German Sign Language and
Communication of the Deaf
Photo: UHH/Denstorf
9 December 2019
Photo: IDGS
*12. April 1949 † 05. December 2019
With dismay we learned that Heiko Zienert closed his eyes forever. We are thinking about his family and his loved ones.
We will always be grateful to Heiko for his work in the recognition and research of German Sign Language (DGS). His contribution has made him an icon.
In deep mourning
The Institute of German Sign Language and Communication of the Deaf
Prof. Dr. Annika Herrmann: Dear everyone, today we would like to express our heartfelt condolences to the death of Heiko Zienert on behalf of all IDGS employees. We are very saddened, because Heiko was a founding member of our institute, without him the IDGS would not exist. Heiko was very active in the team of Prof. Dr. Siegmund Prillwitz and helped to found the institute. There is a lot to report about Heiko, Stefan will tell you soon. We are filled with pride and gratitude towards Heiko, especially in view of his remarkable life's work. Our heartfelt condolences go now to all who were close to Heiko: Relatives, friends, acquaintances and the whole sign language community.
Stefan Goldschmidt: I too am very grateful to Heiko Zienert for everything he has given us. Our life with the DGS was put on a good way by his work. We will always remember him and keep him in our hearts. Thank you.
Obituary to Heiko Zienert ( *12 April 1949 † 05 December 2019 )
(by Stefan Goldschmidt, lecturer for DGS at IDGS)
(Stefan Goldschmidt holds a black and white photo with Heiko Zienert in the camera, next to it the old logo of the then "Forschungsstelle Deutsche Gebärdensprache", both are part of a framed collage with the title "Zur Erinnerung an den ersten Gebärdenkongress in Hamburg 9.-10.11.1985".)
We at the Institute for German Sign Language and Communication for the Deaf at the University of Hamburg would like to express our sincere condolences on the death of Heiko Zienert on 05.12.2019. The fact that Heiko is no longer with us now fills us with great sadness. Our condolences go out to all who were close to Heiko: Relatives, friends, acquaintances.
At the beginning of this week at IDGS we received the news of his death with dismay. Heiko was a very important personality for all of us and for the IDGS. We owe him so much in relation to German Sign Language that I would like to list some examples of his positive work.
An example can be seen here (Stefan holds two round white stickers in his camera: On one of them you can see a devil's grimace with an extended tongue. The other sticker shows a caricature of a lipreading exercise: on the left in the picture pupil , squeezed into a pillory with eyes of stalk, in front of it a thick, bald teacher or doctor, who points to his overlong tongue, how certain words are formed (orally) on the mouth. The slogan written on both stickers is: "Only Oral in Deaf School? NO THANKS" )
These stickers were drawn by Heiko himself around 1985 and were intended to draw attention to the situation of oralism. At this time Heiko fortunately met Prof. Dr. Siegmund Prillwitz, who together with him, Regina Leven, Alexander von Meyenn and Wolfgang Schmidt held regular exchange rounds, and soon afterwards founded the first research centre for German Sign Language. (Stefan holds the 1985 booklet "Skizzen zu einer Grammatik der Deutschen Gebärdensprache" (Sketches of a Grammar of German Sign Language) in the camera, on which the research centre's logo is depicted below) From 1982 onwards, there was a very lively discussion about sign language in the group, at that time the term "German Sign Language" did not even exist! The first conference on sign language was held in November 1985 (Stefan holds a conference brochure of the conference "Die Gebärden in Erziehung und Bildung Gehörloser", and then again the collage with the title "Zur Erinnerung an den ersten Gebärdenkongress in Hamburg 9.-10.11.1985 in the camera:). Here in the middle, this is Siegmund Prillwitz, top right Alexander von Meyenn, bottom right Heiko Zienert, Wolfgang Schmidt is pictured below left and above Regina Leven. All these persons were active in the Research Centre for Sign Language and presented their research results in lectures during this congress. For many deaf people in the audience this congress was the first time that they saw deaf people sign on stage! And for me this congress is the birth hour of the DGS, because there the "Sketches to a Grammar of the German Sign Language" were distributed to the present in the audience and in it (Stefan holds the notebook in the camera) it was written in black and white that the German Sign Language was an independent language. This realization was a milestone for the whole of Germany and set the ball rolling: It was known that deaf people signed with each other, but that this was a real language had always been doubted before, deaf people were looked down upon from above and their gestures mocked. Now it was said: "The DGS is an independent language", a realization that filled many deaf people with pride and joy and paved the way for the deaf community. Heiko Zienert was not only involved in the content of the research centre, but also as a talented draughtsman, e.g. here: (Stefan holds an illustration from the "Sketches on a Grammar of German Sign Language" in the camera: It shows several sequences of sign language drawings.) It's about a trip to Switzerland, over mountains and winding roads. One could understand the grammar of the DGS on the basis of the drawings and there were explanations to it, that was incredibly impressive and provided the impetus for the development of the deaf movement. In 1987 the IDGS was founded, Heiko Zienert gave the opening speech and got the first lecturing position for DGS. From then on he was responsible for DGS teaching with Prof. Prillwitz. At that time there was no basis for the DGS teaching, no materials, there was nothing! That's why he thought about it with the team and developed teaching and learning materials, such as the two workbooks "Grundkurs Deutsche Gebärdensprache" (holds both books in the camera), with which a first basis in the DGS doctrine had been created. Heiko has been continuously involved in the development of such teaching materials, and many subsequent DGS lecturers* still benefit from these materials and praise the high quality of the content. Heiko was also involved in the development of the multimedia DVD "Die Firma", a brand new format of self-learning materials for the DGS. And so Heiko has initiated positive developments in many ways, e.g. with the German association of DGS teachers, he has emphasized the power of sign language on many occasions. I would also like to emphasize his human social way of acting in the cooperation of the team and leading others. Today the use of the DGS in everyday life is already a matter of course, but looking back it was people like Heiko Zienert and others who provided the decisive levers for this positive development. And now Heiko is no longer there. We will miss him very much and keep the memory of him alive. Thank you very much for everything, dear Heiko.