Well, I was already 51 when I became Director of Frankfurt Zoo, which is in Europe, nowadays, rather old to become director. And my predecessor I knew for a long time and we worked very well together. And I usually visited, he has had his office in our administration building… Read More
Now, when you went from Zurich to Frankfurt, what would you say were the differences between the two zoos?… Read More
And if he gets good relationship with wealthy people, with the city, with the inhabitants of the city, then donations are coming even into a city zoo. And I was able to increase, I think, the donations and legacies by 100 or even more than before my time. Read More
And by legacies you mean some funding that is donated to the zoo after a person dies?… Read More
Yes. Legacy or bequest. Read More
In my time, there was one big donation from Frankfurt Zoological Society to the zoo, over 2 million Euro for a new ape facility. Read More
Now, is Frankfurt Zoo still what I would call a public zoo, under the city government?… Read More
Or is it, because it’s not private. Frankfurt Zoo is part of the city. I was promised when I started that it would become independent, but my superior soon discovered that almost all employees were very much against it. And so she changed and it was not my task to… Read More
But there are a few programs in Germany because it’s important to show the world one cares about the backyard as well. But about half of the approximately 10 million Euro expenditure every year is spent in East Africa. Other areas are South America and a little bit in Southeast… Read More
Does the society then, because it’s mostly conservation, do they help fund new exhibits that will be built in the zoo?… Read More
It was a very difficult time for me. I was vice president. I became Vice President of Frankfurt Zoological Society and most board members and the staff of Frankfurt Zoological Society were mostly conservation minded. So it was very difficult decision. Several staff members wanted to create a new friends… Read More
Well, at that time, it was only a few hundred thousand, the population grew since that time, and about two to 300,000 zebras. And so he captured wildebeest and zebras, put the animals collars and followed these animals with the plane. And so he could show how the migration takes… Read More
And so that was the start of the in situ conservation work. Long before any other zoo did it, Grzimek did it. He more or less adopted Serengeti National Park. This became later programs of other zoos, adopt a national park. And he reinvested the Frankfurt Zoological Society as first… Read More
But in World War II, Frankfurt Zoo suffered very much. It was destroyed by about 95% or so, and only some 90 animals survived. And of course, Germany had a very difficult time because the firm responsible were relieved, of course, and American army looked for persons not involved in… Read More
So even when he opened the zoo again, later in 1945, with very, very few animals in very bad and closures, the people came in big crowds to visit the zoo. And it was, you can say, a luck for the zoo that the zoo was almost destroyed because in… Read More
And again, Frankfurt Zoological Society now exists. It was started again by Grzimek in the late ’50s. He became interested in the Serengeti. He learned to fly. He bought a Dornier airplane and, together with his son, Michael, he flew, I think in 11 days, from Frankfurt to the Serengeti. Read More
Chancellor?… Read More
No. The Lord Mayor is the top person in the city and then there are different, the finance department, the cultural department- Head of departments. Head of departments, okay. So I start with 1915. They went full bankrupt. In 1915, when Frankfurt Zoological Society got bankrupt, the city took over… Read More
What is their name?… Read More
In German, it’s (speaking in foreign language). It might be, I don’t know. Read More