Rudolf Kaufmann (3 April 1909 – c. 1941), son of the physicist Walter Kaufmann, was a palaeontologist and geologist, and is best remembered for his work on

allopatric speciation Allopatric speciation () – also referred to as geographic speciation, vicariant speciation, or its earlier name the dumbbell model – is a mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from ...

and

punctuated equilibrium In evolutionary biology, punctuated equilibrium (also called punctuated equilibria) is a Scientific theory, theory that proposes that once a species appears in the fossil record, the population will become stable, showing little evolution, evol ...

in the

trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three-lobed entities") are extinction, extinct marine arthropods that form the class (biology), class Trilobita. One of the earliest groups of arthropods to appear in the fossil record, trilobites were among the most succ ...

genus ''

Olenus In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Olenus (; Ancient Greek: Ὤλενος ''Olenos'') was the name of several individuals: *Olenus, son of Vulcan and father of Helice and Aex, two nurses of infant Jove. A city in Aulis was named for him. ...

'' in the

Upper Cambrian The Furongian is the fourth and final epoch and series of the Cambrian. It lasted from to million years ago. It succeeds the Miaolingian series of the Cambrian and precedes the Lower Ordovician Tremadocian Stage. It is subdivided into three sta ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and on the island of

Bornholm Bornholm () is a List of islands of Denmark, Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. I ...

. He was a brother-in-law of Curt Teichert, the well-known German-American palaeontologist and geologist. Studying the Upper Cambrian alum shales in Sweden, Kaufmann found that the trilobite genus ''Olenus'' occurred in an unbroken sequence of sediments covering a considerable period of geological time. He was thereby in a position to track the phylogenetic evolution of ''Olenus'', that is, the rise and fall of species within the genus and the changes in their morphology. He coined the idea of ''Artabwandlung'', which is the tendency of clade elements in the same environment to show the same morphological trends. With the 1930s onset of the

Nazi regime Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

in Germany, Kaufmann, who was a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

, was dismissed from his position at Greifswald University. He had studied at

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

and at

Greifswald University The University of Greifswald (; ), formerly known as Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, is a public university, public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Founded in 14 ...

under Serge von Bubnoff (1888–1957). His 1933 dissertation dealt with speciation and punctuated equilibrium in Cambrian trilobites in

Skåne Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

. He left Germany for

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

in 1933. Here, he was denied employment as a geologist, and so, he worked as a photographer and gave instruction in athletics. He found himself ill at ease in Denmark, and after a spell in Italy, he returned to Germany, where, in October 1935, he started teaching at a Jewish school in

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

, and was arrested on a charge of "

Rassenschande ''Rassenschande'' (, "racial shame") or ''Blutschande'' ( "blood disgrace") was an anti-miscegenation concept in Racial policy of Nazi Germany, Nazi German racial policy, pertaining to sexual relations between Aryan race#Nazism, Aryans and non-A ...

" (he was being treated for a sexually transmitted disease acquired from an affair with an "Aryan" woman). In 1936, he was sentenced to 3 years of hard labour. On his release in 1939, Kaufmann fled to

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, where he was allowed to settle and resume geological work. When Lithuania became part of the

U.S.S.R. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

in 1940, he joined the staff of the Geological Survey at

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

, immersing himself in the problems of Pleistocene drift, and marrying a fellow refugee. After the German occupation of Lithuania in 1941, and now an "undesirable Jew", he was identified while cycling on a country road and murdered by two German soldiers. Earlier, in his search for work, he had moved to Italy and found work in a photographic shop in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. There, in the summer of 1935, he met Ingeborg Magnusson, a 28-year-old Swedish woman on holiday. This relationship was to last five years, during which period they spent 13 days together - he visited her once in Stockholm, and she saw him once in Germany. These details came to light in 1991, when a German stamp collector bought a package of 30 letters, written by Kaufmann to Ingeborg, at a

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

stamp auction.

Some Publications

* ''Die Klufttektonik des Kambrosilurs von Gotland, Oeland und dem Kalmargebiet.'' Geol. Rundschau, vol. 22, pp. 292–306. 1931. * ''Ueber Jurageschiebe aus Ostpreussen.'' Zeitsch. f. Geschiebeforsch., vol. 8, pp. 73–75. 1932. * ''Variationsstatistische Untersuchungen über die "Artabwandlung" und "Artumbildung" an der Oberkambrischen Trilobitengattung Olenus'' DALM. Abb. Geol.-Pal. Inst. Univ. Greifswald, Heft X. 1933. pp. 1–54. * ''Die Einstufung der Olenus-Arten von Bornholm.'' Palaeont. Zeitsch., vol. 15, pp. 57–63. 1933. * ''Exakt nachgewiesene Stammesgeschichte.'' Die Naturwissenschaften, vol. 22, pp. 803–807. 1933. * ''Exakt-statistische Biostratigraphie der Olenus-Arten von Südöland.'' Geol. Foren. Stockholm Forhandl., 1935, pp. 19–28. * ''Zur Tektonik des Grundgebirges von Bornholm.'' Geol. Rundschau, vol. 24, pp. 379–389. 1935.

Bibliography

''Paper Kisses'' - Reinhard Kaiser (Other Press, 2006)

External links

Tyskforlaget

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaufmann, Rudolf German paleontologists 1909 births 1940s deaths German Jews who died in the Holocaust German emigrants to Denmark