This article is published with the authorization of the official account "Nibelungen Factory"
In view of the large number of morally deficient people in society, and far less cute than animals, zoos are one of the indispensable garden landscape facilities in modern metropolises, where people get close to and see animals, relax and increase their knowledge, and with the efforts of scientists and keepers, many rare animals can also be bred here. The zoo is a magical place that carries many happy memories, such as traveling with parents as a child, and visits organized by the school during the student years. However, today in the zoo leisurely watching rare animals and animals, we have not thought that if war comes, human beings themselves are still precarious, then what kind of fate will the animals in the zoo suffer? To answer this question, colleagues at the Nibelungen plant today put aside their tigers and leopards made of steel to show you what happened at the Berlin Zoo during World War II.
A brief history of the Berlin Zoo before the war
Zoologischer Garten Berlin, located in the large urban green area (Tiergarten) in the heart of Berlin, is the oldest zoo in Germany. The garden was ordered by the animal-loving Emperor Frederick Wilhelm III, and at first there was only a relatively simple peacock island and a pen, and the monarch went around collecting rare animals to enrich his collection, and many animals given to him were also raised here. When William III died in 1840, it was already a zoo that had begun to take shape for his son, William IV.
In August 1844, after three years of efforts by three masters, the royal adviser, the African expert Martin Hinrich Lichtenstein, the biologist Alexander von Humboldt, and the architect Peter Joseph Lenné, the Berlin Zoo was renovated, reopened, and the following year converted from a royal garden to a public facility. But the people at that time did not buy it very much. In 1869, Dr Heinrich Bodinus, who had previously served as the director of the Cologne Zoo, became the new director, and he publicly raised shares to publicize the society, carried out a drastic renovation of the zoo, purchased more animals at the same time, and built an exotic museum, as well as a music square, dance floor, restaurant, etc. for entertainment, making the zoo a fashionable place at once, tourists came one after another, and the ticket revenue also rose.
When Dr. Bodinus died in 1884, his successor was mediocre and lived only four years longer than him. In 1888, at the age of 28, the new head of the park, Ludwig Heck, took office, who served as director for decades until 1931, when he gave way to his son. Under his leadership, the Berlin Zoo became the zoo with the largest collection of animal species at the time. During the tenure of Bodinus and Heck Sr., the architectural achievements of the Berlin Zoo were equally remarkable, and the elephant gate, elephant house, ostrich hall, raptor hall and monkey hall were built one after another, which left a great impression on visitors. In 1913, the aquarium was established so that the zoo's exhibition scope was expanded to include fish, reptiles and amphibians.
Ostrich House, ancient Egyptian architectural style.
Antelope House, North African mosque style.
North American Bison House, Indian Longhouse Style.
The Southeast Asian-style elephant gate is the main entrance of the Berlin Zoo.
Indian-style elephant houses, rhinos are also raised here.
The aquarium, built in 1913, features dinosaur statues in front of the door and dinosaur reliefs on the façade – people at that time had already developed a strong interest in dinosaurs.
Luxurious marble hall in the zoo restaurant.
In 1932, Ludwig's son, Dr Lutz Heck, took over his father's baton and he remodeled the zoo again. The exhibition areas for brown bears, lions, monkeys, wolves, wild goats and other animals have been changed to a semi-open style with trenches, which is closer to the layout of modern zoos. In 1939, the Berlin Zoo was the largest zoo in Germany with more than 1,400 species and more than 4,000 animals.
Bear House.
Photos taken from the polar bear house.
The animal display area opened in the second half of the renovation.
Reptiles raised at the Berlin Zoo.
The bustling zoo brings prosperity to the surrounding area, with public facilities such as subway stations, railway stops, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and the Ufa-Palast am Zoo, a great place for people to live. Banks, shops, restaurants, and dance halls are gathered, and the scene of red wine and greenery continues to this day.
Still buzzing at night on Budapest Avenue, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is in the distance.
Berlin Zoologischer garten train station and metro station exit.
The Global Film Company Zoo Building, which houses a dedicated large cinema.
As the Nazi Party came to power, dark clouds began to hang over the paradise of Berlin's citizens. First of all, Jews were no longer welcome here, and Jewish shareholders were expelled and forced to sell their shares at low prices. The outside of the Zoo Building of the Global Film Company was filled with swastika flags, and "Victory of the Will" was screened, and among the tourists, there were more and more guys in black, earthy brown and field gray uniforms every day. Despite this, the zoo is still full every day, and people huddled together or watch the cute animals, or sit in the squares and green spaces and talk about it, without the slightest idea that an indiscriminate catastrophe is coming.
