Eduard Alexandrowitsch von Falz-Fein

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Eduard von Falz-Fein (right)
(Honor by Vladimir Putin , 2001)

Eduard Alexandrowitsch Oleg von Falz-Fein (born September 14, 1912 in Gawrilowka , Cherson Governorate , Russian Empire ; † November 17, 2018 in Vaduz , Liechtenstein ) was a Liechtenstein nobleman, entrepreneur, journalist and sports official of German-Russian origin.

Life

Eduard von Falz-Fein was the son of Alexander and nephew of Friedrich von Falz-Fein . His mother Vera Jepantschina came from the old Russian noble family Jepantschin , which had produced a number of admirals and generals . The family has had the double name Falz-Fein since 1864; Fein was the maiden name of the great-grandmother Elisabeth Anna Fein. In 1872 the elevation to the status of a "hereditary honorable citizen" (Potomstvenny Potschotny Graschdanin) and in 1915 - as a result of a tsar's visit in the previous year 1914 - the elevation to the Russian hereditary baronate . The family was related to the family of the writer Vladimir Nabokov .

Eduard von Falz-Fein died on November 17, 2018 at the age of 106 in a house fire in his villa. His daughter and granddaughter are bereaved. He is buried in the family crypt in Nice .

Before the October Revolution: Askanija-Nowa

With the permission of the Czar I. Nicholas had fold-great-great grandfather Friedrich Fein Fein (1794-1864) with purchase agreement dated August 16, 1856 by Dessauer Duke Leopold IV. , The 52,000 hectare large Anhalt colony Askania-Nova in Kherson buy, 100 kilometers north of the peninsula Located in Crimea , with 49,000 sheep, 640 horses and 549 cattle. The name goes back to the Askanians in Germany.

From this, Friedrich von Falz-Fein gradually developed the nature reserve of the same name with a botanical garden and exotic zoo, but also half a million sheep. The nature reserve eventually became one of the largest in the world. From 1921 it was state property of Ukraine and is now a UNESCO nature reserve. It is still home to many exotic animals such as antelopes, bison, zebras, ostriches and Przewalski's horses . In April 1914 Tsar Nicholas II visited the Askania Nova Nature Park and the Falz-Fein family. The tsar is said to have rocked the two-year-old Eduard on his knees and joked: "Grow up, my son, and become a man!"

After the October Revolution

After the Russian Revolution , the lands of the Falz-Feins were confiscated by the Bolsheviks , and Askanija-Nowa was completely devastated. The family moved to their apartment in Saint Petersburg , their last stop in Russia. When Red Army soldiers tried to arrest the family, they faked an incurable, contagious disease in the children in order to avoid the threat of being shot. On April 1, 1919, the family finally fled with the Bulgarian steamer "König Ferdinand" to Constantinople and from there to Berlin . In 1923 the family emigrated to Paris . After studying agriculture, Eduard von Falz-Fein was the general correspondent of the French sports newspaper « L'Auto ».

According to his own statements, he came to the Principality of Liechtenstein for the first time in 1933, where he settled in Ruggell in 1936 and was naturalized by Prince Franz I , a former imperial and royal ambassador to Russia. In 1945 he was the operator of several souvenir shops for tourists under the name "Quick", as Liechtenstein was regularly visited by day tourists in buses after the end of the war. He ran the shops until 2007 and made several documentaries about Liechtenstein. In 1958 he produced the homeland film Children of the Mountains .

Sporting commitment

Eduard von Falz-Fein rendered particular services to the Olympic movement in Liechtenstein. Using his professional and family connections to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), he was the driving force behind the fact that Liechtenstein was able to take part in the 1936 Olympic Games , even though it was not yet a member of the IOC at the time. Before that, an Olympic Committee was founded in Liechtenstein in 1935, in which Falz-Fein acted as vice-president. At the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, he found that the flags of Liechtenstein and Haiti were  identical, which later led to a change in the Liechtenstein flag.

For a time, Falz-Fein was considered the oldest surviving Olympian. However, he corrected that it was his cousin Eduard Theodor von Falz-Fein , who was born in the same year.

His second sporting preference was cycling . As a Parisian cycling champion and known to many European sporting greats, Eduard von Falz-Fein has dedicated himself to Liechtenstein cycling since 1951. He was President of the Liechtenstein Cyclists' Association from 1951 and 1953 to 1973 and supported many talented cyclists during this time.

