Friedrich Tischler (2 June 1881 – 29 January 1945) was a German lawyer and ornithologist who studied the birds of East Prussia and published a two volume work on them. He was working on another major work which was destroyed during the Second World War. He committed suicide along with his wife when Soviet troops marched into Germany.

Biography

Tischler was the brother of the botanist Georg Tischler (1878–1955) and the son of Oskar Tischler (1843–1891), a landowner in Losgehnen. Tischler studied law in

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

and worked as a magistrate in Heilsberg. He took an early interest in birds and biology thanks to his tutor Karl Borowski, and became a member of the Deutschen Ornithologen Gesellschaft (German Ornithologists Society) in 1908 and spent time in an ornithological station on the

Curonian Spit The Curonian (Courish) Spit ( lt, Kuršių nerija; russian: Ку́ршская коса́ (Kurshskaya kosa); german: Kurische Nehrung, ; lv, Kuršu kāpas) is a long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Balti ...

, meeting

Johannes Thienemann Johannes Thienemann (12 November 1863 – 12 April 1938) was a German ornithology, ornithologist and pastor who established the Rossitten Bird Observatory, the world's first dedicated bird ringing station where he conducted research and populariz ...

and spent time at the Zoological Institute of the Königsberg Albertina University. He built up an insect collection and a herbarium. He published ''Die Vögel der Provinz Ostpreußen'' (the birds of the East Prussian province) in 1914 and a two volume ''Die Vögel Ostpreußens und seiner Nachbargebiete'' (the birds of east Prussia and neighbourhood) in 1941. He was appointed as a Foreign Scientific member of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the

Königsberg Albertina University Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

. Friedrich Tischler was married to Rose Kowalski (1884–1945). The manuscript of a third work was destroyed in the

Bombing of Königsberg A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanic ...

. While Soviet troops invaded the region in the winter of 1945, the couple committed suicide next to a grave that they had their servant Karl Hartwig dig for themselves, most likely on the January 29, 1945. The site was recognizable only as a grassy mound overgrown with trees and it was only in 1999 that a memorial was set up by Polish and German ornithologists.

Otto Kleinschmidt Otto Kleinschmidt (13 December 1870 – 25 March 1954) was a German ornithologist, theologist and pastor. Career Kleinschmidt was born as the son of the factory overseer Adolph Kleinschmidt and his wife Elise (maiden name Dreydorf) in Geinsheim ...

named a subspecies ''Parus borealis tischleri'' after Tischler in 1917 but it is today considered a synonym. Similarly he also described ''Accipiter tischleri'' in 1938 which is a synonym of ''Accipiter gentilis'' and ''Corvus coloeus tischleri'' in 1935 which is a synonym of ''Coloeus monedula soemmerringii''.

References

External links

In Polish
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tischler, Friedrich 1881 births 1945 suicides 1945 deaths People from Bartoszyce County People from East Prussia German ornithologists German jurists 20th-century German zoologists University of Königsberg alumni Leipzig University alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Suicides in Germany Joint suicides