Born: April 23, 1892 in Berlin
died: April 6, 1983 in Wiesbaden

Lutz Heck was born as the son of Privy Councillor Professor Dr. Ludwig Heck, director of the Berlin Zoo from 1888 to 1931. After studying at the universities of Berlin, where he received his doctorate in 1922, Freiburg im Breisgau and Königsberg i. Pr., he became assistant and finally deputy director of the zoo in Halle/Saale. From 1924, he was his father's assistant at Berlin Zoo, succeeding him as director from 1932 to 1945. He was awarded the title of professor in 1938.

From 1945, he lived as an animal researcher and freelance writer in Wiesbaden, where he supported the founding of the Fasanerie animal and plant park, which was opened in 1955. In 1958, he undertook expeditions through South Africa with biological studies. In 1978, he was honored with the DJV Literature Prize of the German Hunting Association for his life's work as a writer, which spanned more than 40 years.

In 1984, the bust of the man who died in 1983 was erected at Berlin Zoo. According to an obituary of the deceased in the zoo's in-house magazine, it is intended to honor the memory of an "experienced zookeeper" and "sincere friend".

Lutz Heck particularly distinguished himself as an animal breeder and conservationist. He and his brother Heinz succeeded in breeding the woodland cattle, the bison, which had been wiped out in Germany, and reintroduced it to the Springe conservation park near Hanover in 1927. Another project, the "re-breeding" of the extinct Urrind (aurochs) by crossing domestic cattle breeds, took him and his brother Heinz particularly hard. When, in their opinion, they had succeeded, Lutz Heck released the animals into the Rominten nature reserve. These breeds were later criticized by Prof. Bernhard Grzimek and other experts as unscientific.

In 1949, he joined the Nassau Association for Natural History in Wiesbaden. He was a member of the advisory board there from 1955, a member of the board from 1958 and 2nd chairman from 1965-1970. He gave numerous lectures and guided tours. In 1952, he published "Über den Auerochsen und seine Rückzüchtung" in the yearbooks of the Nassauischer Verein für Naturkunde. He was made an honorary member in 1972.

It was only later that his closeness to the National Socialists became known. In June 1933, Lutz Heck had become a "supporting member of the SS". In addition to being a member of the NSDAP since 1937, he belonged to a number of other Nazi organizations. In 1940, he was appointed head of the Supreme Nature Conservation Authority in the Reich Forestry Office; this was associated with a particular closeness to Hermann Göring.