Name Oskar Riesenthal | Role Writer | |
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Died January 22, 1898, Charlottenburg, Germany | ||
Julius Adolf Oskar von Riesenthal (18 September 1830 – 22 January 1898) was a German forester, ornithologist, hunter and writer.
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He was born in Breslau, Silesia (then in Prussia: now Wrocław, Poland), to a family of Austrian descent. His father died when he was a year old, and he moved with his mother to Oels (now Oleśnica), where he spent his childhood and early youth until matriculating from Gymnasium. He studied at the Eberswalde Forestry Academy in Neustadt-Eberswalde, becoming a Revierförster (district forest ranger) in the Tuchola Forest, where he began studying ornithology. In 1871 he became Oberförster (chief forester) in Altenkirchen, where he wrote his first book, Die Raubvögel Deutschlands und des angrenzenden Mitteleuropas (Birds of Prey of Germany and adjoining Central Europe). He later became Royal Forester for the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Domains in Charlottenburg, where he stayed until his death in 1898.
Works
Jägermeister
The first stanza from one of his poems, "Waidmannsheil" ("Hunter's Salute"), is printed on the Jägermeister bottle label.
Waidmannsheil
Das ist des Jägers Ehrenschild,
Daß er beschützt und hegt sein Wild,
Waidmännisch jagt, wie sich’s gehört,
Den Schöpfer im Geschöpfe ehrt!
Das Kriegsgeschoß der Haß regiert, -
Die Lieb’ zum Wild den Stutzen führt:
Drum denk’ bei Deinem täglich Brot
Ob auch Dein Wild nicht leidet Noth?
Behüt’s vor Mensch und Thier zumal!
Verkürze ihm die Todesqual!
Sei außen rauh, doch innen mild, -
Dann bleibet blank Dein Ehrenschild!