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Thanks to Hitler, hunting with hounds is still verbotenThe Fuhrer, a vegetarian, was the pioneer of hunting bans. His draconian laws were announced in Germany on July 3, 1934, on the grounds that hunting with hounds was 'unsporting'. His odd legacy lives on, report David Harrison and Tony Paterson

 

12:01AM BST 22 Sep 2002

 

If Labour MPs ban hunting with hounds, they will follow the pioneering efforts of a leader of a very different political persuasion: Adolf Hitler. The dictator who sent millions of Jews to the gas chambers banned foxhunting in Nazi Germany because he considered the use of hounds to kill other animals "unsporting".

 

Hitler's cabinet was told about the new animal protection laws at a meeting on July 3, 1934 - the same day that the Fuhrer reported on the ruthless killing of Stormtrooper "conspirators" in the "Night of the Long Knives", according to an official Nazi biography published four years later.

 

Hitler was a vegetarian with a soft spot for animals, particularly his last dog, Blondi, which was with him in the Berlin bunker when he committed suicide in April 1945.

 

The laws were introduced by Hermann Goering, Hitler's infamous Air Marshall and a passionate hunter who appointed himself Hunting Master of the Reich (Reichsjaegermeister) soon after the Nazis gained power in 1933. Goering kept bison and stag at his Carinhall ranch - named after his wife - 50 miles north of Berlin.

 

The Nazi laws gave animals more protection than any other country in the world. Ian Kershaw, a professor of modern history at Sheffield University and the author of a biography of Hitler, said: "It does seem rather strange that they should be so concerned about foxes and other animals when you consider how they were treating humans."

 

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Professor Kershaw said that there was "a curiously ethical side" to the Nazis reforms. "The Nazis wanted a clean kill and felt that it was wrong to cause unnecessary suffering to the animal being hunted," he said.

 

"So the new laws banned all field sports that involved training and using animals to kill game and vermin. There was a belief that if you put an animal through unnecessary torture you were somehow injuring the feelings of the German nation."

 

The official Nazi biography, which was written by Erich Gritzbach, says: "Goering is a fanatical friend of animals. He says: 'Whoever tortures animals violates the instincts of the German people.'

 

The same love of animals which he demonstrates in all he has to do with the animal world also imbues the Reich hunting law of 1934. Indeed it gives this law its deep ethical meaning. In Germany hunting on horseback, chasing animals with a pack of hounds, is banned."

 

The ban provoked howls of anger from the aristocracy which for centuries had hunted foxes, wild boar, hares and deer on horseback. Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941), the grandson of Queen Victoria, was a keen huntsman who enjoyed hunting boar with a pack of hounds.

 

The upper classes were powerless to stop the changes. Bernd Ergert, the director of Germany's Munich-based hunting museum, said: "The artistocrats were understandably furious, but they could do nothing about the ban given the totalitarian nature of the regime." The laws were passed and remain in force to this day.

 

The hunting ban was part of a much grander plan to give every German hunter his own reserve or "shoot" if - the Nazis believed it was a question of when - Hitler's army achieved its ambition of conquering Europe and Russia. Only part of the dream was realised: in 1939 the ban was extended to cover Austria after Hitler's annexation of the country.

 

Some pro-hunting groups claim that Mr Blair's proposal to ban foxhunting in Britain would be every bit as tyrannical as the Nazi decree.

 

A spokesman for the Countryside Alliance said: "Hitler banned fox hunting partly because he wanted to attack the aristocracy's way of life and further his own ambitions. It would appear that Tony Blair's reasons for banning foxhunting are not dissimilar - a curious mixture of class envy, spite and a curious understanding of animal welfare."

 

Before the Nazis came to power Germany's hunting laws varied from state to state. Goering decided that more order was needed and introduced sweeping legislative changes which were enforced throughout the Reich. Until Goering's Reich Hunting Law (Reichsjagdgesetz) of 1934, German hunters pursued deer, wild boar, hares and foxes on horseback.

 

The foxes and hares were savaged to death by the hounds, while boar and deer were pursued by specially-trained dogs until they were exhausted and surrounded. They were then finished off with long-bladed knives driven into the animal's heart.

 

Goering adopted a moral code governing hunting called Sporting Justice (Waidgerechtigkeit) that had long been established in Germany. The code stipulates that it is unsporting to use animals such as dogs to kill game and vermin.

 

Karl-Heinz Lehmann, the former vice-president of Germany's 220,000-member association for the protection of hunting, said: "Goering gave Sporting Justice an almost religious importance and the laws still form the basis of today's hunting rules in reunified Germany."

 

Since 1934, foxhunting in Germany has been carried out with shotguns, although terriers and dachshunds are used to drive out foxes when they go to ground. It is forbidden to hunt vixen when they are cubbing and the poisoning of foxes is also prohibited, even though foxes are one of the main carriers of rabies.

 

Hunting deer and wild boar is done using beaters and dogs or the animals are shot from "hunting stands" set up all over farmland where game gathers. Bloodhounds are used to track down wounded game but not to kill.

