Berlin Zoo The Impact Of WWII on Berlin Zoo - as illustrated by maps of the time

[TeaLovingDave]

I've recently obtained a pair of rather noteworthy old guidebooks issued by Zoo Berlin which (alongside some of the guidebooks already in my collection) have given me the opportunity to post this little demonstration of just how devastating WWII was to Zoo Berlin. I already owned guidebooks from the early years of the war (1939 and 1941 to be precise) along with guidebooks released from the 1960s onwards, which include rather excellent maps showing the state of the zoo at the time of publication.

However, as one can imagine, these either show a collection which has yet to experience the worst that the war was to bring, or one which is already over a decade into the process of rebuilding and repair. As such, I was rather pleased to have a copy of the 1951 guidebook come into my possession a week or so ago, given the fact that this is the first edition to be published after the war (and indeed the first to be published after the 1941 guidebook I already owned) and was released at a time when Zoo Berlin was still very much a scarred collection, with much of it remaining in ruins 6 years after the end of the war - something which is very much apparent from the map which is included on the back cover of the guidebook.

This meant that I now had copies of guidebooks (and hence maps) showing the status of Zoo Berlin in 1941, 1951 and 1960 - frustratingly, I do not as yet own a copy of the 1961 guidebook and therefore cannot provide a perfect decade-by-decade progression! - and as such was left in the position of being able to post this thread, something I had always intended to do in the back of my head once I obtained a copy of the 1951 guidebook. However, a few days ago I unexpectedly managed to pick up a copy of the 1931 guidebook on eBay, and as such I decided to wait until this arrived on the basis that a truly comprehensive picture would be possible if I could provide a map from the years immediately prior to the war as well as one from the early years of the war.

This map has now arrived, and therefore I will attach scans of the four maps in question to the following post. I hope they are of some interest, and provoke some discussion! As an additional bonus, a large segment of the opening pages of the 1951 guidebook comprises a full account of what Zoo Berlin experienced over the course of WWII, along with an account of the slow repair process which (at the time of publication) was still very much in its infancy. This account is, of course, in German - however, given it provides me with a good excuse to practice my fluency with this language I intend to translate and condense the information found within and post it to this thread in the fullness of time.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

1931





1941




1951




1960

 

[TinoPup]

Even without knowing the language, you can see how much is missing in the 1951.

That 1960 map is ahead of its time

 

[twilighter]

This two quotes from Gary Bruce's book "THROUGH THE LION GATE" from just before the war and after the bombings of November 1943 give some light on how devastating the actual picture was:

"The zoo also had a colossal collection of animals, both in numbers and species: 1,263 mammals in 433 species, and 2,653 birds in 853 species..."

---

"...That afternoon … I had been at the elephant enclosure and had seen the six females and one juvenile doing tricks with their keeper. That same night, all seven were burnt alive. The entire zoo was destroyed by bombing. The hippopotamus bull survived in his basin [but] all the bears, polar bears, camels, ostriches, birds of prey, and other
birds were burnt. Every enclosure, except the animal hospital, was destroyed. The tanks in the aquarium all ran dry, the crocodiles escaped, but like the snakes they froze in the cold November air. All that survived in the zoo was the bull elephant named Siam, the bull hippopotamus, and a few apes..."

 

[markmeier]

I hope they are of some interest, and provoke some discussion!

Thanks a lot. This gives a good first impression of the destruction. There are many online resources that complement your visualization, e.g. https://historycollection.com/the-tragic-ordeal-of-the-berlin-zoo-in-world-war-ii/

As an additional bonus, a large segment of the opening pages of the 1951 guidebook comprises a full account of what Zoo Berlin experienced over the course of WWII, along with an account of the slow repair process which (at the time of publication) was still very much in its infancy. This account is, of course, in German - however, given it provides me with a good excuse to practice my fluency with this language I intend to translate and condense the information found within and post it to this thread in the fullness of time.

Unfortunately, I am short of time. Otherwise I would offer a translation. But I can highly recommend the following page: DeepL Translate
This is the best translation device I am aware of. If you translate from German to your native language English, you should get a very good first draft you can then improve yourself quite easily rather than having to start this from scratch.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

But I can highly recommend the following page: DeepL Translate
This is the best translation device I am aware of. If you translate from German to your native language English, you should get a very good first draft you can then improve yourself quite easily rather than having to start this from scratch.

