Hellmut Ludwig Späth
Encyclopedia
Hellmut Ludwig Späth the son of Franz
and Wilhelmine Späth, became the sixth and last manager of the Späth nursery
on the death of his father in 1913. After studies at Cambridge
, Hellmut returned to Berlin in 1910 and received his doctorate in 1912 from the Berlin Agricultural College. His dissertation was titled The locust drive - a contribution to the knowledge of periodicity and annual ring formation in deciduous woody plants, and was published by Paul Parey.
Hellmut revived the nursery's fortunes during the Depression
by joining the Nazi Party and obtaining lucrative landscaping contracts for the new autobahns and other public works. However, his outspoken criticism of the Nazi regime saw him incarcerated in Sachsenhausen concentration camp
, where he was executed by firing squad in 1945. The nursery had closed in 1944, and in 1947 the arboretum passed into public ownership and became known as the Späthsches Arboretum.
In 2009, a Stolperstein (small, cobble stone-sized memorial plaque) was installed at his old school, Landesschule Pforta, to commemorate Späth as a victim of the Nazi regime.
Franz Ludwig Späth
Franz Ludwig Späth , was a German botanist and fifth manager of the Späth nursery from 1863, when his father Ludwig retired, until his death, when the nursery passed to his own son Hellmut Ludwig Späth . With his father, Franz was a co-founder of the German Pomologists Association in 1860, and was...
and Wilhelmine Späth, became the sixth and last manager of the Späth nursery
Späth nursery
The Späth family created one of the world's most notable plant nurseries of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The nursery had been founded in 1720 by Christoph Späth but removed to the erstwhile district of Baumschulenweg in south-east Berlin in 1863 when Franz Ludwig Späth succeeded his father...
on the death of his father in 1913. After studies at Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, Hellmut returned to Berlin in 1910 and received his doctorate in 1912 from the Berlin Agricultural College. His dissertation was titled The locust drive - a contribution to the knowledge of periodicity and annual ring formation in deciduous woody plants, and was published by Paul Parey.
Hellmut revived the nursery's fortunes during the Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
by joining the Nazi Party and obtaining lucrative landscaping contracts for the new autobahns and other public works. However, his outspoken criticism of the Nazi regime saw him incarcerated in Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
, where he was executed by firing squad in 1945. The nursery had closed in 1944, and in 1947 the arboretum passed into public ownership and became known as the Späthsches Arboretum.
In 2009, a Stolperstein (small, cobble stone-sized memorial plaque) was installed at his old school, Landesschule Pforta, to commemorate Späth as a victim of the Nazi regime.