 

Goering's law still exerts a profound influence on other aspects of hunting in Germany today. No one is allowed to hunt without a licence, for example, and obtaining a licence is not easy: it involves attending more than 100 hours of lectures and practical tests and sitting a difficult three-hour written exam.

 

Goering's country fashion sense has also stood the test of time. Many of Germany's 330,000 registered hunters still follow his style by sporting the green loden hunting garb and feathered hat that he wore as Reich Hunting Master. Novice hunters are encouraged to wear such clothes before attending their tests in order to impress the examiners.

 

Much of Goering's law was also adopted in former Communist East Germany. The country's ousted leader, Erich Honecker, was a fanatical hunter who loved entertaining Eastern Bloc leaders by taking them on lengthy hunting excursions.

 

However, the most controversial aspect of the Reichsjagdgesetz was an attempt to win over Germany's hunting fraternity to the Nazi drive for territorial expansion or Lebensraum. Goering instigated laws that were designed to afford them a privileged position in the new Reich.

 

The idea was to give every hunter his own personal shoot after the Third Reich's glorious victory over Europe, according to Jurgen Muller-Hirschmann, the president of Germany's 1,100-member association of hunters which is campaigning against the law.

 

He claims that Goering's laws have turned hunting into a pastime controlled by a privileged elite of hunters who hold the leases of the country's 80,000-plus shoots. "Ordinary landowners don't get a look in. Everyone has to subscribe to the wishes of the hunt leaseholder. We think it is time to get rid of Goering's law."

 

Mr Muller-Hirchmann's demands have so far been dismissed by the country's much larger Association for the Protection of Hunting, a spokesman for which said last week: "We tend to ignore this kind of thing."

 

 

 

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Tuesday 11 March 2014 | UK News feed

 

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HOME»NEWS»UK NEWS

 

Thanks to Hitler, hunting with hounds is still verbotenThe Fuhrer, a vegetarian, was the pioneer of hunting bans. His draconian laws were announced in Germany on July 3, 1934, on the grounds that hunting with hounds was 'unsporting'. His odd legacy lives on, report David Harrison and Tony Paterson

 

12:01AM BST 22 Sep 2002

 

If Labour MPs ban hunting with hounds, they will follow the pioneering efforts of a leader of a very different political persuasion: Adolf Hitler. The dictator who sent millions of Jews to the gas chambers banned foxhunting in Nazi Germany because he considered the use of hounds to kill other animals "unsporting".

 

Hitler's cabinet was told about the new animal protection laws at a meeting on July 3, 1934 - the same day that the Fuhrer reported on the ruthless killing of Stormtrooper "conspirators" in the "Night of the Long Knives", according to an official Nazi biography published four years later.

 

Hitler was a vegetarian with a soft spot for animals, particularly his last dog, Blondi, which was with him in the Berlin bunker when he committed suicide in April 1945.

 

The laws were introduced by Hermann Goering, Hitler's infamous Air Marshall and a passionate hunter who appointed himself Hunting Master of the Reich (Reichsjaegermeister) soon after the Nazis gained power in 1933. Goering kept bison and stag at his Carinhall ranch - named after his wife - 50 miles north of Berlin.

 

The Nazi laws gave animals more protection than any other country in the world. Ian Kershaw, a professor of modern history at Sheffield University and the author of a biography of Hitler, said: "It does seem rather strange that they should be so concerned about foxes and other animals when you consider how they were treating humans."

 

Related Articles

 

Charles: Farmers are treated worse than blacks or gays

 

22 Sep 2002

 

Professor Kershaw said that there was "a curiously ethical side" to the Nazis reforms. "The Nazis wanted a clean kill and felt that it was wrong to cause unnecessary suffering to the animal being hunted," he said.

 

"So the new laws banned all field sports that involved training and using animals to kill game and vermin. There was a belief that if you put an animal through unnecessary torture you were somehow injuring the feelings of the German nation."

 

The official Nazi biography, which was written by Erich Gritzbach, says: "Goering is a fanatical friend of animals. He says: 'Whoever tortures animals violates the instincts of the German people.'

 

The same love of animals which he demonstrates in all he has to do with the animal world also imbues the Reich hunting law of 1934. Indeed it gives this law its deep ethical meaning. In Germany hunting on horseback, chasing animals with a pack of hounds, is banned."

 

The ban provoked howls of anger from the aristocracy which for centuries had hunted foxes, wild boar, hares and deer on horseback. Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941), the grandson of Queen Victoria, was a keen huntsman who enjoyed hunting boar with a pack of hounds.

 

The upper classes were powerless to stop the changes. Bernd Ergert, the director of Germany's Munich-based hunting museum, said: "The artistocrats were understandably furious, but they could do nothing about the ban given the totalitarian nature of the regime." The laws were passed and remain in force to this day.

 

The hunting ban was part of a much grander plan to give every German hunter his own reserve or "shoot" if - the Nazis believed it was a question of when - Hitler's army achieved its ambition of conquering Europe and Russia. Only part of the dream was realised: in 1939 the ban was extended to cover Austria after Hitler's annexation of the country.

