By Dr. rer. agr. Brunhilde Bross-Burkhardt,
Langenburg, Germany
Wolfgang von Haller was born on 1st of October 1905 in
Reval, now Tallinn, in Estland. His father was a doctor. Wolfgang von Haller
had an older brother Albert (1903-2000), who became a writer[1],
and an older sister, Martha, who became a nurse. After World War I the family
moved to Berlin. Wolfgang von Haller studied Agricultural Sciences at the
Kolonialhochschule Witzenhausen and at the University of Halle.[2]
Then he went to Canada and worked there on farms and in forestry for two years.
In 1930 he went to China. He worked in the province of
Kiangsu in charge of the „Stickstoffsyndikat“ in order to check the
possibilities of selling fertilizer to the Chinese. In 1931 he quit this job[3]
and started to travel all around China for three years.[4]
From 1934 until 1939, after coming back to Germany, he worked as what was
described an abstractor for economical affairs.[5] In World War II he was employed with
agricultural affairs. He was installed at the Institute for Plant Breeding in
Puschkin near Leningrad and at the Mitschurin Stations nearby.[6]
After that v. Haller was stationed in Macedonia, in order to organize the
agricultural production and distribution of food. At the end of World War II he
was in the Netherlands in Friesland, where he organized the dairy husbandry.
There he was captured as a prisoner of war.[7]
In 1946 he settled in the small village Lienen in
Westphalia, in the western part of Germany, together with his mother and
sister. He took some land on lease and started cultivating vegetables and fruit
for self-sufficiency.
In 1949 he founded the „Gesellschaft Boden und
Gesundheit e.V.“, together with friends and like-minded persons.
Chairman of the Board was Dr. med. Otto von Schröder
(1949-1962).
Vice-chairman was Walter Groß, a garden architect
(1949-1962).
At the beginning members of the commitee
(“Ehrenbeiratsmitglieder”) were: Prof. Dr. med. Werner Kollath, Dr. h.c. Arthur
von Kruedener, Dr. h.c. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, Prof. Dr. Carl Alwin Schenck,
Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Vershofen.
In 1963 he, respectively “Boden und Gesundheit”, moved
to Langenburg in Baden-Württemberg. He had the aim to found a model farm or
market garden. But that plan didn’t work out. So the “Gesellschaft Boden und
Gesundheit” always remained restricted either to houses or flats with rather
small gardens. It was equipped as a publishing house with an archive and a
remarkable library.[8]
Publications
From 1950 till 1953 the “Gesellschaft Boden und
Gesundheit” published four small brochures “Unsere Aufgabe”: 1. “Boden,
Ernährung, Gesundheit” (1950), 2. “Gedeih-Kost” (1951), 3. “Lebendiger Boden”
(1952), 4. “Landschaft als Lebensraum – Der Baum in Wald, Flur und Garten
(1953).
The first brochure with the programmatic title “Unsere
Aufgabe – Boden, Ernährung, Gesundheit” was published in 1950. Among other
articles it contained an article about the development of
“Boden-und-Gesundheit”-aims in foreign countries. V. Haller wrote on p. 29: “In
Europe England is leading in matters of Soil
and Health and has a great influence on other countries.” V. Haller
mentions Sir Albert Howard, the Soil Association with Lord Teviot and Lady Eve
Balfour, F. Newman Turner and his publication “The Farmer” and the organisation
Whole Food Society, Friend Sykes and F.C. King, Maye E. Bruce, Dr. Lionel
Picton, Peckham Pioneer Health Centre.
In 1953 the association started publishing a printed
newsletter “Boden und Gesundheit”. The first editions contained only a few
pages. From 1957-1971 it was published as a magazine with many photos and
illustrations, and then again as a newsletter until 1988, when the association
was liquidated.
For the magazine, Wolfgang von Haller wrote many articles,
either more scientific or more practical, about soil- and health-themes and
about pesticides. He also gave lectures in radio and in workshops. In the
associated (very small) publishing house “Boden und Gesundheit” he published
books of himself, of his brother Albert and of other writers. His own most
important works were “Vergiftung durch Schutzmittel”, Hippokrates-Verlag,
Stuttgart 1956, and “Die Wurzeln der gesunden Welt II. Dokumentation in Bildern
und Berichten”, 1978.
I think that it is a very important fact, that
Wolfgang von Haller was a master of the English and Russian language. In the
1950s and 1960s very few people in Germany did have these skills. So he could
translate texts and maintain contact to English and Russian speaking scientists
all over the world. That was one reason for the success of “Boden und Gesundheit”
as an international aimed association.
“Boden und Gesundheit” was a very small organisation.
When I worked for it as an editor from 1981 until 1983 we had about 1100
members respectively subscribers of the newsletter. I believe, that the
organisation had at most 2000 members.
“Gesellschaft Boden und Gesundheit” was the first organisation in
Germany, which dealt with matters of organic agriculture, health, ecology and
the dangers of pesticides to soil and health. Wolfgang von Haller was surely
one of the first publishers to introduce the term “Ökologie” in everyday
language. V. Haller was very persuasive in his writings and in his lectures,
but he was a rather difficult person to be with. Thus the association didn’t
have the success in the long run which it might have gained had he been nicer.
After the liquidation the few assets of the
association went to the nearby existing “Bauernschule Hohenlohe” and to the
“Gärtnerhofstiftung”, who owns a small farm, where children and young adults
can learn how organic agriculture works. (www.wacholderhof.de).
More about Wolfgang von Haller and "Gesellschaft Boden und Gesundheit" in my thesis "Der private biologische Gartenbau in Süddeutschland seit 1945 – Die Rolle der Pioniere und Veränderungen im Wissenstransfer".
[2] To my opinion he didn't close his studies with a
degree, because he never mentioned it. When he was asked about his profession,
he used to answer that he was a „farmer“.
[3] He told me, that he didn’t see any sense in this.
[4] He wrote about agriculture in China later in the
magazine „Boden und Gesundheit“ and in his book „Wurzeln der gesunden Welt“.
[5] I presume, that he had been employed in a ministry,
but don’t know for sure.
[6] Albert von Haller (Hrsg.): Dokumentation zur
Geschichte der Gesellschaft Boden und Gesundheit, self-published, ca. 1984.
[7] Most likely of the British occupying power.
Dieser Kommentar wurde vom Autor entfernt.
AntwortenLöschen