Thanks - I'll take a look at that if I struggle with the task which is quite probable!

Even without knowing the language, you can see how much is missing in the 1951.

Indeed - and a fair few of the structures still standing (but in poor condition) on the 1951 map are gone by the time of the 1960 map.

There are still a few pre-war structures at the zoo now, amazingly, but all have been subject to quite significant levels of repair work. The Aquarium and the Antelope House are the two most noteworthy of these, and I believe one of the structures which was in the old deer area of the zoo recently demolished to make way for the return of Giant Panda dated back to the 19th century!

 

[Rayane]

Not sure I would've been a fan of the exhibits, but 433 mammals + 853 birds, wow.
Also, funny to see some exhibits have still not changed places.

 

[Dassie rat]

If it hadn't been for the Second World War, the Berlin Tierpark would probably never have been built.

 

[twilighter]

There were plans for the second, much bigger zoo in Berlin before the WWII, but they are connected also with the Third Reich and mainly with Lutz Heck.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Not sure I would've been a fan of the exhibits, but 433 mammals + 853 birds, wow.

A figure which is particularly mind-boggling when you notice that the footplan of the zoo was rather smaller in the 1930s than it was by the time of the 1960s (with the zoo having been extended north into portions of the Tiergarten, including the site of the old flak-tower which was constructed during the war (and which was demolished in 1947) and whose presence was one of the major aspects which caused the zoo to be a major target for wartime bombing. My brother actually did his post-graduate dissertation on that tower, as a sidenote!

Of course, the footplan of the zoo has expanded further since the 1960s, too.

Also, funny to see some exhibits have still not changed places.

Of course, in the vast majority of cases this comprises entirely new structures built on the site of older structures - for instance, the Ape House visible in the first three maps (including the 1951 example) was obviously too damaged to salvage in any fashion, as the Ape House on the same site in the 1960 map is very obviously a completely new build.

I believe that the latter structure still comprises part of the current Ape House, incidentally, although there have been extensions over the decades.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

This two quotes from Gary Bruce's book "THROUGH THE LION GATE" from just before the war and after the bombings of November 1943 give some light on how devastating the actual picture was:

"The zoo also had a colossal collection of animals, both in numbers and species: 1,263 mammals in 433 species, and 2,653 birds in 853 species..."

---

"...That afternoon … I had been at the elephant enclosure and had seen the six females and one juvenile doing tricks with their keeper. That same night, all seven were burnt alive. The entire zoo was destroyed by bombing. The hippopotamus bull survived in his basin [but] all the bears, polar bears, camels, ostriches, birds of prey, and other
birds were burnt. Every enclosure, except the animal hospital, was destroyed. The tanks in the aquarium all ran dry, the crocodiles escaped, but like the snakes they froze in the cold November air. All that survived in the zoo was the bull elephant named Siam, the bull hippopotamus, and a few apes..."

It is amazing what survivors hippos are, they are evidently incredibly tough animals.

I remember seeing an old National Geographic magazine from the 1990's with an article about the Gulf War. In it was a picture and text about a hippo that had escaped from a Kuwaiti zoo and been the only survivor of an aerial bombing campaign.

 

[twilighter]

It is amazing what survivors hippos are, they are evidently incredibly tough animals.

I remember seeing an old National Geographic magazine from the 1990's with an article about the Gulf War. In it was a picture and text about a hippo that had escaped from a Kuwaiti zoo and been the only survivor of an aerial bombing campaign.

Interesting! One of the post-war Berlin's symbol of hope is in fact the baby hippo Knautschke, who survived the war. You can see his statue today in front of the Hippo House entrance. Knautschke became father and grandfather, but was tragically injured in a battle with his son.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Interesting! One of the post-war Berlin's symbol of hope is in fact the baby hippo Knautschke, who survived the war. You can see his statue today in front of the Hippo House entrance. Knautschke became father and grandfather, but was tragically injured in a battle with his son.
View attachment 461217

Wow ! , I never knew about this history, I'm glad that the zoo has commemorated this animal with a statue

 

[TeaLovingDave]

You can see his statue today in front of the Hippo House entrance. Knautchke became father and grandfather, but was tragically injured in a battle with his son.

