Werner Rothmaler

Werner Walter Hugo Paul Rothmaler (born 20 August 1908 in Sangerhausen, died 13 April 1962 in Leipzig) was a German botanist and from 1953 until 1962 head of the Institute for Agricultural Biology of the University of Greifswald. His areas of expertise included plant geography and systematics.

Rothmaler's secondary schooling took place in Weimar at the Wilhelm-Ernst-Gymnasium. His wide interests ranged from botany to painting and politics. He became friendly with the family of the artist Lyonel Feininger and particularly with his son Andreas, and he was inspired by the ideas of the Bauhaus. All this brought him into conflict with the school authorities and he left the school without his abitur. From 1927, he completed a gardening apprenticeship at Schloss Belvedere, Weimar and in the gardens of the stately homes in Potsdam.

During his time in Potsdam he came into contact with the phytogeographer Ludwig Diels, Director of the Botanical Museum and the Botanical Garden in Berlin-Dahlem. Since his lack of school qualifications made university study impossible Rothmaler was offered a position as working student in Jena with the botanists Theodor Herzog, Otto Renner and Erwin Brünning.

For some time he worked as an archivist for aristocratic families in Hohenthurm near Halle (Saale) and in Glauchau. By this time he was a member of the Communist Party (KPD) and in 1933 it became desirable for him to leave Germany. His mentor from the Potsdam period, Ludwig Diels, got him a place on a botanical expedition to Spain. This turned into a stay of many years. At this time Rothmaler was occupied with various activities at botanical and pharmaceutical institutions, but meanwhile was still active as a collector of plants and thus developed an excellent knowledge of the Spanish flora. Much of his activity centred on Barcelona and he had a series of casual jobs at the University of Barcelona with Pius Font i Quer

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