Waldemar Grzimek (

December 5 Events Pre-1600 *63 BC – Cicero gives the fourth and final of the Catiline Orations. * 633 – Fourth Council of Toledo opens, presided over by Isidore of Seville. *1033 – The 1033 Jordan Rift Valley earthquake, Jordan Rift Val ...

, 1918 Rastenburg,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

–

May 26 Events Pre-1600 * 17 – Germanicus celebrates a triumph in Rome for his victories over the Cherusci, Chatti, and other German tribes west of the Elbe. * 451 – Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sasanian Empire ta ...

, 1984 Berlin (West)) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

sculptor. Grzimek was born in Rastenburg,

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

(now

Kętrzyn Kętrzyn (, until 1946 ''Rastembork''; ) is a town in northeastern Poland with 27,478 inhabitants (2019). It is the capital of Kętrzyn County in the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship. The town is known for the surrounding Masurian Lakeland and num ...

, Warmia-Masuria,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) to a Silesian family, which moved to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1925 when Grzimek's father

Günther Grzimek Günther, Guenther, Ginther, Gunther, and the variants Günter, Guenter, Guenther, Ginter, and Gunter, are Germanic names derived from ''Gunthere, Gunthari'', composed of '' *gunþiz'' "battle" (Old Norse ''gunnr'') and ''heri, hari'' "army". Gun ...

was elected to the

Preußischer Landtag The Landtag of Prussia () was the representative assembly of the Kingdom of Prussia implemented in 1849, a bicameral legislature consisting of the upper House of Lords (''Herrenhaus'') and the lower House of Representatives (''Abgeordnetenhaus'') ...

. As a child, Grzimek enjoyed the exotic animals of the

Berlin Zoo The Berlin Zoological Garden (, ) is the oldest surviving and best-known zoo in Germany. Opened in 1844, it covers and is located in Berlin's Tiergarten. With about 1,380 different species and over 20,200 animals, the zoo presents one of the ...

, sometimes accompanied by the second cousin of his father

Bernhard Grzimek Bernhard Klemens Maria Hoffbauer Pius Grzimek (; 24 April 1909 – 13 March 1987) was a German zoo director, zoologist, book author, editor, and Animal Conservation, animal conservationist in postwar West Germany. During the Third Reich, he served ...

. This was also where he met

Hugo Lederer Hugo Lederer (16 November 1871 – 1 August 1940) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian-born German sculptor. Biography Lederer was born on 16 November 1871 in Znojmo. He studied in Dresden under sculptor John Schilling from 1890, then briefly ...

, a professor at Berlin's

Akademie der Künste The Academy of Arts () is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The academy's predecessor organization was founded in 1696 by Elector F ...

(Academy of Arts), who inspired Grzimek to take up sculpting. During his adolescent years he produced sculptures of an

American Bison The American bison (''Bison bison''; : ''bison''), commonly known as the American buffalo, or simply buffalo (not to be confused with Bubalina, true buffalo), is a species of bison that is endemic species, endemic (or native) to North America. ...

, an African rhinoceros, busts of his parents heads, and a pet

Skye Terrier The Skye Terrier is a Scottish dog breed that is a long, low, hardy terrier with short legs. It is "one of the most endangered native dog breeds in the United Kingdom" according to the Kennel Club. Appearance Coat The Skye is double c ...

. After high school, Grzimek worked as an apprentice stonemason for the construction company Philipp Holzmann AG and also studied sculpture under

Wilhelm Gerstel Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Wilhe ...

. He completed his degree in 1941, then served in the ''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

'' until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, after which he worked as an art professor and as a freelance sculptor. Famous works by Grzimek include the Heinrich Heine Memorial (in honor of the 19th-century poet

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...

), the fountain at

Wittenbergplatz Wittenbergplatz is a square in the central Schöneberg district of Berlin, Germany. One of the main plazas in the " City West" area, it is known for the large '' Kaufhaus des Westens'' (KaDeWe) department store on its southwestern side. It was l ...

, and

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

memorials at the Sachsenhausen and

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...

concentration camps.

Further reading