Hans Karl Oskar Stubbe (7 March 1902 – 14 May 1989) was a German

agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...

and

plant breeder Plant breeding is the science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired characteristics. It has been used to improve the quality of nutrition in products for humans and animals. The goals of plant breeding are to produce cro ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was dismissed by the

Nazi government The government of Nazi Germany was totalitarian, run by the Nazi Party in Germany according to the Führerprinzip through the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany began with the fact that the Enabling Act was enacted to give Hitler's gover ...

from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Breeding Research in

Müncheberg Müncheberg is a small town in Märkisch-Oderland, Germany approximately halfway between Berlin and the border with Poland, within the historic region of Lubusz Land. Geography Prior to 2003 the area today covered by Müncheberg was organized as ...

in 1936. After the war he went to work in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

where he was the founding director of the Institute for Cultivated Plant Research (which started as the Institut für Kulturpflanzenforschung in Vienna) in

Gatersleben Gatersleben () is a village and a former municipality in the district Salzlandkreis, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 September 2010, it is part of the town Seeland, Germany, Seeland. It is situated southwest of Magdeburg and northwest of Halle, ...

. He stood up against the ideas of

Trofim Lysenko Trofim Denisovich Lysenko (russian: Трофим Денисович Лысенко, uk, Трохи́м Дени́сович Лисе́нко, ; 20 November 1976) was a Soviet agronomist and Pseudoscience, pseudo-scientist.''An ill-educated agro ...

and prevented East German genetics from being influenced by politics that had caused damage in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Stubbe was born in 1902 at Berlin where his father was a school inspector. He studied agriculture and biology at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

and the

Agricultural University of Berlin The Agricultural University of Berlin (german: Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule Berlin) was an agricultural university in Berlin, Germany. Established in 1881, it was closed in 1934, and incorporated as a faculty into the Humboldt University of Ber ...

. He became a student of

Erwin Baur Erwin Baur (16 April 1875, in Ichenheim, Grand Duchy of Baden – 2 December 1933) was a German geneticist and botanist. Baur worked primarily on plant genetics. He was director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Breeding Research (since 1938 Erwi ...

at the Institute for Inheritance Research in Berlin where he worked on a doctoral thesis on mutagenesis in 1929. He then joined the newly established Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Breeding Research in Müncheberg but after about nine years he was dismissed when the Nazi party came into power. For a while he worked with

Fritz von Wettstein Friedrich Wettstein, Ritter von Westersheim (24 June 1895 in Prague – 12 February 1945 in Trins, Tirol) was an Austrian botanist. Academic career Fritz Wettstein was the son of Richard Wettstein. From 1925 he was professor at Göttingen, i ...

at the Institut für Kulturpflanzenforschung in Vienna. Wettstein wished to recruit

Elisabeth Schiemann Elisabeth Schiemann (; 15 August 1881 – 3 January 1972) was a German geneticist, crop researcher and resistance fighter in the Third Reich. Background and education Elisabeth Schiemann was born in Viljandi, Estonia, at the time part of the ...

to head the institute but Stubbe objected to the idea of men working under her. He made major expeditions to collect

germplasm Germplasm are living genetic resources such as seeds or tissues that are maintained for the purpose of animal and plant breeding, preservation, and other research uses. These resources may take the form of seed collections stored in seed banks, tr ...

of wild and cultivated plants from around Europe both with civilian and military objectives. Stubbe worked on using X-rays to produce useful mutations in barley. Along with Gustav Becker and Kurt Mothes, Stubbe ensured that

Lysenkoism Lysenkoism (russian: Лысенковщина, Lysenkovshchina, ; uk, лисенківщина, lysenkivščyna, ) was a political campaign led by Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko against genetics and science-based agriculture in the mid-20th cen ...

did not take root in East Germany. Despite his anti-fascist views, Stubbe defended his friend

Günther Niethammer Günther Theodor Niethammer (28 September 1908 Waldheim – 14 January 1974, Kottenforst) was a German ornithologist who served during the Second World War with the Nazi Waffen-SS at various places including the Auschwitz concentration camp where ...

and wrote a letter in 1947 exonerating the latter of any wilful participation with the Nazis at Auschwitz. After the Second World War Stubbe became director of the Institute for Cultivated Plant Research in Gatersleben. Stubbe died in 1989 in Zingst. He was succeeded at Gatersleben by his student Helmut Böhme.

References

1902 births 1989 deaths Scientists from Berlin Cultural Association of the GDR members Members of the Provisional Volkskammer Members of the 4th Volkskammer Members of the 5th Volkskammer Members of the 6th Volkskammer Members of the 7th Volkskammer Members of the 8th Volkskammer German agronomists Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold East German scientists 20th-century agronomists {{biologist-stub