Mind you, he reached a pretty good age before this happened - I believe he died in 1988 at the age of 45.

He is actually on the front cover of the aforementioned 1951 guidebook:

 

[Jurek7]

All that survived in the zoo was the bull elephant named Siam, the bull hippopotamus, and a few apes..."

One of Bernhard Grzimek's books has account of him taking home two baby chimps, a baby orangutan and a pink cockatoo - the latter in a metal trash basket.

Mind you, before that many German zoos enriched themselves with animals robbed from zoos in Poland and probably half a dozen other occupied countries.

 

[twilighter]

One of Bernhard Grzimek's books has account of him taking home two baby chimps, a baby orangutan and a pink cockatoo - the latter in a metal trash basket.

The name of the book was "Such Agreeable Friends", if I am not mistaken.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Mind you, before that many German zoos enriched themselves with animals robbed from zoos in Poland and probably half a dozen other occupied countries.

I knew about the Nazis looting fine art, antiquities and gold but never knew about them robbing zoo animals.

Do you know what species they stole from Polish and Eastern European zoos ?

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Unfortunately, I am short of time. Otherwise I would offer a translation. But I can highly recommend the following page: DeepL Translate
This is the best translation device I am aware of. If you translate from German to your native language English, you should get a very good first draft you can then improve yourself quite easily rather than having to start this from scratch.

Thanks - I'll take a look at that if I struggle with the task which is quite probable!

I managed a little better than I expected, and was able to translate a fair few sections without any assistance - for other sections I did indeed use the method you suggested the results, borne of about 9 hours translation, writing, double-checking and polishing follow:


DURING THE WAR, AND AFTER THE WAR

During the First World War, it was mostly food shortages which brought German zoos to the point of closure. In the Second World War, a lack of food was not immediately pressing, but the bombs of air raids caused far more damage to the zoological gardens of Germany; our Berlin garden was the worst hit of all zoos. Its location in the city centre and - above any other factors - the close proximity of targets such as the large anti-aircraft bunker north of the zoo in the Tiergarten and the train station resulted in masses of high explosive and incendiary bombs being dropped on the zoo.

----

We bring here a brief overview of the damage caused by the air raids:

• The first bombings hit our zoo in autumn 1941, Six 250kg heavy explosive bombs destroyed the Forest Tavern in one evening, and damaged the Antelope House, the Sheep House and the Chicken House; on the same evening, incendiary bombs falling on the Cattle Complex destroyed the Watussi House, the Red Buffalo stables and the large barn. Then the zoo experienced quiet for a time.
• The next heavy bombing raid on the zoo took place on August 23 1943, when five heavy bombs caused further damage to the Cattle Complex and to the stone shelter in the outdoor enclosure for the wolves.
• Then on November 22 1943 came the blackest day in the history of our zoo; two heavy explosive bombs, four parachute bombs and a rain of incendiary bombs transformed our previously exemplary place of recreation for Berliners into a sea of flames. That evening, a whole series of buildings lay in ruins or were aflame; the Monkey House; the Indian Deer Houses; the Elephant House; the Farmhouse; the Bird House; the old Ostrich House; the Dog Kennels; within the Farmyard, the administration buildings, the workshops and the animal fodder stores; also the Director's House; the Quarantine Building; the Large Predator House; the Antelope House; the building yards; and the Imperial Hall of the main restaurant. Over 30% of the animal population perished within the 15 minute period of this air raid. On the following evening, our magnificent Aquarium - where two incendiary bombs had been extinguished the previous day by the rapid action of the staff - was destroyed by a heavy explosive bomb which directly hit the central Tropical Crocodile Hall.
• On January 29 1944, five high-explosive bombs fell on the zoo during an air raid at around 3am, destroying the Swine House and the Ibis House, and damaging the Pheasantry and the Hippopotamus House; fortunately, two of these high-explosive bombs were duds, which did not detonate. However, during the same night incendiary bombs incinerated the bird exhibits at the Bear House, and destroyed the upper floor of the Aquarium building. The following evening, on January 30 1944, there was yet another major bombing raid which brought serious misfortune upon the zoo; the Chinese Pavilion, the majority of the Marble Hall of the main restaurant, the Siamese House in the cattle complex, the Yak and Heck Cattle stalls, the Swine House, the Hippopotamus House and the Ostrick House were all reduced to ruins. The Wild Horse and Small Carnivore houses were more lightly damaged, but the Comradeship Hall and the carpentry shops on the Farmyard were destroyed by incendiary bombs.
• Minor damage took place on February 14 and March 24 1944; a single high-explosive bomb hit the zoo on the former day, with a timed fuse delaying the detonation of a bomb which hit the Hippopotamus House for several hours, and on the latter day a parachute bomb hit the island located in front of the Large Predator House.
• This was followed on May 8 1944 by a major daytime air raid which destroyed the Music Temple, the Plant Nursery, and the main restaurant.
• In February 1945, the Director's House - which had been rebuilt on a single story - was completely destroyed by a parachute bomb.

