Friedrich Zweigelt (13 January 1888 – 18 September 1964) was an Austrian entomologist and phytologist. Zweigelt was one of the most influential and internationally renowned figures in Austrian vine growing between 1921 and 1945. He was Head of State Vine Cultivation during the period of the First Austrian Republic and also acted as Director of the School of Viticulture and Horticulture in Klosterneuburg near Vienna. The grape variety "Blauer Zweigelt" is named after him. Blauer Zweigelt is grown across an area of some 6,400 hectares in Austria, making it by far the most significant red wine grape cultivated in the country. Zweigelt's National Socialist sympathies and activities did not come to the attention of the public for some decades."Erfolgsgeschichte mit dunklen Flecken: 'dok.film: Zweigelt – Wein und Wahrheit' präsentiert". (Memento of the original film of 4 March 2016 in the Internet Archive) In: ORF 2011, accessed on 20 November 2014.
Biography
1888–1933 Friedrich Zweigelt was born in Hitzendorf near Graz in Styria on 13 January 1888.Personnel file Dr. Friedrich Zweigelt, questionnaire of 23 July 1941, BArch R 3601/6340 Sheet 14. In 1912, he entered the services of the Imperial School of Viticulture and Horticulture in Klosterneuburg near Vienna, Austria's first and only state-owned vine cultivation station.Friedrich Zweigelt, curriculum vitae of 9 January 1912 (personnel file, Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, ÖMinLW). See also Friedrich Zweigelt, Von den Höhepunkten meines Lebens – Werk und Freude, in: Zeitschrift für angewandte Entomologie 54 (1964), pp. 13-21. After gaining a doctorate in entomology,Wilhelm Zwölfer, Laudatio, in: Zeitschrift für angewandte Entomologie Vol. 54 (1964), pp. 11-13. he was appointed Head of this institute in 1921.For more information on the eventful history of the oldest school of viticulture in the German speaking countries, cf. "Programm und Jahresbericht der k.k. höheren Lehranstalt für Wein- und Obstbau in Klosterneuburg, zugleich Jubiläumsschrift anläßlich ihres 50jährigen Bestehens" (Vienna 1910), "Denkschrift zur 70jährigen Bestandesfeier der Höheren Bundes-Lehranstalt und Bundesversuchsstation für Wein-, Obst- und Gartenbau in Klosterneuburg" (Klosterneuburg 1939), and Emil Planck, "90 Jahre Höhere Bundes-Lehranstalt und Versuchsanstalt für Wein-, Obst- und Gartenbau Klosterneuburg. Jahresbericht 1945-50. Fünf Jahre Wiederaufbau" (Klosterneuburg 1950). Zweigelt's first crossings (undertaken from 1921) included a seedling given the cultivation number 71 (St. Laurent x Blaufränkisch). This particular hybrid proved highly promising from an early stage.Fritz Zweigelt, Der gegenwärtige Stand der Klosterneuburger Züchtungen (autumn 1924), special edition of the "Allgemeine Wein-Zeitung" 41 (1924) and 42 (1925). The aims of the cultivation were to achieve early ripeness and quality. Blütefestigkeit, Fäulnisfestigkeit, Ertrag, Qualität, Reblausfestigkeit oder Peronosporafestigkeit; Paul Steingruber, Dreißig Jahre Rebenzüchtung an der Höheren Bundes-Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt für Wein-, Obst- und Gartenbau in Klosterneuburg, in: Mitteilungen 1 (1951), p. 45, p. 89 and p. 135. In 1922, Zweigelt also successfully crossed Welschriesling with Orangetraube (creating a variety which was to be included in the Austrian Grape Variety Index for Qualitätsweine (Quality Wines) as "Goldburger" in 1978Ordinance of the Federal Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of 20 September 1978 (Federal Law Gazette No. 517/1978)). This was followed by a Blauer Portugieser x Blaufränkisch crossing in 1923 (added to the Austrian Grape Variety Index for Qualitätsweine (Quality Wines) as "Blauburger" in 1978).
Zweigelt had also been editing the journal Das Weinland since 1929. There was soon no other viticulture specialist in Austria who enjoyed better international connections and renown.Franz Wobisch, Dr. Zweigelt – zu seinem 70. Geburtstag, in: Österreichische Weinzeitung 13 (1958), Issue 1. From the late 1920s onwards, Zweigelt began to join forces with all leading experts from Europe's major wine growing countriesCf. the report made to the International Wine and Viticulture Congress in Conegliano, probably written by Zweigelt himself, in: Allgemeine Wein-Zeitung 44 (1927), pp. 188–190. to promote the production of quality wine and to try to stem the cultivation of so-called direct producers.Friedrich Zweigelt, Die Ertragshybriden und ihre Bedeutung für den europäischen Weinbau, in: Internationale Landwirtschaftliche Rundschau. Part I: Agrikulturwissenschaftliche Monatsschrift, Rome, March 1930, No. 3. This also contains a concise summary of the cultivation of direct producers in all European wine growing countries. Zweigelt published a highly informative report on "Prüfung von Hybridenweinen in Klosterneuburg" in Das Weinland 3 (1932), pp. 19-21. Similar and comprehensive treatments may also be found in Das Weinland 5 (1933), pp. 29-33, pp. 68-71, p. 103, pp. 213-215, pp. 250-254, pp. 291-295 and pp. 367-372. His book on direct producers, co-authored with Albert Stummer (Nikolsburg), remains a standard work right down to the present day.Albert Stummer/Friedrich Zweigelt, Die Direktträger, Vienna 1929. The book received several plaudits, including a prize awarded by the International Wine Office (Paris). See Das Weinland 5 (1933), p. 10.
