic analyses bring to our view of animal evolution. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2016.07.028 Forgotten treasure: Lives and fates of members of the German Society of Mammalogy (DGS) forced to resign after 1933 Rainer Hutterer Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, Germany E-mail address: [email protected]. The “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Säugetierkunde” enjoyed a few years of growth, productive science and international cooperation soon after its foundation in 1926. Members from all possible disciplines were welcome, and the journal “Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde” was internationally accepted. The takeover by Hitler and the NSDAP in 1933 marked a deep crisis for the entire cultural and scientific life in Germany. A set of laws launched by the Nazi government made life and work for people with a Jewish or otherwise unwarranted background impossible. They were dismissed, their property confiscated, some were imprisoned or even murdered. This presentation deals with the lives and fates of some members of the DGS who suffered from the political change in pre-war Germany, and whose professional careers were abruptly terminated. The secretary of the DGS at that time, Hermann Pohle, did not exclude any member, but the new laws forced many to resign because they could not afford the annual membership fee or were not even admitted to buildings where meetings were held. Data on the lives of Oscar Neumann, Gabriele Neuhäuser, BathScheba Aharoni, Benno Wolf, Hans Friedenthal, Max Hilzheimer, and Jan Zabinski are presented. They demonstrate the loss of cultural diversity, which characterized the DGS in its early years. The revival of the society after 1945 was only possible with the help of
members such as Hermann Pohle, Erna Mohr, Julius Riemer, or Dietrich Starck, whose honest and decent behaviour during the times of Nazi terror helped to re-establish the reputation of the German Society for Mammalian Biolgy in the world. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2016.07.029 Visual history: Group pictures taken at annual meetings of the DGS Rainer Hutterer ∗ , Jan Decher Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, Germany E-mail address: [email protected] (R. Hutterer). Since the foundation of the DGS in 1926 formal group pictures were taken at annual meetings of the Society. From 1926 to 1936 such group pictures were often taken by professional photographers with large format cameras on large-sized glass plate or film negative. A few high quality prints survived in the archives of the DGS, and these were supplemented by prints subsequently donated by members of the Society. We analysed a total of twenty-two formal group pictures taken between 1926 and 2014. The number of individuals depicted varies from 16 (1926) to 104 (1972). However, the quality of the photos, i.e. their resolution, is only high enough to enlarge and identify single individuals on prints in the older black and white photos. More recent pictures were often taken more informally with digital cameras and allow no strong magnification. We suggest that during future meetings formal group pictures should again be taken with high-resolution cameras (>10MP) on a tripod and some care should be taken to arrange the group to fill the viewfinder frame. For an exhibition to be presented at the 90th annual meeting in Berlin we have selected 10 of the most representative group pictures, two of which were taken in Berlin (1936, 1952). They were scanned at high resolution and printed on glossy paper. Combined with our attempts to identify as many attendants as possible, they represent an important part of the visual history of the mammal society on one hand and of specific researchers on the other. However, the correct identification of the persons shown in these photos is becoming a race against time. Particularly the group pictures from 1926 to 1936 include portraits of members who were subsequently forced to emigrate or were even arrested and killed. For some of them, we keep their only visual memory. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2016.07.030