----

Since 1943, portions of the animal population of the zoo had been evacuated to other collections. Unfortunately, not a single individual was to return to Berlin after the war; partially because several of the zoos they moved to were now abroad (for instance, Prague, Vienna and Mulhouse-Alsace), and partially because many of the animals had been killed during bombings of the evacuation zoos or had otherwise died during the intervening time.

----

The final battles at the end of April 1945 were devastatingly big; at the bitter end of the war, our wonderful zoo was turned into a desolate battlefield, littered with bomb craters, criss-crossed by trenches and battered by the constant onslaught of tank warfare. All of the larger houses and buildings had variously been bombed, incinerated or hit by artillery fire, and not a single roof remained intact in the entire zoo. In the place of animal houses and enclosures stood mountains of rubble, the perimeter wall was pockmarked with gigantic holes and gaps, and piles of human and animal corpses lay scattered among masonry debris and the remains of fallen trees; in short, the zoo was a picture of horror.

The summer of 1945, the first after this chaos, represented nothing but a desperate effort to get water pipes, the sewer system and the power cables back into working order, with endless digging and construction work taking place. The high basin of the water tower - which feeds the water pipes throughout the zoo - had a total of 68 holes, which had to be repaired as quickly as possible. This work was necessarily feverish in pace in order that the most important roofs could be put up again and separating walls rebuilt, allowing the creation of warm and rain-free shelters for the animals throughout the winter. At this time, one need immediately followed the last, and we do not like to look back on that first autumn, which continually brought new problems with shortages of feed and building materials. Unfortunately, the next few years were by no means any easier; wood, mortar, cement, roofing felt and glass were all but impossible to obtain, and coal was so scarce that we had to cut down the few trees which remained standing in order to fuel the boilers. To make matters worse, the rising water table within the zoo and Tiergarten area flooded all of our central heating boilers, and they had to be relocated to a higher location.

One of the greatest trials was created by the need to demolish the small underground bunkers located in front of the Aquarium building, and even moreso the large flak-tower in the Tiergarten; not only did we have to load almost all of our animals into boxes and cages, load them into trucks and evacuate them from the zoo on two occasions - consider, for instance, the difficulty we faced in the Pheasantry, where each bird had to be caught individually with nets and loaded into a cage - but on our return to the zoo we found new damage akin to that inflicted by the heavy bombings. The final demolition of the large flak-tower at the end of August 1948 not only tore the Pheasantry in two, but moreover our makeshift Hippopotamus House collapsed, the Cattle Complex suffered extensive damage (for instance, a 400kg hatch door from the tower was thrown into our new cattle sheds), the Elephant House - which had remained habitable until this point in time - collapsed entirely with the exception of the large central tower, and the pressure wave from the explosion inflicted damage on all the roofs in the zoo. As a result, we once again experienced an autumn similar to that of 1945, with the pressing need to ensure that all animal housing was repaired to withstand the wet and cold of the coming winter.

