Bisons in Wittgenstein
Everything that is is a permutation of what was there before. (This pronouncement is deliberately modeled after a famous pronouncement of Ludwig Wittgenstein). It is as if we were sitting in a box along with other people and things, and every now and then somone shakes the box, and everything tumbles around, and a new order is established.
But bear with me!
My father’s family comes from Wittgenstein, an area of the country not far from where I was born. If you know Germany, you will know that wildlife is sparse since much of it has been hunted to death centuries ago. Would I ever have, in my lifetime, associated Wittgenstein with bisons? I lack this degree of phantasy, which only real life can create.
So these are the facts: eight European bisons (“Wisent” in German) will be released into an area of 4000 hectars, in Wittgenstein. The mountain range there is called Rothaargebirge, which means “red-hair mountain range,” which of course doesn’t make any sense, like any other proper names. These eight specimens are supposed to multiply by natural means, which apparently is not without obstacles since the European bison is afflicted by inflammations of the foreskin. I’m not kidding here either.
The project was initiated by a man who is the descendant of many generations of feudal lords in that part of the country, so he has this amazing name of Richard Prince zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.
Just reading the internet listings surrounding this phenomenon I found out where Ludwig Wittgenstein fits in. A Jewish man named Moses, who was the chief administrator of the feudal lords of Wittgenstein, following a decree in 1808 that every Jew must adopt a last name, got the permission to adopt the name of Wittgenstein. His descendants settled in Austria. So this is how the prominent Jewish philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein is related to the place my father’s father grew up at, the place soon teeming with the most awesome creatures on earth.
(image credit: carnivoraforum.com)
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