VdZ

The VDZ (Verband Deutscher Zoodirektoren) arised in 1887 and is the oldest zoo association in the world, although it was more complicated and did not be a continuous existence. It was originally an association of directors of German zoos, but in the 1920s, the association expanded to include zoo directors from Central and Northern Europe and formed the core of the first International Zoodirektorenverbandes (International Association of Zoo Directors) - the de facto germ of the IUDZG (today's WAZA), which was officially founded in 1935 at a conference in Basel. During WWr II, the IUDZG disappeared and was re-founded in 1946, but the directors of German zoos were not allowed to join the Union after the war (until 1950), so they continued to meet separately (from 1947). After some disputes, part of the members broke away from the group as the Association of German Zoo Operators and Wild Animal Breeders (Verband deutscher Tiergärtner und Wildtierhalter) and the rest (11 directors) reestablished the Association of German Zoo Directors (VDZ) in 1951. Since 1968, all directors from the GDR had to leave the association, leaving only members from the West Germany and Austria, but soon others joined from Switzerland and the German-speaking part of France (Alsace). VDZ was based in Bern, but after a fundamental change in its statutes in 2014, it moved to Berlin. The individual membership of the directors was replaced by the institutional membership of the zoos, and the association was consequently renamed to Association of Zoological Gardens (Verband der Zoologischen Gärten). The official abbreviation has also changed - from VDZ to VdZ. The association unites zoos from German-speaking countries - primarily from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but sometimes there are several members from other countries as well (Spain, Estonia, Denmark, Hungary...).