Early life
Curt Kosswig was born in Berlin and graduated from Berlin's Schöneberg Hohenzollern School (''Hohenzollernschule''), graduating in 1922. Afterwards, he attended the University of Berlin studying Natural Sciences, Zoology, and Genetics, where he completed his PhD in 1927. In 1930, he married his wife Leonore (1904–1973) who was also a biologist. They would become acclaimed as a husband and wife research team in Turkey. They had two sons, the older of whom is named Kurt Kosswig (Kurt with a 'K' rather than his father's 'C') who became a chemist.Academic career
Curt Kosswig was a lifetime academic and scholar, widely published and well-respected within a wide range of fields but primarily zoology. Among his important scientific publications were advances in the understanding ofEarly rise in academia: pre-1927
Completing his bachelor's degree at the University of Berlin, in the mid-1920s began to study for a PhD in genetics under Professor Erwin Bauer. Kosswig's published his first academic paper in 1925 in the German ''Journal for the Study of Animal Breeding and Hereditary Science'' (German: Zeitschrift für Tierzüchtung und Züchtungsbiologie). He was only 21 years old upon publication of his first paper. Another of his papers was accepted for publication in 1926. Curt Kosswig was awarded a doctorate (PhD) in genetics on April 1, 1927, at age 23. In this year, he published his doctoral research work as ''The Gene in Foreign Genotypes'' (German: ''Das Gen in fremder Erbmasse''). He had conducted experiments withEarly career in Germany, 1927–33
As Germany's situation deteriorated and the Depression deepened, Kosswig's academic career soared, with seventeen more papers published between 1930 and 1933 for a prolific total of 31 papers published before his 30th birthday in late 1933. (In total, he authored or coauthored 152 papers that were published in journals between 1925 and 1948 alone, with many more later.) In 1927, he got a job as an assistant professor atInvolvement in politics and ''Rassenkunde'', 1933–36
Curt Kosswig was not a member of any political party before 1933. In November 1933, Kosswig joined the SS, an elite branch of the NSDAP (Nazi Party). His relations with the Nazi Party were never warm, though, as demonstrated by the events of 1935 in Münster. He supported the principles of academic freedom and supported all academic non-conformists who came under political persecution by the state. While at Braunschweig from 1933 onward, Kosswig came under the purview of the newly created Race and Settlement Office ( RuSHA) under Walther Darre. Kosswig was asked to serve as an educator for this organization. Part of his duties included lecturing NSDAP party members and groups of interested citizens about genetics and racial anthropology (called ''Rassenkunde''). Dr. Kosswig preferred the academic world to the political, and had never registered with any political party in his 20s. In November 1933, Kosswig joined the SS (see note for possible reasons), an elite branch of the NSDAP (Nazi Party). His relations with the Nazi Party were never warm, though, as demonstrated by the events of 1935 in Münster.The Munster Zoology Department chairmanship crisis, 1934–36
From 1933, the new German government instituted a policy of encouraging Jewish professors to leave German universities, especially those seen to be in positions of political importance. The head of the Munster Zoology Department, Professor von Ubisch, was half-Jewish and seen as politically unreliable. After a long controversy, Ubisch was finally dismissed from his post as head of the Zoology Department at Munster University in 1935, after which he emigrated to Norway. Kosswig, who had worked with Ubisch for six years at Munster, maintained his support for Ubisch. Following the dismissal of his former superior, Dr. Kosswig was asked to take up the chair. He declined. As the authorities looked for possible candidates to replace Ubisch, the entire local academic community became involved, some supporting Ubisch and some opposing him. Ubisch's two assistants were fired. Kosswig (then an assistant professor at Braunschweig University) secured jobs for both of the dismissed assistants. This, on top of refusing to take the seat itself in protest, lost him favor in the eyes of the party. These are factors which may have contributed to his own decision to leave Germany in 1937.Emigration to Turkey, 1937
Following the "Ubisch succession crisis" in Munster, Curt Kosswig left the SS (in 1936). He also started thinking about leaving Germany itself, which he did in autumn 1937 at the invitation of the University of Istanbul and some German professors who were already there. In doing so, he became one of the 190 total German academics who emigrated to Turkey during the 1930s in Germany. Kosswig remained outside Germany during World War II (1939–1945) and the occupation and reconstruction (''Wiederaufbau'') periods, but retained active contact with his European colleagues, exchanging materials, information, and research.Career in Turkey, 1937–55
His output was prolific in his Turkish years, with hundreds of articles published, and en entire major university department being built around him at Istanbul. The Zoology Department at the University of Istanbul, which still exists today, is considered to have been entirely founded by Curt Kosswig. Already in 1937, Kosswig was given directorship of the Istanbul Zoology Museum. He oversaw its expansion and "collected examples of mammals, birds, reptiles, frogs, fish and various invertebrates, which he brought in the museum contributing to its enrichment." In these years, Dr. Kosswig expanded his field of study to include mammals, comparative genetics, gender inheritance, tumor genetics, gene manifestation, Anatolian fauna, and evenBack in Germany, 1955–69
Curt Kosswig returned to Germany in 1955 at the invitation of the University of Hamburg. He worked there for fourteen years until being bestowed the title of Professor Emeritus in 1969. He served as the director of the Zoological Institute and the Zoological Museum at Hamburg University.Later life
Curt Kosswig died in 1982 in Hamburg. He is buried in Istanbul, his home of eighteen years.Lifetime honors
* Honorary Doctorate awarded by the University of Istanbul, whose zoology department he founded. * In 2003, in honor of the centenary of Curt Kosswig's birth, the faculties for Natural Sciences and Marine Sciences of the University of Istanbul and the Zoological Department and Museum of the University of Hamburg held a joint memorial symposium in honor of his life and work.Tribute
The stone loach ''Links
* A list oReferences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosswig, Curt 20th-century German zoologists Academic staff of the University of Hamburg Academic staff of Istanbul University German expatriates in Turkey Burials at Aşiyan Asri Cemetery 1903 births 1982 deaths