The DPG - History
95 years of the DPG
The state institutionalization of plant protection in Germany at the end of the 19th century, which culminated in the founding of the Biological Research Institute in 1898 and led to the establishment of today's Federal Biological Research Institute for Agriculture and Forestry, was preceded by the formation of non-governmental organizations, the most important of which was and still is the German Agricultural Society (DLG). In 1885, the DLG described itself in its program as an “association of farmers and friends of agriculture who unite for the purpose of the professional promotion of agriculture”. It was the DLG, together with the German Agricultural Council, that called for the state organization of plant protection in 1890 at the request of Julius Kühn and initiated this new form of organization through the formation of information offices. The DLG's Special Committee for Plant Protection attached great importance to the promotion of science in the field of plant protection. This was significant because it was from here that a long-lasting discussion on the definition of the basic sciences of plant protection , the mastery of which entitled those involved in plant protection to call themselves “plant doctors”, arose, and was later carried over into the state organizations in the field of tension between science and practice.
The term Pflanzenarzt (“plant doctor”) was coined by Prof. Dr. Baunacke, head of the Plant Protection Department at the State Research Institute in Dresden. The founding of the „Verband deutscher Pflanzenärzte“ (VDP) (= “Association of German Plant Doctors”) in 1928, which was intended in particular to establish the profession of plant doctor and advocate standardized training in order to counter “bungling in plant protection”, can also be traced back to him, as can be read in the association's documents. Originally, only civil servants were admitted to the VDP. The association had 74 members in 1931 and used “Die kranke Pflanze” as its newsletter. In a lecture on the occasion of the VDP's first travelling meeting in Dresden in 1931, Privy Councillor Prof. Dr. Appel, Director of the Reich Biological Institute for Agriculture and Forestry, Berlin-Dahlem, discussed the topic of “The plant doctor in the present and future” ( „Der Pflanzenarzt in Gegenwart und Zukunft“) and called for phytomedicine (the science of diseases and damage to plants) to be placed on an equal footing with human and veterinary medicine.
In addition to shaping the professional profile and safeguarding the interests of the new profession of plant doctor, the VDP was dedicated to exchanging information on the situation of plant protection in Germany and drafting possible solutions to pending technical problems
After the death of Prof. Dr. Baunacke in 1934, Prof. Dr. Spiekermann took over the chairmanship of the association in January 1935. He was succeeded in January 1936 by the director of the Breslau Plant Protection Office, Dr. Laske. By sending out a political questionnaire, he caused numerous members to resign, as a result of which the association ceased its activities in January 1937. At the first plant protection conference after the Second World War in Rothenburg o.d. Tauber in 1948, “many participants discussed and expressed the wish to re-establish the Association of German Plant Doctors, which had been dissolved in 1937” (manuscript by Stolze, 1948). An appeal distributed there was addressed to academics working full-time in plant protection in authorities, official plant protection services, industry, trade, commerce “and other places”. The Association of German Plant Doctors was to be reconstituted “in a new form” on the occasion of the plant protection conference in Fulda in 1949.
In 1949, 186 professional colleagues responded to the call to re-establish the Association of German Plant Doctors, which had been dissolved in 1937. The “vast majority” (founding protocol) were in favor of the foundation. The term “Vereinigung” was used in the new name to take account of the association's own rather small size and to make it easier to join higher-level associations.
The following were appointed as the provisional Board of Directors:
Honorary Chairman: Geh. Rat Prof. Dr. Appel, Berlin Zehlendorf
1st Chairman: Landw. Rat Dr. Stolze, Oldenburg
2nd Chairman: Prof. Dr. Rademacher, Hohenheim
Treasurer: Dr. Müller-Kögler, Wuppertal
Secretary: Brigitte Fürchtnicht, Oldenburg
Advisory members: Dr. Bonrath, Leverkusen
Prof. Dr. Schwerdtfeger, Sieber
Ob. Reg. Rat Dr. Zillig, Bernkastel-Kues
The “Nachrichtenblatt des deutschen Pflanzenschutzdienstes” was named as the association's organ of publication.
The first chairman formed a committee to draw up the statutes.
The essential and characterizing feature of the new Association of German Plant Doctors was its purpose of “promoting its members in professional and social terms” (Articles of Association, 1950). It wanted to “simultaneously serve the whole of plant protection on a non-profit basis”. In accordance with its statutes, it worked in the following years by drawing up training regulations for plant doctors, developing a job placement service, arranging and maintaining contacts with specialist colleagues abroad and communicating the interests of plant doctors in relevant publications. The number of members rose to 277 in the first year after its foundation and reached 515 in 1965.
