Near the city of Weimar, just a stone's throw away from the Buchenwald concentration camp crematorium, monkeys swung around in cages in a small zoo, birds chirped in aviaries, there were brown bears and a goldfish pond. "Diversion and entertainment," however, was not meant for the prisoners and forced laborers imprisoned by the Nazis in Buchenwald. They may have built the enclosures and looked after the animals, but only concentration camp personnel were allowed to take a break there: guards, civilian employees and supervisors who tortured and killed prisoners on the other side of the electric fence. "Sometimes they served as models, sometimes as images of the enemy, sometimes they were just a means to an end," says Jan Mohnhaupt, author of the book Tiere im Nationalsozialismus (Animals in National Socialism) that also recounts the story of the Buchenwald zoo.
Adolf Hitler's favorite dogs were German shepherds, a breed of dog that is very obedient - which is why they were used as guard dogs in the concentration camps - and that resembles the ancestral wolf. Hitler admired wolves. Not a wolf: a German shepherd dog with a flock of sheep. Nazi propaganda used the image of the "wild wolf" years before taking power. Five years later, in 1933, the Nazis toppled the Weimar Republic. That same year, the Nazis passed an animal protection law that among other things stipulated that warm-blooded animals must be stunned before they are slaughtered. What sounds like a love of animals, however, was aimed primarily at prohibiting Jews from ritual slaughter. "For leading Nazis, animal protection and crimes against humanity were not a contradiction in terms," Mohnhaupt writes in the book.
Many photos show the leader of this cruel "elite," Adolf Hitler, with his German shepherd Blondi. Hitler's deputy Hermann Göring, who was also the Reichsjägermeister (Master of the German Hunting Society), was rarely seen with his exotic pets. The Nazis' supposed love of animals also revealed their racial mania. Just like people, animals were divided into "valuable" and "unworthy" lives. While big cats of prey like lions and panthers were admired, Nazi writer Will Vesper characterized domestic cats as "treacherous, false and antisocial" because they stalk songbirds.
A cat named Mujel was the pet of German writer and scholar Victor Klemperer and his wife Eva. When the Nazis came to power, Klemperer, who was Jewish, was gradually stripped of almost everything: reputation, profession and home. Beginning in September 1941, he was forced to pin a yellow "Jew's star" to his clothes. Not much later, Jews were no longer allowed to keep pets. The Klemperers had to give up their beloved tomcat, their symbol of perseverance: "The cat's tail held high in the air is our flag, we will not reel it in," Victor Klemperer wrote in his diary. Victor Klemperer survived the Holocaust.
The ban on pets was yet another step on the way to the complete disenfranchisement of the Jews in Germany, writes Mohnhaupt. The Nazis had a positive view of pigs - they were meant to feed the German population during the Second World War (1939 - 1945). Important for wartime production: silkworms. Other "wartime" animals were bred in schools: silkworms. Their tear-proof, water-repellent and largely fireproof silk was needed for the production of parachutes, and teachers were specially trained in silk-making for this purpose. Silkworm breeding "served as a kind of all-purpose weapon in elementary school classes," says Mohnhaupt.
The advent of IHS fever helped the US military decide not to bring home GSDs, since they and most US bred dogs were subject to it. After Vietnam, all dog units except AF were disbanded. German Shepherd Dogs have been part of the US Military’s Military Working Dog program since the end of the Vietnam war, through the Cold War years and up to today’s climate of global terrorism and asymmetric threats. Currently, the Army has approximately 600 dog teams, which have seen service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of the dogs on these current teams are German Shepherds, and they serve in many roles and perform many duties. Today, we can see German Shepherds performing HALO jumps with Special Operators and inserting from boats with Navy SEAL Teams. They have served with distinction in many theaters and in many conflicts around the world.
Ukážky zásahu policajného psa v Chmeľnici
Between 1899 and 1914, the German Shepherd Dog (GSD) was developed by Captain Max von Stephanitz of the German Army to be a working dog. Many years of selective breeding by Stephanitz honed the traits of intelligence, loyalty, dedication, and tenacity needed for military and police applications. Stephanitz believed these dogs could also be useful to the German military. After these early trials with German Police units, Stephanitz sought to have GSDs added to German Military units. In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, German Shepherd Dogs began serving with the German Military. They performed a number of tasks on the battlefield and within the ranks of the German Army. These new dogs served as sentries, messengers, and ammunition carriers. They proved themselves especially capable in aiding wounded soldiers on the battlefield. They even led injured and blinded soldiers off the battlefield to safety and medical attention.
While at first amused by the use of dogs on the battlefield, the soldiers on both sides of the conflict were quickly impressed. They saw these new dogs performing numerous heroic acts under stressful and dangerous conditions. In fact, soldiers were so impressed by the dogs’ capabilities that after the conflict, the Germans, as well as the Americans and the English, began to develop their own cadre of German Shepherd Dogs for use in the military. began deploying them, as well. GSDs served mainly as messengers, helping soldiers to communicate on the battlefield. GSDs also acted as guards and search and rescue dogs during the war. In all of these roles, the GSDs performed well.
During the war, the Military established dog training centers at Front Royal, VA; Fort Robinson, NE; Cat Island (Gulfport), MS; Camp Rimini (Helena), MT; and San Carlos CA. By 1944, however, the military reduced that list to seven: German Shepherds, Doberman Pinschers, Belgian Sheep Dogs, Siberian huskies, farm collies, Eskimo dogs, and Malamutes. Training for dogs at these K-9 Camps lasted between 8 and 12 weeks and consisted of “basic training” to get the dogs accustomed to military life. After successful completion of the specialized training, the dogs and their handlers would be organized into War Dog Platoons. During the course of World War II, the military deployed fifteen War Dog Platoons to the European and Pacific Theaters of War. Seven served in the European Theater and eight in the Pacific Theater. The 26th Scout Dog Platoon was the only active War Dog Platoon to serve in the Korean War, and its members were awarded numerous valorous decorations.
V období po vojne sa plemeno rozšírilo po celom svete. Dva hlavné smery chovu vznikli - pracovná línia a exteriérová (výstavná) línia. Štandard a uznanie plemena spolu s registrovaním v rôznych kynologických autoritách potom pokračovali cez zmeny v ZSSR a neskôr v Rusku. V roku 1985 bolo plemeno oficiálne uznané a definované štandardom. Do Čiech sa prvý pár psov dostal tiež po vojenskej ceste, čo viedlo k širšiemu rozšíreniu chovu v bývalom Československu. Text a foto: Marie Rudolfová, CHS z Línia Romanovcov, www.romanovci.cz
České plemená psov nie sú len pýchou národnej kynológie - nesú dedičstvo krajiny, histórie aj ľudskej tvorivosti. Medzi ďalšie významné plemená patria český fúzač, český teriér, Chodský pes a ďalšie; každé plemeno má svoj špecifický temperament a ideálne prostredie na život. Nemecký ovčiak (Deutscher Schäferhund) patrí medzi najrozšírenejšie a najuniverzálnejšie plemená na svete, bol vyšľachtený na konci 19. storočia a dodnes sa používa ako pracovný pes v polícii, vojakáde, záchranárstve, canisterapii a ako spoľahlivý rodinný spoločník.