----

The currency reforms of this time caused financial difficulties which put the survival of our zoo in great danger; as with all other businesses in the city, the fact that working capital was tithed affected us greatly. However, the introduction of the Ostmark and Westmark currencies in the two zones of the city created an economic situation at Zoo Berlin which no other zoo in Germany or elsewhere in the world has to deal with; a large number of our visitors, namely everyone living in the eastern sector and the eastern zone, pays the entrance fee in eastern currency, whilst the zoo (as a company located in the west) has to cover all expenses in western currency, and is forced to convert eastern currency - which makes up just under half of all income - at a corresponding exchange rate loss, which results in our receiving only a quarter of its original worth in western currency. No other zoo on earth is subject to permanent bloodletting of this sort.

In any case, the zoo has only ever rarely been able to survive solely on the income received from visitors; zoos are almost always subsidized by grants from the city coffers, but until now our Berlin Zoo had never been a burden to the city, having received additional income from the houses and buildings that were built on surrounding land owned by the zoo decades ago. With this rental income, it was possible for the zoo to survive the income-free winters. After the end of the war, these peripheral buildings surrounding the zoo were destroyed, and this large source of income therefore ceased. The few shops that have been re-established in the ruins so far bring in little, and the city authorities have been unable to give the zoo sufficient support for the unprofitable winter season. As a result we have had to think of other sources of income, and for instance have organised the Oktoberfest; even if many friends of our zoological garden turn up their noses and view the Oktoberfest festivities as beneath us, we have to continue them for the time being if we want to survive the winter until the edge of the property is built up once again.

Our thoughts have been constantly directed towards increasing the number of animals again. By the end of the war there were only 91 animals remaining in the garden, and up to now there are already more than a thousand once again. Since animals are very expensive, we organized a zoo lottery to fund these plans. Now, finally, we will be able to buy some bigger animals. Initially, our plan is to focus on animals that are less sensitive to cold, and later, during spring and summer, other public favorites such as zebras, apes, tigers, etc. will be acquired. However, we first have to repair or rebuild their accommodations. The reader will find further details about these plans within this guidebook, when the individual houses and enclosures are described.

 

[Jurek7]

I knew about the Nazis looting fine art, antiquities and gold but never knew about them robbing zoo animals.

Do you know what species they stole from Polish and Eastern European zoos ?

Too many to list. Nazi German forces robbed everything which could be moved in an organized, planned way. Jews, Poles, French and so on were robbed, killed, worked to death and starved to death. All this wealth flowed to Germany and especially its capital Berlin. Remember, it was genocide and 1943 was about the peak of it.

Warsaw zoo had all animals of value robbed by German troops. Two particular ones which stories are special were the Indian elephant calf Tuzinka, one of first elephants born in Europe, and a male hippo which was loaded and transported in the middle of winter. After some further events, the Warsaw zoo was converted by Nazi to a pig farm.

So unsurprisingly, Germans are not especially proud of wealth of Berlin and its zoo during 1943. And its later downfall is taken in the perspective of what happened to cities in countries occupied by Germany and their zoos.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Too many to list. Nazi German forces robbed everything which could be moved in an organized, planned way. Jews, Poles, French and so on were robbed, killed, worked to death and starved to death. All this wealth flowed to Germany and especially its capital Berlin. Remember, it was genocide and 1943 was about the peak of it.

Warsaw zoo had all animals of value robbed by German troops. Two particular ones which stories are special were the Indian elephant calf Tuzinka, one of first elephants born in Europe, and a male hippo which was loaded and transported in the middle of winter. After some further events, the Warsaw zoo was converted by Nazi to a pig farm.

So unsurprisingly, Germans are not especially proud of wealth of Berlin and its zoo during 1943. And its later downfall is taken in the perspective of what happened to cities in countries occupied by Germany and their zoos.

Yes, I know about the genocide and the Holocaust committed by the Nazis, however, I was just curious about what they did to zoos in the countries they occupied as I have never heard anything about that.

It doesn't really suprise me that the b*****s looted the zoos of their animals too afterall they looted everything else that took a liking too.

I'm not too suprised that there is still a sense of shame regarding the events of 1943 either as it is one of the darkest chapters of the history of the 20th century.