New book pays tribute to pioneering ornithologist and resistance fighter Veleslav Wahl
One of the winners of this year’s Most Beautiful Czech Books of the Year Award is Birds of Prague 1800-2020, published by the Czech Ornithological Society and Revolver Revue. It follows up on the work of the pioneering Czechoslovak ornithologist Veleslav Wahl, who was executed in 1951 by the Communist regime for alleged treason. The impressive volume contains not only the original book from 1944. It also includes Wahl’s biography and maps the development of bird communities in the city over the last decades. I discussed the book with Petr Voříšek from the Czech Ornithological Society, who initiated its creation.
“In the 1990s, I came across Veleslav Wahl’s last will, which was written the night before he was executed. Since then, Wahl and his book were somehow on my mind.
“Another trigger was the book written by the Polish ornithologist Eugeniusz Nowak, who wrote biographies of biologists, mainly ornithologists, living in the totalitarian regimes. And there was a short chapter in the book dedicated to Wahl.
“He was a very talented and passionate ornithologist, but he also had a very clear view of what was right and what was wrong.”
“What really struck me was that in most of the cases the scientists collaborated with the regimes, because they were so passionate about ornithology and wanted to continue doing what they loved.
“But Wahl was a completely different story. He was a very talented and passionate ornithologist, but he also had a very clear view of what was right and what was wrong. So that’s how it all started.”
Who was Veleslav Wahl? Can you tell us a little bit more about him?
“He was born in Prague in 1922 into a wealthy family. His father was a well-known lawyer, who was actively involved in the resistance against the Nazis. And so was his uncle. In 1942, they were both executed.
“Wahl himself worked an assistant to the director of Prague Zoo, but he was also active in the anti-Nazi resistance. So at one point he did these two really demanding jobs: working in the zoo, writing the book about birds of Prague, and at the same time, leading a resistance group, called Intelligence Brigade.
“At the end of World War II it probably had more than 1,000 members, mostly scout boys, providing intelligence to the Czechoslovak government in London and they actively engaged in the Prague Uprising.
“Wahl was the youngest member of the Czech National Council during the Prague Uprising. So he was really very high positioned in the resistance structures and his group was never revealed by the Nazis.
“At the same time, he was a really excellent ornithologist and an excellent observer. You can see it when you read the details of his observations. He was simply a genius!”
You said you were inspired by seeing Wahl’s last will. What was written in the will?
“There were several things, but what was really related to our effort to publish the book is that Wahl wanted his book Birds of Prague, first published in 1944, to be released again. He wanted it the new edition to be accompanied by illustrations by Karel Svolinský, who was at that time probably the best nature illustrator in Czechoslovakia.”
Did Wahl produce the original book entirely on his own?
“I think he did. He definitely wrote all the texts by himself. But of course he cooperated with other ornithologists. In the acknowledgements, he lists several people who provided him with information.”
How many people contributed to the creation of the new volume? And how long did it take to complete?
“There were eight people. The authors of the book, plus Veleslav Wahl, of course. And then we had a painter, a photographer, and of course, a graphic designer, and also the people from the publisher, Revolver Revue, who did the editorial work.”
As you said, Wahl wished the texts to be accompanied by Karel Svolinský. The book was published long after Svolinský’s death, so who did the illustrations for the new volume? And did you manage to sneak in at least some illustrations by Svolinský?
“The illustrations by Svolinský had to be in the book, so we obtained the permission of the license holders to use them. So these paintings are there, just as Wahl had wished. But of course we needed many more, so we also have pictures by Jan Hošek, one of the best Czech nature illustrators of today.
“What’s interesting is that we also managed to obtain some paintings by Veleslav Wahl. He did them as part of his non-published list of birds of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, where they used to go to visit his family’s friends. So with the permission of this family, we published the pictures, which reveal another of Wahl’s skills we didn’t know about.”
Which brings me to another question. When writing about his life, what sources did you use? And have you discovered something you didn't know about him before?
“We've appointed a historian who searched all the information available. He also looked into the archives of the former communist security services. So he managed to build quite a complex picture of Wahl’s life.
“I wouldn’t say that we discovered anything shocking. But the whole story of Wahl’s engagement in the anti-Nazi and in anti-communist resistance is incredible. I've read the text many, many times, and every time it's very emotional. So I think the value here is creating a complete picture of his life.”
You spoke about his role in the anti-Nazi resistance. What about the anti-communist resistance? How did it happen that he got arrested?
