Friedrich Falz-Fein: A German Russian Zoo Entrepreneur

• In Event: Zoological Gardens of the Romanov Empire

Abstract

Askania-Nova is until today a nature reserve in the Ukrainian oblast Cherson, that was founded in the 19th century. Its founder Friedrich Falz-Fein was part of a transnational network of European animal traders and reached out to non-European traders in order to own and breed different “exotic” animals. His German language and close acquaintance with German speaking animal traders and zoo experts, like the Hagenbecks or the Heck family, paved the way for his activities, that put the southwestern periphery of the Tsarist Empire on the map of animal trading and enabled social mobility of the Falz-Fein family. In this paper I will highlight transnational networks and especially so called “imperial minorities” (Dan Diner) and their share in the development of zoos in the late Russian Empire.

Author

• Anke Hilbrenner, U of Düsseldorf (Germany)