"Ve vere only following udders!"
The quiet, tranquil English countryside is not normally the place you would expect to find a beast created by the Nazis which was seen as an unwanted reminder of German oppression and efforts to build a master Aryan race.
But now it's inhabited by the auroch. The auroch had been hunted to extinction in Europe by 1627, but in the early 20th century two zoologists decided to bring them back to life, and they were supported by the Nazis.
Now 13 of them are living on a farm in Broadwoodwidger on the Devon-Cornwall border.
It is the first time the creature has been in Britain for 4000 years.
In an English field, the cattle created by Hitler
By Daily Mail Reporter
22nd April 2009
Daily Mail
It is not exactly the invasion that Hitler foresaw.
But deep in the West Country, a symbol of the Nazi vision for world domination has finally found a home in the fields of England.
This cow is a relic of the Fuhrer's support for a scheme to revive the mighty auroch - a huge beast which featured heavily in Teutonic folklore.
Imposing: One of the 'aurochs' roaming in Devon
The aurochs had been hunted to extinction in Europe by 1627, but two zoologist brothers decided to 'bring them back to life' in a breeding plan which later won Nazi support.
Heinz and Lutz Heck mixed animals from the Scottish Highlands, Corsica and the French Camargue, as well as Spanish fighting bulls.
Enlarge
'We were only following udders': The heck cows with Derek Gow
Bovine fan: Hitler ordered scientists to recreate the breed
The animals were then transported to game parks in Schorfheide in Brandenburg, outside Berlin, and the Neander Valley in Dusseldorf.
After the fall of the Nazis, the Heck cattle were seen as an unwanted reminder of German oppression and efforts to build a master Aryan race, and almost all of them were destroyed.
But a few survived, and 13 have now been shipped from a conservation park in Belgium to Broadwoodwidger on the Devon-Cornwall border.
It is the first time the beasts have been seen in Britain for more than 4,000 years.
Farmer and conservationist Derek Gow explained that the Nazis supported the re-creation of the auroch to evoke the power of the 'runes, folklores and legends of the Germanic peoples'.
Massive beast: A 550-year-old skull of an auroch species of cow
He said: 'Aurochs were wild bulls. Julius Caesar recorded them as being bulls as big as elephants.
'Young men hunted these bulls as preparation for battle and leadership in war, but also to obtain their huge 6ft-wide horns as drinking vessels. They were huge trophies.'
In July last year, the nine Heck cows and four bulls joined a growing population of rare animals on Upcott Grange Farm in west Devon, which includes beavers, polecats and water voles.
Mr Gow said: 'The auroch was extinct, but domestic descendants - Friesians, Simmentals and everything else - were still kicking around.
'The two brothers argued that if the one wild animal that spawned all of these had gone, through a process of back-breeding domestic cattle, you could pull the wild genes out and re-create the ancestor.'
He added: 'Between the wars, there was a thinking that you could selectively breed animals - and indeed people - for Aryan characteristics, for characteristics that were rooted in runes, folklore and legend.'
Mr Gow said his Heck cattle are shorter than the aurochs, but share their muscular build, deep brown complexion and shaggy fringe.
'They look like the cave paintings of Lascaux and Altamira,' he said. 'It makes you think of the light of a tallow lamp and these huge bulls on these cave paintings leaping out at you from darkened walls.'
Enlarge
Rare: The heck cattle have all the characteristics of the the extinct aurochs
dailymail.co.uk
The quiet, tranquil English countryside is not normally the place you would expect to find a beast created by the Nazis which was seen as an unwanted reminder of German oppression and efforts to build a master Aryan race.
But now it's inhabited by the auroch. The auroch had been hunted to extinction in Europe by 1627, but in the early 20th century two zoologists decided to bring them back to life, and they were supported by the Nazis.
Now 13 of them are living on a farm in Broadwoodwidger on the Devon-Cornwall border.
It is the first time the creature has been in Britain for 4000 years.
In an English field, the cattle created by Hitler
By Daily Mail Reporter
22nd April 2009
Daily Mail
It is not exactly the invasion that Hitler foresaw.
But deep in the West Country, a symbol of the Nazi vision for world domination has finally found a home in the fields of England.
This cow is a relic of the Fuhrer's support for a scheme to revive the mighty auroch - a huge beast which featured heavily in Teutonic folklore.
Imposing: One of the 'aurochs' roaming in Devon
The aurochs had been hunted to extinction in Europe by 1627, but two zoologist brothers decided to 'bring them back to life' in a breeding plan which later won Nazi support.
Heinz and Lutz Heck mixed animals from the Scottish Highlands, Corsica and the French Camargue, as well as Spanish fighting bulls.
Enlarge
'We were only following udders': The heck cows with Derek Gow
Bovine fan: Hitler ordered scientists to recreate the breed
The animals were then transported to game parks in Schorfheide in Brandenburg, outside Berlin, and the Neander Valley in Dusseldorf.
After the fall of the Nazis, the Heck cattle were seen as an unwanted reminder of German oppression and efforts to build a master Aryan race, and almost all of them were destroyed.
But a few survived, and 13 have now been shipped from a conservation park in Belgium to Broadwoodwidger on the Devon-Cornwall border.
It is the first time the beasts have been seen in Britain for more than 4,000 years.
Farmer and conservationist Derek Gow explained that the Nazis supported the re-creation of the auroch to evoke the power of the 'runes, folklores and legends of the Germanic peoples'.
Massive beast: A 550-year-old skull of an auroch species of cow
He said: 'Aurochs were wild bulls. Julius Caesar recorded them as being bulls as big as elephants.
'Young men hunted these bulls as preparation for battle and leadership in war, but also to obtain their huge 6ft-wide horns as drinking vessels. They were huge trophies.'
In July last year, the nine Heck cows and four bulls joined a growing population of rare animals on Upcott Grange Farm in west Devon, which includes beavers, polecats and water voles.
Mr Gow said: 'The auroch was extinct, but domestic descendants - Friesians, Simmentals and everything else - were still kicking around.
'The two brothers argued that if the one wild animal that spawned all of these had gone, through a process of back-breeding domestic cattle, you could pull the wild genes out and re-create the ancestor.'
He added: 'Between the wars, there was a thinking that you could selectively breed animals - and indeed people - for Aryan characteristics, for characteristics that were rooted in runes, folklore and legend.'
Mr Gow said his Heck cattle are shorter than the aurochs, but share their muscular build, deep brown complexion and shaggy fringe.
'They look like the cave paintings of Lascaux and Altamira,' he said. 'It makes you think of the light of a tallow lamp and these huge bulls on these cave paintings leaping out at you from darkened walls.'
Enlarge
Rare: The heck cattle have all the characteristics of the the extinct aurochs
dailymail.co.uk
