Ernst Schäfer | |
|---|---|
 Ernst Schäfer during his last expedition toTibet in 1938 | |
| Born | (1910-03-14)14 March 1910 |
| Died | 21 July 1992(1992-07-21) (aged 82) |
| Occupation | Biologist |
| Organization | Schutzstaffel |
| SS career | |
| Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Schutzstaffel |
| Rank | Sturmbannführer |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
| Signature | |
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Ernst Schäfer (German pronunciation:[ˈɛʁnstˈʃɛːfɐ]; 14 March 1910 – 21 July 1992) was a German explorer, hunter and zoologist in the 1930s, specializing inornithology. He was also a scientific member in theAhnenerbe and held the rank of anSS-Sturmbannführer.
Schäfer was born in Cologne, and even as a young boy, he spent time in the outdoors shooting with anair gun and rearing birds, insects and reptiles. After high school (Abitur 1928 from Mannheim), he worked at Vogelwarten in Denmark and Heligoland. He then joined the University of Göttingen and studied zoology, botany and geology. He was a fan of the Swedish geographerSven Hedin. He metHugo Weigold on a study trip to Helgoland, which led him to join Weigold and AmericanBrooke Dolan II from the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences on a trip to China in 1930–31. He publishedBerge, Buddhas und Bären (Mountains, Buddhas and Bears) in 1933, based on the trip and gained wide recognition. In 1934, Dolan invited Schäfer for a second trip into Tibet in 1934, which affected his studies in the University of Göttingen under ProfessorAlfred Kühn. He then transferred to the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. He determined theyeti to be aTibetan bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus).[1]
Schäfer married in 1937, but his wife died in a hunting accident in November, which emotionally affected him for months. He completed his Ph.D. in 1938, based on his studies of the birds of Tibet. Schäfer joined theSchutzstaffel in 1933 but, afterWorld War II, he claimed to have been an unwilling recruit who joined only to advance his scientific career.
In 1936, he was appointedUntersturmführer in the personal staff, and in 1942 he was promoted to Sturmbannführer.[2] He led the third expedition to Tibet in 1938–39 under the patronage ofHeinrich Himmler, theSS, and various sponsors. As many as 3,300 bird specimens were collected in these expeditions.[3] A film was produced on the expedition titledGeheimnis Tibet (Secret Tibet).[1] Himmler was personally interested in the project due to various pet pseudo-scientific theories that he subscribed to including ideas such as human origins, andHanns Hörbiger'sWelteislehre ("World Ice Theory").[4]
In July 1934, during his second expedition in Asia, he met the then exiledPanchen Lama,Thubten Chökyi Nyima, at a mountain temple nearHangzhou, China. He describes the Lama as a kindly, sympathetic man who enquired about how far Germany was and whether he had been waylaid by any robbers on the way.[5]
The SSAhnenerbe Expedition toTibet during the 1930s was also successful for the German naturalists "Meanwhile, Ernst Schäfer andBruno Beger,Edmund Geer andKrause carefully packed up the voluminous natural history collection- animal and bird skins; butterflies, bees, ants, wasps and other insect specimens; fragile dried plants for theherbarium; packets of seeds containing one thousand, six hundred varieties ofbarley, seven hundred varieties ofwheat, and seven hundred varieties ofoats; not to mention hundreds of seeds from other potentially useful plants."[6]: 175 These seeds collected during the Tibetan expeditions were important, asHeinrich Himmler planned to develop hardy new varieties of crops in order to boost the agricultural yields of colonies across thecaptured territories of Ukraine and Crimea. Himmler ordered theAhnenerbe to found a teaching and research institute inplant genetics, assigning the task to Dr. Ernst Schäfer, who he found to be an ideal young Germanzoologist who could also lead the Tibet Expedition. Schäfer set to work with characteristic vigor. He obtained a staff of seven research scientists, including a Britishprisoner of war, and set up an experimental research station inLannach, near the city ofGraz in Austria. There the new institute went to work, experimenting with samples of grains that Schäfer had acquired from the granaries of the Tibetan nobility.[6]: 220
A statue in a German private collection which has come to be called the "Iron Man" is speculated to have been obtained by Ernst Schäfer during the Tibet expedition in 1938[7] as part of the Tibet mission that was supported by Himmler. There is no proof that this was indeed obtained during the expedition but it has been a subject of considerable speculation. Analysis showed that it was made from iron of meteoric origin, specifically of anataxite class, an extremely rare type, of meteorite and possibly carved from a piece of theChinga meteorite.[8] The statue is believed to portray the godVaisravana. Speculation that it belongs to the pre-BuddhistBon culture that existed in Asia about 1,000 years ago has been brought into question due to certain incoherent features of clothing and style.[9]
In 1945, Schäfer was awarded theWar Merit Cross, 2nd class with Swords.[2] He was made an honorary member of the German ornithologists federation (DO-G) on 7 December 1939, his wedding day, a gift fromErwin Stresemann.[10]
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After the 1939 expedition, he returned to Germany and he married Ursula von Gartzen in December. In 1945 Schäfer was interned by theAllied Military Government but exonerated for war crimes in June 1949 and released. In 1950 he moved with his wife and daughter toVenezuela and conducted studies there while also teaching inMaracay andCaracas.[1] He was a professor in Venezuela until 1954, when he returned to Europe to become an adviser to theBelgian ex-KingLeopold III.[2] With film-makerHeinz Sielmann, he producedHerrscher des Urwalds (Rulers of the Wild, 1958) in the Congolese forests. Schäfer served as the curator of the Department of Natural History at theLower Saxony State Museum from 1960 until 1970.[11]
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