Eugenie Lautensach-Löffler (6 August 1902 in Ramstein – 11 July 1987 in Munich) was a German geographer and local historian.

Biography

Eugenie Lautensach-Löffler was the daughter of senior teacher Georg Löffler and his wife Martha (née Pletsch). She grew up in Ramstein, Germany, and attended the local elementary school, then the higher female educational institution in

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

. In 1922 she graduated from the humanistic Luisengymnasium in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. She then studied German, history and geography at the university there. In 1926, she completed her doctoral studies with a dissertation under

Erich von Drygalski Erich Dagobert von Drygalski (; February 9, 1865 – January 10, 1949) was a German geographer, geophysicist and polar scientist, born in Königsberg, East Prussia. Between 1882 and 1887, Drygalski studied mathematics and natural science at ...

titled ''The surface design of the Palatinate Stepped Country''. After serving as an assistant to Drygalski, she worked as a specialist editor for geography in Freiburg from 1931. She worked in the map department of the German Foreign Institute in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

for a year in 1935 and then she returned to Ramstein in 1936 due to a research grant for research from the Palatinate Society for the Advancement of Science into the West Palatinate moorland.Eugenie Lautensach-Löffler (1965): Ramstein und Sembach Zum Wandel der Lebensverhältnisse in zwei pfälzischen Flugplatzgemeinden – Mitteilungen der POLLICHIA – 12: 27 - 46. (in German) https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Mitt-Pollichia_12_0027-0046.pdf In 1939, she married the geographer Hermann Lautensach, who taught at the

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; ), formerly known as Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Founded in 1456, it is one of th ...

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

and they had two children. In 1947 she moved with her family to

because her husband was appointed to the Institute of the Technical University. In 1950, she became an honorary member of the Pollichia, a research-based nature conservation association that concentrated on the Rhineland-Palatinate. In 1956, she wrote a description of the

Depression in the ''Handbook of the Natural Spatial Structure of Germany''. In 1957, she dealt with the socio-geographical peculiarities of Ramstein, and again in 1965 with the paper ''Ramstein and Sembach - On the Change in Living Conditions in Two Palatine Airfield Communities'', namely the

Ramstein Air Base Ramstein Air Base is a United States Air Force installation located in Rhineland-Palatinate, southwestern Germany. It serves as the headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and NATO Alli ...

and the

Sembach Air Base Sembach Kaserne () is a United States Army post in Donnersbergkreis, Germany, near Kaiserslautern. It is approximately east of Ramstein Air Base. From 1995 to 2012 the installation was a United States Air Force installation known as Sembach Air ...

, which was still located near

Sembach Sembach is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It forms part of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Enkenbach-Alsenborn. The town is nestled in the Palatinate Forest Nature Park between Kaiser ...

. Lautensach-Löffler was committed to preserving local historic buildings and authored a 1965 essay lamenting the destruction of two striking structures in Ramstein. In addition to her many scientific publications, she also contributed to local chronicles, yearbooks and community calendars. In Ramstein-Miesenbach, a street near the high school (Dr. Eugenie Lautensach Strasse) is named after her. Eugenie Lautensach-Löffler died 11 July 1987 in Munich and was buried in the Munich- Forstenried cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lautensach-Loffler, Eugenie 1902 births 1987 deaths German geographers German writers Women geographers 20th-century German women scientists 20th-century German scientists 20th-century German women writers