Carl Hugo Hahn
Carl Hugo Hahn (born October 18, 1818 at Gut Aahof near Riga ; † November 24, 1895 in Cape Town ) was a Lutheran theologian and missionary in German South West Africa .
Live and act
Carl Hugo Hahn was the son of the tenant of Gut Aahof (later owner of Gut Vegesacksholm) and treasurer at the aristocratic credit system in Riga Carl Peter Hahn and Helene nee. Majus. After attending grammar school in Riga, he passed the entrance exam for the Imperial Russian engineering corps in Saint Petersburg in 1834 . Before he even entered, he decided to become a missionary.
Hugo Hahn went to the Rhenish Mission Society in Barmen , where, after a probationary period, he was accepted into the mission seminar on October 10, 1838. In the meantime he attended the University of Bonn . In 1841 he was sent to South West Africa with the order to extend the Rhenish mission from the Cape via the Orange to Hereroland .
In 1842 Hugo Hahn and Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt arrived in Windhoek , where he met Jonker Afrikaner , the captain of the Orlam in the border area between Nama and Herero .
From there Hahn moved to Okahandja in October 1844 and toured the Hereroland. In Otjikango am Swakop he built the Neu-Barmen mission station , the first mission station in German South West Africa, and settled here in 1844. He learned and researched the Herero language and preached in that language for the first time on January 24, 1847. In 1849 he set up the second station in Otjimbingwe , which was occupied by Johann Rath, and in 1850 the third in Okahandja, where Friedrich Kolbe was on duty.
During his stays in Africa he also traveled to Amboland and came to the Kunene in 1866 .
In 1850 the Nama and the Herero fought over pastureland due to the persistent drought, during which the missionary work was completely destroyed.
In 1853 Hahn was called back to Barmen in order to consider further missionary work in South West Africa. From 1854 to 1855 Hugo Hahn traveled to Russia and England to promote the continuation of missionary work there. In 1856 he was able to return to South West Africa and rebuild the mission station in Otjikango. But as early as 1859 he was ordered back home, where he was employed as a travel preacher. He was passionate about promoting work among "his" Herero.
Back in Hereroland, Hugo Hahn arrived in Otjimbingwe in 1866, where he was now more and more popular with his work and founded the Augustineum training center and had the mission church built in 1867 ; it was under the protectorate of a patroness, Princess Elisabeth von Lippe-Detmold , wife of Prince Leopold III. In 1870 Hugo Hahn was involved in the "conclusion of the 10-year peace" of September 23, 1870 in Okahandja, which led to the settlement of the 7-year struggle of the Herero against the Nama and underpinned the growing supremacy of the Herero.
In 1873 there were problems with the Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft: it demanded a strict separation of trade and mission, whereas Hahn vehemently wanted the opposite. Hahn drew the conclusions and resigned from the service of the mission society, for which he had now established thirteen mission stations in South West Africa.
Hahn took over the pastoral office of the German St. Martini Congregation in Cape Town in 1874, which he held for ten years. He was supported by his son Hugo as an adjunct. When he traveled to Hereroland as a peace broker in 1882, he was given an enthusiastic reception.
Hugo Hahn was married to Emma Sarah Hone, a daughter of the English writer William Hone (1780–1842), who died in 1880.
In 1884 Hahn went into retirement, the last years of which he spent in South Africa with his son of the same name (1846-1933), who was pastor at St. Petri Church in Paarl near Cape Town from 1881 to 1921 . Hahn looked after the branch church in Worcester. In 1890 he saw the beginning of the work of the Rhenish Mission Society in Ovamboland and maintained a lively exchange of ideas with the first Ovambo and Herero missionaries.
He fell ill on a trip to Cape Town and died at the age of 77. He found his final resting place in Paarl.
Hahn's life's work is an important basis for the research of Georg Hartmann , Leonhard Schultze and Siegfried Passarge .
His grandson Cocky Hahn was regional commissioner in north South West Africa .
Honor
In 1873 the University of Berlin awarded Hugo Hahn an honorary doctorate in recognition of his services to the study of the Ovaherero language.
Works
- Grammar and Lexicon of the Herero Language , 1875
- Translation of the New Testament and parts of the Old Testament and the Catechism by Martin Luther into the Herero language
- Composition and rewrite of many hymns
literature
- Erik Thomson : Hugo Hahn. Pioneer of the Herero mission and ancestor of a pastor family , 1956
- Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz : Hahn, Hugo. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 2, Bautz, Hamm 1990, ISBN 3-88309-032-8 , Sp. 465-469.
- Frieze .: Hahn, Hugo . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 49, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1904, pp. 706-709.
- Walter Holsten: Hahn, Karl Hugo. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 509 ( digitized version ).
- Hahn, C. Hugo . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 7, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 1015. (No. 8)
- Hahn, C. Hugo . In: Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon 1894–1896, 8th volume, p. 650.
- Walter Moritz, exploratory trip to Ovamboland 1857, diary Carl Hugo Hahn, in W.Moritz, from the old days in Südwest Volume 3, Windhoek 3 edition 1998.
Web links
- Baltic Historical Commission (ed.): Entry on Carl Hugo Hahn. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hahn, Carl Hugo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hahn, Hugo; Hahn, Karl Hugo |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Lutheran theologian and missionary in South West Africa |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 18, 1818 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Gut Aahof near Riga |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 24, 1895 |
| Place of death | Cape Town |