Women and children waiting at the zoo gate in the morning.
In 1939-1940, the Berlin Zoo was full.
Visitors to the zoo, several uniformed people can be seen in the last one.
In addition to being the director of the Berlin Zoo, Dr. Lutz Heck, who wears the Nazi party emblem, is famous for his efforts to restore the original cattle.
Some of the animals raised at the Berlin Zoo in the 1930s and 1940s were the last ones of the gorilla "Bobby", which was once a household name in Germany.
Outside the zoo's elephant gates hung signs that Jews were not welcome.
Guided tour of the Berlin Zoo, 1940 edition.
From top to bottom: guidebook, tickets and proof of stake at the Berlin Zoo.
Shura Field
In 1940, when the city of Berlin was bombed by the British Air Force, Hitler ordered the construction of three sets of anti-aircraft towers (battle towers and command towers) to protect the city and important facilities, the first of which was built not far north of the zoo. On September 8, 1941, the Berlin Zoo was bombed for the first time, six 250-pound aerial bombs caused serious damage to the forest restaurant, and the cattle house was also ignited by incendiary bombs, because the rescue was timely, the bombing did not cause any serious consequences, the building was quickly repaired, and the appearance of quiet and stable life was restored. In the next two years, the zoo was largely unaffected by airstrikes, except for five 250-pound bombs that landed in the open space between the Cow And Wolf House.
Hitler visits the Berlin Zoo.
Goering holding the lion cub.
A woman pushes a stroller past a sleepy cow.
Accompany family members on a tour of the German armored men at the Berlin Zoo.
A film crew shooting at a zoo.
On 22-23 November 1943, British bombers launched a massive bombing campaign west of Berlin, followed by almost a week of raids that killed more than 3,700 people, injured more than 10,000, displaced more than 500,000 people, and nearly razed the zoo area. Between 19:15 and 19:30 on the evening of November 22, a large number of bombs, including more than 1,000 incendiary bombs, were dumped over the Berlin Zoo, many stadium buildings were burned or blown up, due to damage to the water supply system, the fire in the park could not be controlled, and the animals could not be rescued, and they could only watch as they were trapped in the "deep barbecue" of the building, and almost 30% of the animals were killed within 15 minutes. At 20:00 on the evening of the 23rd, the aquarium was destroyed by another bomb hit, and the next day, pedestrians on Budapesterstraße outside the zoo saw four stiff crocodile corpses lying on the street, and they were all scared enough to choke - these unfortunate crocodiles may have been thrown from the aquarium by the shock wave of the explosion and then frozen into popsicles by the low temperature at night.
"The zoo animals ran out!" Rumors soon spread in Berlin, and everyone was at risk – no one knew what was hidden in the rubble outside, and some even claimed to have seen elephants and tigers wandering the streets, but in fact there were not many animals that escaped, the unlucky elephants were almost wiped out, and only a male elephant called "Siam" survived - except for the australian dogs and wolves that were captured, the other animals that escaped were monkeys, small animals and birds. A kind female air defense volunteer saw "a wretched shepherd" wandering around outside the ruins of her duty room, and just as she was about to take out bread to feed the "dog", two breeders appeared and dragged it back to the wolf house - this was actually a wolf who ran out during the air raid. After statistics, during this bombing. The Berlin Zoo lost large animals including seven elephants, one black rhinoceros, two pygmy hippos, two giraffes, and one walrus, as well as other animals including half antelopes, 1 chimpanzee, 1 orangutan, and 7 birds of prey. A total of 721 mammals and 1212 birds survived, including star animals such as the giraffe "Rieke", the orangutan "Buschi", and the gorilla "Pongo", which once appeared in the tour brochure.
Elephant houses and charred elephant carcasses destroyed in air raids.
Destroyed Antelope House.
The ruins of the Ostrich House.
The ruins of the zoo building and the zoo train station, the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the Global Film Company Zoo Building and other buildings were also destroyed in the bombing of November 1943.
In the ruined hippopotamus pavilion, standing on the edge of the pool is the female hippopotamus "Gretl".