The almost exclusively professional orientation of the association led to ongoing internal discussions about the extent to which the existence of the association was still justified under the conditions of the 1960s. When Dr. W. Klett (Oberaichen), a long-standing member of the association, demonstratively resigned from the association in January 1965 on the occasion of his impending retirement, he was supporting a current within the association that had already been preparing the formation of a new organization “for all those working in plant protection” (Richter memo, 1965), planned in parallel to the existing association. In 1965, Dr. Klett wrote to the first chairman, Dr. V. Stolze, among other things: “When everything was under construction, the association achieved important things for the profession. (...) In my opinion, the name "plant doctors", chosen with so much hope (...), has not been able to assert itself. (...) One would rather assume the opposite. (...) What German plant protection needs, and for which the time is now ripe, is a scientific society for plant protection (...) that can stand on an equal footing with similar scientific societies around the world”. He was thus echoing the concerns of a whole series of members of the association. Dr. Klett's resignation was “a kind of sacrificial death, through which the establishment of a phytopathological society was to be forced”, Prof. Dr. Rademacher recorded at the 28th board meeting of the Association of German Plant Doctors in February 1965.
In retrospect, the minutes of this meeting are of particular importance if one wants to understand the developments towards today's DPG:
With regard to Dr. Klett's resignation, the 1st chairman Dr. Stolze pointed out that he had “already held the view years ago that plant protection needed a scientific society, and on the other hand (...) remaining [professional] tasks would have to be continued, but possibly within this society by a working group for professional and training issues”. Prof. Dr. Richter, who was also present, announced that he and Prof. Dr. Fuchs (Göttingen), Prof. Dr. Rademacher (Hohenheim) and Prof. Dr. Braun (Bonn) were already preparing the statutes of a new society to be founded. Dr. Stolze then spontaneously sought to involve him in the drafting of the statutes in order to avoid overlaps with the association's statutes, “so that all members of the association could be recommended to join the scientific society in every respect”.
In fact, Dr. Stolze took part in the consultations on the statutes of the new society and noted in April 1965 after a discussion with Prof. Dr. Fuchs, Göttingen, among other things: “It should (...) already be considered today to create the possibilities for the work of a working group for training and other professional issues within the [new] society, which could possibly replace the association at a later date”.
Against this backdrop, the re-establishment of the scientific society was not an action planned by the association's board. Rather, for years there did not appear to have been any concrete steps or majorities for amendments to the statutes with the aim of changing the purpose of the association, which must have caused considerable dissatisfaction among the members. However, it was clear to everyone involved that the new association would have to compete for the same members, as a large part of the profession was represented in the association. The foresight of the association's first chairman, Dr. Stolze, can probably be credited with the fact that the association had time for internal discussion about its future, while Prof. Dr. Richter and his colleagues were credited with initiating a decisive change in the thematic orientation of the largest German association of plant protection scientists at the time.
Only a few months later, on October 7, 1965, on the occasion of the Plant Protection Conference in Bad Zwischenahn, 44 people under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Richter (Berlin) founded the Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft (DPG) based in Berlin. At the 29th board meeting of the Association of German Plant Doctors on October 6, 1965, “the Association [of German Plant Doctors] expressly welcomes the founding of the DPG”.
It took a year until the first general assembly of the new DPG, which took place on October 13, 1966 in Bad Godesberg and was attended by 79 members. Prof. Dr. Richter, Berlin-Dahlem, was elected 1st Chairman, Prof. Dr. Heddergott, Münster, 2nd Chairman, Dr. Diercks, Munich, 1st Secretary, Dr. Hanf, Limburgerhof, 2nd Secretary and Dr. Quantz, Berlin-Dahlem, Treasurer.
The organization of and participation in national and international symposia, the offer of working groups, a lively exchange of information, participation in public committees, the inclusion of the chairman of the DPG in the board of trustees for the award of the Otto Appel Memorial Medal by the Federal Biological Institute and, last but not least, active membership recruitment led to a rapid increase in the number of DPG members. Just one year after the first general meeting, the DPG had 181 members, 2/3 of whom were dual members of the DPG and the Association of German Plant Doctors. At the same time, the number of members of the Association of German Plant Doctors fell, as more than 30% of the new members apparently avoided dual membership. Completely new members who joined the DPG were rare. Prof. Dr. Rademacher, VDP and DPG member, wrote to Prof. Dr. Richter as early as 1966 that membership recruitment would certainly be more successful if a merger with the VDP were sought. He was supported by the first chairman of the VDP, Dr. Stolze, who continuously sought to maintain the proximity of the DPG and thus brought about the mutual participation of board members at the meetings. On October 10, 1968, Prof. Dr. Richter resigned from the board of the DPG by way of a competitive vote and Prof. Dr. Weltzien, Bonn, was elected first chairman. Two days earlier, on October 8, 1968, he had already been elected to the position of 1st Chairman of the VDP as a dual member. On October 10, 1968, Prof. Dr. Weltzien was commissioned by the 3rd General Assembly of the DPG to implement the merger of the VDP and DPG.
