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Of chicken and eggs

At Untermarkt (lower market) a commemorative plaque refers to the founder of an association with a quaint name, the “Hühnerologische Verein Görlitz” (lit.: “Chickenological” Society Görlitz). It was the first society in Germany devoted to breeding chicken. Three years after it was founded there were already more than 600 members. Karl Robert Oettel who was born in the house at Untermarkt 2 in 1798 was a merchant trading in cloth and textiles. Breeding chicken was only a pastime. He was, however, the first to import Asian breeds of chicken which unlike home-grown breeds layed eggs all year and thus became the founder of modern German chicken breeding.