1933-1945 Zweigelt was a strong German nationalist who was deeply opposed to clericalism.Senior civil servant Dr. Fritz Zweigelt (undated self-disclosure, presumably 1938), Volksgericht file Vienna City and State Archive Vg 2e Vr 3281/45 Supplement 1. He saw himself as a "borderer",Zweigelt himself on the Austrians in general: Dem Führer Dank und Gelöbnis, in: Das Weinland 11 (1939), p. 109. On himself: "Borderers know more about the worries and dangers of foreign infiltration. After all, they have experienced the humiliation of deprivation of privileges, mistrust and constant betrayal of their national rights without interruption. This makes them tougher and more receptive than others who live in a closed and landlocked state and have never had to fight for their national rights." Fritz Zweigelt, In celebration of 13 March 1941, typed statement in: Volksgericht file Vg 2e Vr 3281/45, Sheets 147-169, citation Sheets 148 ff. and began to view Nazi Germany as a place of yearning after 1933. Zweigelt joined the Austrian NSDAP and remained loyal to the party, even during the period when it was banned.Interview/written record, Vienna Police Department/State Police Group XXVI, 6 July 1945, Volksgericht file Vienna City and State Archive Vg 2e Vr 3281/45. Sheets 21-22.
Following the annexation of Austria in March 1938, it seemed that Zweigelt's dream was about to become true. He would be able to lead "his" Klosterneuburg to new heights as a sister institute to the much larger State School of Viticulture, Fruit Growing and Horticulture in Geisenheim am Rhein.Friedrich Zweigelt, Zu neuer Arbeit, in: Der deutsche Weinbau 17 (1938), pp. 391-393. In his capacity as Head and subsequently (after 1943) Director of Klosterneuburg,A decree issued by the Reich Ministry of Food and Agriculture on 28 May 1941 made Zweigelt the "Permanent Head" of the Testing and Research Institute with retrospective effect from 1 April 1941. (Personnel file, Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, ÖMinLW Sheet 40). Appointment to the position of Director followed on 27 May 1942. Ibid. Sheet 61. Zweigelt did everything he possibly could to turn the institute into a "stronghold of National Socialism".Heinrich Konlechner, Dr. Fritz Zweigelt. 30 Jahre an der Klosterneuburger Lehranstalt tätig, Das Weinland 14 (1942), p. 41. However, he began to be caught between the different fronts. Adherents of the Austro-Fascist Dollfuß-Schuschnigg regime were keen to prevent his rise, and they were not alone in this aspiration. Zweigelt also found himself in the way of other rival colleagues who had only recently embraced the ideas of National Socialism. However, during the summer of 1938, he succeeded in forcing numerous undesirable teaching staff members to leave the school. These were then replaced by dyed-in-the-wool National Socialists.Volksgericht file Vienna City and State Archive Vg 2e Vr 3281/45. The Nazi Government in Germany adopted the most progressive viticulture policies in the world and soon gained international recognition. The culmination and end of this development occurred at an international viticulture congress staged in Bad Kreuznach in late August 1939.Cf. Daniel Deckers, Im Zeichen des Traubenadlers. Eine Geschichte des deutschen Wein, Mainz 2010/2. Frankfurt edition 2018, pp. 109-147. For Austria, see Ernst Langthaler, Weinbau im Nationalsozialismus, in: Willi Klinger/Karl Vocelka (editors), Wine in Austria. The History, Vienna 2019, pp. 206-212. Zweigelt, now elevated to the status of Reich Official, was one of the participants.
Despite numerous personal disappointments, Zweigelt clung firmly to his National Socialist convictions until 1945. He often expressed such views to his pupil body in addresses that were full of drastic warlike rhetoric.Archive of the Federal Institute of Viticulture and Fruit Production in Klosterneuburg, Dr. Fritz Zweigelt – personal papers. "Das Weinland", the journal he edited, had been the mouthpiece of Austrian viticulture since 1929. In 1943, however, publication ceased by order of the Reichsnährstand (a government body set up in Nazi Germany to regulate food production) in Berlin.Cf. correspondence between Zweigelt and the Reichsnährstand in Berlin. Archive of the Federal Institute of Viticulture and Fruit Production in Klosterneuburg, Dr. Fritz Zweigelt – personal papers. Zweigelt's only son Rudolf was conscripted into the German army upon completion of his medical studies. He was killed in East Prussia in 1944, and Zweigelt would never get over his death.Verbal information provided by Thomas Leithner, Langenlois, great-grandson.
After 1945