Walther Schoenichen (July 18, 1876 in Cologne – November 22, 1956 in Göppingen) was a German biologist and a prominent proponent of nature conservation within Nazi Germany.
[1] In 1922 Schoenichen became manager of the Staatliche Stelle für Naturdenkmalpflege in Preußen (Prussian State Agency for Natural Heritage Preservation).
In 1933, Schoenichen joined the Nazi Party and became head of the Reichsstelle für Naturschutz (Reich Agency for Nature Conservation) when it was founded in 1935.
[2] In 1942, he published his magnum opus, Naturschutz als völkische und internationale Kulturaufgabe (Nature Conservation as a Racial and International Cultural Task).
Schoenichen was an antisemite for much of his career, writing in 1926 that "[the German] people face a decline in racial hygiene", and described advertising billboards as an "infection with Jewish toxin.