 

Some pro-hunting groups claim that Mr Blair's proposal to ban foxhunting in Britain would be every bit as tyrannical as the Nazi decree.

 

A spokesman for the Countryside Alliance said: "Hitler banned fox hunting partly because he wanted to attack the aristocracy's way of life and further his own ambitions. It would appear that Tony Blair's reasons for banning foxhunting are not dissimilar - a curious mixture of class envy, spite and a curious understanding of animal welfare."

 

Before the Nazis came to power Germany's hunting laws varied from state to state. Goering decided that more order was needed and introduced sweeping legislative changes which were enforced throughout the Reich. Until Goering's Reich Hunting Law (Reichsjagdgesetz) of 1934, German hunters pursued deer, wild boar, hares and foxes on horseback.

 

The foxes and hares were savaged to death by the hounds, while boar and deer were pursued by specially-trained dogs until they were exhausted and surrounded. They were then finished off with long-bladed knives driven into the animal's heart.

 

Goering adopted a moral code governing hunting called Sporting Justice (Waidgerechtigkeit) that had long been established in Germany. The code stipulates that it is unsporting to use animals such as dogs to kill game and vermin.

 

Karl-Heinz Lehmann, the former vice-president of Germany's 220,000-member association for the protection of hunting, said: "Goering gave Sporting Justice an almost religious importance and the laws still form the basis of today's hunting rules in reunified Germany."

 

Since 1934, foxhunting in Germany has been carried out with shotguns, although terriers and dachshunds are used to drive out foxes when they go to ground. It is forbidden to hunt vixen when they are cubbing and the poisoning of foxes is also prohibited, even though foxes are one of the main carriers of rabies.

 

Hunting deer and wild boar is done using beaters and dogs or the animals are shot from "hunting stands" set up all over farmland where game gathers. Bloodhounds are used to track down wounded game but not to kill.

 

Goering's law still exerts a profound influence on other aspects of hunting in Germany today. No one is allowed to hunt without a licence, for example, and obtaining a licence is not easy: it involves attending more than 100 hours of lectures and practical tests and sitting a difficult three-hour written exam.

 

Goering's country fashion sense has also stood the test of time. Many of Germany's 330,000 registered hunters still follow his style by sporting the green loden hunting garb and feathered hat that he wore as Reich Hunting Master. Novice hunters are encouraged to wear such clothes before attending their tests in order to impress the examiners.

 

Much of Goering's law was also adopted in former Communist East Germany. The country's ousted leader, Erich Honecker, was a fanatical hunter who loved entertaining Eastern Bloc leaders by taking them on lengthy hunting excursions.

 

However, the most controversial aspect of the Reichsjagdgesetz was an attempt to win over Germany's hunting fraternity to the Nazi drive for territorial expansion or Lebensraum. Goering instigated laws that were designed to afford them a privileged position in the new Reich.

 

The idea was to give every hunter his own personal shoot after the Third Reich's glorious victory over Europe, according to Jurgen Muller-Hirschmann, the president of Germany's 1,100-member association of hunters which is campaigning against the law.

 

He claims that Goering's laws have turned hunting into a pastime controlled by a privileged elite of hunters who hold the leases of the country's 80,000-plus shoots. "Ordinary landowners don't get a look in. Everyone has to subscribe to the wishes of the hunt leaseholder. We think it is time to get rid of Goering's law."

 

Mr Muller-Hirchmann's demands have so far been dismissed by the country's much larger Association for the Protection of Hunting, a spokesman for which said last week: "We tend to ignore this kind of thing."

 

 

 

Share

 

79

 

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75

 

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UK News

 

News »

 

In UK News

 

 

 

Wellcome Image Awards

 

 

 

Bob Crow in pictures

 

 

 

Moorland after flood waters subside

 

 

 

Extremely pampered pooches

 

 

 

Northern Lights over UK

 

 

 

Share

 

79

 

Facebook

 

75

 

Twitter

 

4

 

LinkedIn

 

0

 

More from The Telegraph

 

Meet the schoolgirls who love to drop the F-bomb in class 06 Mar 2014

 

One punch death 'no big deal' says killer's mother 27 Feb 2014

 

WW1 German soldier recalls moment he bayoneted foe to death 07 Mar 2014

 

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Compare and Save Money Today Find Top Insurance Offers in UK !

 

storescompared.com/Pet-Insurance

 

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Special Offers of March 2014! Up to 40% Off on Barbour Jacket.

 

www.bestprices247.com

 

de Bono Training Courses

 

Improve Team Decision Making & Productivity. UK Training Company

 

www.indigobusiness.co.uk

 

Follow The Telegraph On Social Media »

 

Promotions »

 

News Most Viewed

 

TODAYPAST WEEKPAST MONTH

 

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How to make a creamy curry with a kick

 

View

 

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World NewsEuropeUSAChinaRoyal Family NewsCelebrity newsDating

 

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PicturesVideoMattAlexCommentBlogsCrossword

 

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