Berlin Tierpark R.I.P. Bernhard Blaszkiewitz

Bernhard Blaszkiewitz, who worked at Berlin Zoo for approximately 40 years (and was Zoo Director for 20+ of those years) has died. I don't know any other information regarding his demise. I believe that his last year at Berlin Zoo was in 2014.

It feels like the end of an era during this pandemic, with many high-profile zoo directors retiring and several ex-directors (Beauval, Berlin, Bronx, Wroclaw) all having recently died.

 

Sad news, but thank you for posting this.

 

Further correction;he was a mammal curator at Zoo Berlin from 1984 to 1991 when he then became director at Tierpark Berlin. I went around Tierpark with him in September(or some of it at least) and was very shocked at how frail he had become. You never know the last time you will say goodbye to someone. The sad loss of a good friend.

 

Sad news indeed for the zoo world. R.I.P

 

No official statement or obit on the social media outlets or the website of both the zoo and the Tierpark. Harsh...

 

Very sad news. I’ve never been to either of the Berlin Zoos, but he was a pioneer who helped bring them into the 21st century. I’m astonished that his death hasn’t been published anywhere.

 

I agree, sad news indeed. I don't have the personal connections of some of you, but I do own a book about zoos he wrote, and know what he did for both zoos in Berlin. Rest in Peace.

 

I am a bit surprised. Heinroth, Klös, Dathe...both zoos in Berlin have had the tendency in the past not to depart from their directors by mutual ageeement. Yet they had the decency to publish obits. Knieriem has the petty reputation that he likes to erase any reminders of his precursors. Let's see whether this will be the case here as well.

 

This morning, I just recieved the most upsetting and devastating news. Dr. Bernhard Blaszkiewitz, the former director of Berlin Zoo (from 2007 to 2014) and Tierpark Berlin (from 1991 to 2014) passed away. I am deeply deeply saddened to learn of this. Dr. Blaszkiewitz was one of if not my favorite zoo directors of modern times and one of few whose viewpoints on zoo exhibit design, collection planning, and park layout are very similar to my own. During Dr. Blaszkiewitz's directorship, he brought in rare and obscure taxa to the two parks, especially Tierpark Berlin such as Barbary red deer (Cervus barbarus), Marco Polo argali (Ovis polli), Southern gerenuk (Litocranius walleri), Chacoan peccary (Catagonus wagneri), New Guinea short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus lawesii) and Unstriped tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla nigra) etc., definitely adding to the uniqueness of his facilities, and was thus very popular with zoo nerds like myself. I also greatly appreciate Dr. Blaszkiewitz's preference towards taxonomically organized zoological facilities as opposed to geographic theming like we are seeing far more often nowadays and I also appreciate his appreciation for unusual taxa and having a bit of a stamp collector mentality in the modern era, which is sadly negligible in the modern zoo world today. At the same time though, he did contribute a great deal to ex-situ species population sustainability, in that if it were not for him, we can safely say that many ungulate (hoofed mammal) taxa wouldn't have captive/ex-situ populations present in EAZA zoos, especially because of how often large breeding groups of multiple species were kept and I love that he put emphasis on rows of similar species and subspecies kept side by side. During his directorship, at Tierpark Berlin as soon as you make a right turn past the entrance, there was a row of 10 deer paddocks, 5 on each side facing each other and walking down down that row, you could hear the whistle of a North American elk/wapiti (Cervus canadensis sensu lato) next to the grunting roar of a European red deer (Cervus elephus sensu lato) during mating season, and that would have been a breathtaking experience with great educational value. Also during his directorship, there was a tank for Antillean manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus) positioned in the center of the Elephant House as a way to showcase manatees and elephants relation to each other, and that was the only example of such a concept in the modern zoo era if memory serves me right. In that building, there was also a mural illustrating various prehistoric proboscidean taxa from every epoch from the Paleocene to the Pleistocene. Again, something with great educational value! During his directorship, he acquired three of the four subspecies (or species depending on your preferred taxonomy) of Takin for Tierpark Berlin, keeping them in relatively close proximity, specifically Golden takin (Budorcas bedfordi), Sichuan takin (Budorcas tibetanna), and Mishmi takin (Budorcas taxicolor), which they were the only modern collection to keep a whole set (those with available captive populations) of takins if you will. Also during his directorship, at Tierpark Berlin, you could see a row of equid paddocks showcasing various taxa side by side such as Somali wild ass (Equus africanus somaliensis), Eastern kiang (Equus kiang holdereri), Turkmenian kulan (Equus hemionus kulan) and three taxa of zebra, which again, was a great educational experience! At Tierpark Berlin, Dr. Blaszkiewitz assembled a collection showcasing all four species of hyena, Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), Brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea), Striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena), and Aardwolf (Proteles cristata) and was to my knowledge, the only modern zoo to have a full set of hyenas if you will. Dr. Blaszkiewitz left a great legacy on the zoo world, and I am also saddened to see it get ruined and seeing the two Berlin zoos becoming quite unrecognizable thanks to the current director. Dr. Blaszkiewitz wasn't just a remarkable zoo director, but also such a kind man and a good person all around! He and I have enjoyed great dialogue relating to zoos and wildlife and his experiences in the zoo world, not just as a zoo professional, but also as a fellow zoo nerd visiting various collections all over. He has personally sent me a great deal of zoo memorabilia, including a book on the history of Tierpark Berlin written by him in 2013, a few copies of the scientific journals Bongo and Milu, based out of Berlin Zoo and Tierpark Berlin respectively, and written correspondence between him and the late Clayton Freiheit, the former Director of the Denver Zoo etc. Dr. Blaszkiewitz was a dedicated and passionate guy and I am deeply deeply saddened by this loss! I greatly miss him! He was such a good man! I wish I could have done more to nurture that relationship, but we live to learn. Dr. Blaszkiewitz will be greatly missed... I will always miss him and look back with appreciation for his work in the zoo world, and the correspondence we have shared.

RIP, Dr. Bernhard Blaszkiewitz, 1954 - 2021

 

I'm relieved to see myself corrected.

Zum Tod von Dr. Bernhard Blaszkiewitz

 

Not wanting to curtail your appraisal, but some of the things you've mentioned can be contributed to Prof. Dathe.