“During the anti-Nazi resistance, Wahl became a very close friend of Major Nechanský, who was a soldier trained in the UK during the war and was parachuted to Czechoslovakia in early 1945. And the two of them developed a plan. They were in contact with people from the American embassy and they started building an intelligence network for the case of a military conflict between the West and the East.
“In 1949, some person from that network was revealed and then it went like a domino effect. The secret services had their methods, torturing people to get the names out of them. Wahl and Nechanský were arrested in September 1949.
“In the spring of 1950, there was a trial and they were accused of building a network on behalf of the US. Some of those US diplomats were forced to leave the country, but those who suffered the most was Wahl and Nechanský.”
When we go back to Wahl’s role in ornithology, what do you see as his biggest contribution to the field? You have already mentioned his excellent observational skills...
“I think it was really his book Birds of Prague, because of its complexity. At that time, ornithologists were not that interested in urban habitats. Usually, they went outside the city to study nature.
“Nowadays, we have an EU nature restoration legislation, but Wahl proposed such measures already 80 years ago.”
“Wahl was one of the first ones to focus on urbanization. He not only described birds in the cities, he provided his thoughts about the process of urbanization and adaptation to the urban environment.
“There are also very impressive thoughts in the book about nature conservation. For example, he proposed something that we call nature restoration today. Nowadays, we have an EU nature restoration legislation, but Wahl proposed such measures already 80 years ago.
“He proposed that instead of just protecting birds from being persecuted, nature conservation should focus on conserving their habitats. So he was very innovative and very visionary. Unfortunately, because of his fate, he didn't have the opportunity to develop his skills and ideas much further.”
What kinds of birds did Wahl encounter in Prague back in the 1930s and 40s? What were the most common birds in the city back then? And can we still encounter all these species today?
“Many of those species are still around us in Prague. In total, the number of species in the capital increased since Wahl’s time, which is one of the surprising outcomes of our work. So there is a net increase in the number of species living in the capital.
“On the other hand, some species really disappeared. If we look at the breeders, which are more fixed to the environment, one of the species we lost is the little owl, a very common species during Wahl’s time. Another one is the nightjar. We don't have woodlarks anymore, but these may actually be coming back.
“We also didn't have the hoopoe on our list of Prague birds, which used to breed during Wahl's time. But since we have finished the book, the hoopoe started to breed in the city again, which illustrates how dynamic the development is. So there are some birds which Wahl encountered and we don't see anymore, or we see them in much lower numbers.
“I think the most typical example is the house sparrow. Which is funny, because Wahl was very quick with the description of the house sparrow occurrence in Prague. He simply wrote: the most common species in Prague. And today, at least when we are speaking about the city centre, we have very few of them.”
Conversely, what are some of the species that he couldn't have met and that are today pretty common?
“That would be a much longer list than that of the disappearing species. Probably the most typical example that everybody can notice is the mute swan, which is very common on the river in the city centre as well as on the fish ponds.
“The mute swan started spreading in the country only after the Second World War. So for a while it was a very rare species. Then there is the coloured dove, which spread from the Balkan countries and colonized Prague just around Wahl's death, and also the middle spotted woodpecker and peregrine falcons.
“Again, peregrine falcons occurred in Prague from time to time, but they were extremely rare. Today, we have several pairs breeding here regularly. So there are quite a few species which Wahl couldn’t have seen, and we see them nearly every day in Prague.”
What are today some of the most bird-rich habitats in the capital?
“It always depends on the time of the year, on the season and other circumstances, but definitely Prague parks. It may be surprising, but Prague is quite a green city. Much greener than in the times of Veleslav Wahl, and the Prague parks are not badly managed, I would say.
“And then the water bodies, especially the Vltava river, which is really amazing for some species, especially for wintering water birds. It’s actually one of the most important wintering sites for water birds in Central Europe.
“Some of the other water bodies in Prague, like fish ponds and reservoirs, are also not very bad. It's probably because there is not such a high pressure for intensive fish production in these water bodies.”
Finally, the communist regime wished that Wahl and his work would be forgotten. Is it a satisfaction for you that the book dedicated to this pioneering ornithologist is almost sold out and that it won several prestigious awards, including The Most Beautiful Czech Book of the Year?
“Well, satisfaction is perhaps not the best word. I would say we owed something to Veleslav Wahl, and now we have paid off that debt. So we have accomplished the task that we set for ourselves. But, of course, we appreciate these awards and we are happy that the book has received them.”
