In April this year there was this news story:
“A breed of cattle that was recreated by Nazi geneticists after becoming extinct can be seen in Britain for the first time for 2,000 years. Aurochs were last seen in Britain in Roman times but they became extinct in mainland Europe in 1627.”
“However, before the Second World War, Nazi leaders recruited zoologist brothers Heinz and Lutz Heck to bring the hardy breed “back into existence .. The breed features in Teutonic folklore and Heck cattle were seen as a symbol of German oppression and efforts to build a master Aryan race.”
“The Heck brothers traced the species’ descendants to domestic breeds and created the cattle at zoos in Berlin and Munich … The cattle were largely destroyed following the defeat of Nazism in 1945. However, some survived in nature conservation parks in mainland Europe, and 13 Heck bulls and cows have now been imported from Belgium to a farm at Broadwoodwidger, West Devon.”
“Derek Gow, a farmer and conservationist, who has imported the half-ton animals, said the Nazis wanted to recreate the auroch to evoke the power of the “runes, folklores and legends of the Germanic peoples”, and Heck cattle were used as a propaganda motif.”
You can read more reports at Google News . My two favourites are the Sun, which features the Dad’s Army graphic above and the classic headline “The Herd Reich“ , and the Independent: “Hitler has only got one bull (and it’s alive and well in the West Country)”
And for a fascinating look at the German zoologist Lutz Heck
So truth is stranger than fiction – its only one step back (ok, a long one!)from Aurochs to dinosaurs!
Jurassic Reich 