For almost a year, committees of the VDP and DPG struggled for a new, joint constitution for the associations to be merged. It was soon generally accepted that the scientific character of the DPG (Berlin) should override the professional characteristics of the VDP without neglecting them. One of Prof. Dr. Richter's main objectives was to remove the exclusive restriction of members to academics, which was significant in both the "Verband Deutscher Pflanzenärzte" and the "Vereinigung Deutscher Pflanzenärzte".
The result of the discussions on the articles of association was a compromise acceptable to both sides, which enabled Prof. Dr. Weltzien to present the joint articles of association at the joint board meeting of both associations in Münster on 8/9 October 1969. It became clear that a merger was only legally possible if one association changed its name and the other dissolved.
The board members then decided, on the one hand, to make a recommendation to the DPG members to dissolve the DPG (Berlin) while at the same time joining the VDP and, on the other hand, to make a proposal to the VDP members to agree to a name change to “Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft e.V.” with its headquarters in Braunschweig. According to Weltzien in a letter to all members dated January 26, 1970, this was primarily intended to partially preserve the tradition of the VDP, fully integrate the new basic idea of the DPG into the old statutes of the VDP and avoid major membership losses. The dissolution of the DPG was decided in Giessen on December 4, 1969. On July 28, 1970, the VDP was registered at the Braunschweig District Court as the Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft. The merger was thus completed. According to the new statutes, the new board consisted of Weltzien (1st chairman), Blaszyk (2nd chairman and spokesman of the standing committee for professional affairs), Fliege (managing director), Hierholzer (treasurer), Crüger (secretary), the spokesman of the information committee remained unnamed. With the 39th board meeting of the Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft (Braunschweig) on October 13, 1970, the VDP continued its work under a new name.
When Prof. Dr. Kranz gave his anniversary speech “25 years of the DPG” at the Plant Protection Conference in Heidelberg in 1994, he took the date of the decision of the executive boards of the VDP and DPG (Berlin) as the date of birth of a new DPG, the characteristics of which he described in his speech. It is true that the statutes of the new DPG (Braunschweig) differed significantly from those of the VDP on the one hand and the DPG (Berlin) on the other. As a genuine compromise, it reflects the demands of both associations. The legal situation is clear: the DPG (Berlin) was dissolved and removed from the register of associations. The VDP only made major changes to its statutes, including the change of name, but continued to exist. Legally, the history of today's DPG undoubtedly began with the founding of the VDP on October 12, 1949 in Fulda.
However, the people who came together to found the association in 1949 were unanimous: they refounded the Association of German Plant Doctors, which they had to give up because they did not want to bow to the dictates of the National Socialist dictatorship in 1937, above all Otto Appel, our member with the membership number 1. The eventful history of the DPG thus began as early as 1928 with the founding of the Association of German Plant Doctors.
From a historical perspective, the spin-off of the DPG (Berlin) from the VDP appears to have been a necessary measure to draw the attention of those working in the field of plant protection in Germany, i.e. the VDP members, to changing conditions and to force internal changes within the association. After a change in awareness and the majority situation within the VDP, a “return” of the former members was unproblematic and an adaptation of the statutes was logical. Basically, it can be described as a return to the principles that Otto Appel had formulated for his association of German plant doctors: namely the linking of expert solutions to practical phytomedical problems with the development and formation of the profession of plant doctor. After the VDP was founded, professional work predominated for obvious reasons. Over time, however, the Association of German Plant Doctors had to rethink the fact that the emphasis on scientific activities would be a new requirement due to changing framework conditions.
Today, professional aspects in the daily work of the DPG are concentrated on the work of young scientists. The question that must be discussed in the future is whether we are not de facto in a comparable situation today to that observed in Anton de Bary's time: the ever-increasing detailed knowledge of experts is reaching a level today, as it did then, where special personalities and structures are needed to bring the diversity together in an appropriate way. Here, as then, there is a special responsibility for our scientific society to deal with the old task in a modern form. In this task, however, scientific and professional aspects are still interwoven, but in the future the special non-profit aspect of dealing with plant protection will have to be emphasized.

ISBN: 978-3-941261-14-3
urn:nbn:de:0294-sp-2017-gesch-6
Pages: 394
Price: 65 euros for the print version
Year: 2017
Free download (15 MB) since 01.01.2018; here
This chronicle presents the historical development of the DPG up to the beginning of its reorientation in 2003. As the study of the available documents has shown, the tasks, concerns and efforts for the further development of our discipline of plant protection within Germany and its public representation have remained basically unchanged since the beginning until today.
One challenge for the DPG in the past and today has been the public image of plant protection. The debate about the terms phytopathology, phytomedicine, plant doctor and plant protection, the recruitment of members to the association, participation in general meetings and the recruitment of new members resulted in further, constant efforts.
Since the founding of the Association of German Plant Doctors, the issue of independent training and a recognized profession of 'phytomedicine' has remained unresolved. Reading the excerpts from the minutes of the Society's meetings, the persistent struggle for recognition of our discipline becomes clear.
The chronicle is also intended to thank all those who worked for the DPG and its predecessors and thus promoted phytomedicine and plant protection.