Around the time of the November bombings of November 1943, Heck had his men move some of the animals to other cities, such as Vienna, Breslau, Frankfurt am Main, Halle, Cologne, and the zoos in Königsberg. Some bovines were transferred to the Schorf-heide steppe, northeast of Berlin, where the area of activity is spacious and more suitable for them than the zoo. After the bombing, Mülhausen in Alsace received a large number of animals from the Berlin Zoo, including 237 mammals and 149 species of birds transported in two batches in February 1944. During the war, a total of 750 animals of 247 species were relocated at the Berlin Zoo. After the war, only the giraffe "Lake" was returned by the Vienna Zoo in 1953, and the other animals that were transferred either died in the war or were already old, and the war swept almost all of Europe, even leaving Berlin.
After the smoke from the November bombings cleared, German officers and men stationed in the zoo's air defense towers, police, Reichsforstamt staff, a platoon of Technische Nothilfe, Wehrmacht engineering units and prisoners of war were mobilized to rescue animals and clean up the ruins of the zoo. Because the dead elephants were so large, veterinarians had to cut the carcasses into small pieces for easy handling. In order to feed these hungry people, the animals that died were made into dishes by the temporary canteen.
"We're going to die eating meat." Director Heck later recalled. "The animals that were killed by the explosion, as long as they could still eat, all went into the pot." Crocodile tails taste delicious, stewed in a large pot, and taste like fattened chicken. Dead deer, buffalo and antelope fed hundreds of meals by the old men and carnivores, and ham and sausages made from bear meat were later warmly welcomed. ”
The bombing did not mean the end of the catastrophe, and on January 29, 30, February 15, March 24, May 8, October, December 31, and February 24, 1944, the Berlin Zoo was bombed several times, and this masterpiece of Berlin's architectural and garden construction history was completely reduced to rubble, but it remained open to the public until It was completely closed on April 22, 1945. During this period, the staff tried to find feed for the various animals that survived, and took warm measures to let some hardy animals survive the cold winter. Many of the venues are no longer suitable for animals, staff have made limited repairs to at least keep them out of the wind and rain, and some animals have been kept elsewhere according to local conditions – for example, the hippopotamus has been moved to the laboratory, and the whale-headed stork has been stuffed into the bathroom.
The whale-headed storks that were transferred to the restrooms were a group of respectable people who devoted themselves to the animals they raised during the war-torn years.
During the Battle of Berlin in April 1945, the zoo area became a battlefield. From the 22nd, the zoo began to be shelled by the Soviet army continuously, and the fierce fighting continued until the 30th. After the battle, in order to prevent the animals from running out and hurting people, both the beasts of prey and the birds of prey were killed by the staff. Staff also prepared a small bomb shelter at the entrance to the zoo to house the wounded, where family members and female volunteers treated the wounded. On 2 May, the German defenders in Berlin surrendered to the Soviets, and the fighting in the zoo area ended, leaving only the ruins of the walls, the remains of weapons, and the corpses of soldiers on both sides.
The Berlin Zoo, which was almost completely razed to the ground, has only a few animal sculptures surviving.
Statistics from 31 May show that only 91 of the pre-war 4,000 animals remained by this time, and the rest were either dead, transferred to other places, fled, or eaten by Soviet troops and refugees. Among the survivors were the elephant "Siam", the male hippopotamus "Knauthshek", two lion cubs, two hyenas, 10 baboons, 1 chimpanzee and 1 black stork. Forest losses in the zoo area were equally severe, with the exception of those destroyed in shelling and bombing, and the surviving trees were cut down by refugees as fuel for heating and cooking over the winter.
Post-war overview
On June 2, 1945, the military control authorities decided to rebuild the zoo area in accordance with the policy of "repairing the old as old". The first director of the post-war park was Dr. Katharina Heinros, the first female zoo director in Germany, the Berlin Zoo including the antelope house, aquarium and many other buildings were designed by her husband, under her leadership, the buildings of the Berlin Zoo were rebuilt, the vegetation was restored, and gradually returned to the prosperity of the past.
After the war, people came to the Berlin Zoo to visit the elephant "Siam", and its life is hard to say whether it is lucky or unlucky.
During the german separation, the Berlin Zoo became an important leisure place for the citizens of West Berlin. After several expansions and renovations, the Berlin Zoo is now one of the most popular zoos in Europe, with 3.3 million visitors a year, more than 1,500 species of more than 20,000 animals, and plays a very important role in animal conservation and research. Born in 2006, the young polar bear "Cnut" was once a worldwide star, and its untimely death is also a sigh. Since 2017, two giant pandas on loan from China have once again drawn the attention of audiences across Europe to the Berlin Zoo.