In 2003 he and Xaver Frick were presented with the Golden Laurel Leaf of the Princely Government . In 2011, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Liechtenstein Olympic Sports Association (now the Liechtenstein Olympic Committee), he was made an honorary member. The IOC awarded him the Pierre de Coubertin Medal in February 2017 .

From 1962 to 1977, Falz-Fein was treasurer of the Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course and played a key role in making luge an Olympic sport. Since 1978 he has been an honorary member of the international luge association.

Commitment to Russian art and history

Equestrian statue of Suvorov on the Gotthard Pass

Falz-Fein bought works of art at auctions and then handed them over to the Russian state. In Switzerland he had an equestrian statue of the Russian generalissimo Alexander Wassiljewitsch Suworow erected on the Gotthard Pass , who crossed the Alps with his troops at this point in the battle against the French in 1799.

As the head of the family, Falz-Fein lived in the villa “Askania Nova” in Vaduz. He handed over the family archive to the Ethnographic Museum in Saint Petersburg in the 2000s.

Awards

In 2002 Eduard von Falz-Fein was awarded the Russian Order of Honor .

In 2007 he received the Pushkin Medal "for his significant contribution to the preservation of Russia's cultural heritage" .

On his 100th birthday in 2012, he was awarded the Order of St. Catherine, which had been re-established six months earlier.

In 2017 he received the Pierre de Coubertin Medal .

literature

  • Editor: Falz-Fein, Eduard Alexander Baron von. In: Historical Lexicon of the Principality of Liechtenstein . December 31, 2011 .
  • В.Ю. Ганкевич: Задерейчук А.А. Фальц-Фейн Едуард Олександрович фон. In: Енциклопедія історії України , Volume 10 (Т – Я). Наукова думка, 2013, ISBN 978-966-00-1359-9 , pp. 263-264.
  • Задерейчук А.А. Фальц-Фейны в Таврии. ДОЛЯ (Dolja), Simferopol, 2010.
  • Lisa Heiss: Paradise in the steppe. The adventurous way to Askania Nova . Verlag Bitter, Recklinghausen 1981, ISBN 3-7903-0283-X
  • Lutz Heck : In the Tauride Steppe. Autumn days at Friedrich Falz-Fein in Askania Nova . Berlin 1920.
  • Joost van der Ven: A mouse on a bicycle? The story of Van Sanden Guja in Prussia and Falz-Fein in the Ukraine. 2016, ISBN 978-90-8759-636-1 , pp. 110-165.

Web links

Commons : Eduard von Falz-Fein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary notice of Baron Eduard von Falz-Fein. In: Liechtensteiner Volksblatt . November 21, 2018. Retrieved November 21, 2018 . В Лихтенштейне скончался барон Эдуард фон Фальц-Фейн. In: Echo Moskwy . November 18, 2018, Retrieved November 18, 2018 (Russian).
  2. ↑ Confirmed: The victim is Baron Eduard von Falz-Fein. In: Liechtenstein Fatherland . November 19, 2018, accessed August 30, 2019 .
  3. ↑ He died in flames at the age of 106 , lie-zeitr.li, November 19, 2018
  4. ^ A visit to Baron von Falz-Fein. (No longer available online.) In: Kopfbewegung.de. 2006, archived from the original on June 20, 2009 ; Retrieved on July 1, 2018 (from: Argumenty i Fakty , translation from Russian).
  5. ↑ a b Falz-Fein, Eduard Alexander Baron von. In: Historical Lexicon of the Principality of Liechtenstein. December 31, 2011, accessed November 20, 2018 .
  6. ^ Baron Eduard von Falz-Fein celebrates his 100th birthday. In: Liechtensteiner Volksblatt. September 14, 2012, accessed November 20, 2018 .
  7. ^ 50 Years Ago (1960): FL Lifesaver Club. In: Liechtenstein Fatherland . July 1, 1960. Retrieved November 19, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Jere Longman: A Seat Near Hitler, and Other Tales From the Olympic Baron, 105. In: The New York Times . October 12, 2017, accessed October 12, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Ernst Hasler : “An event that touched me”. In: Liechtenstein Fatherland. February 21, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2018 .
  10. ^ FIL mourns honorary member Baron Falz-Fein
  11. ↑ About the award of the citizen of the Principality of Liechtenstein with the Order of Honor for contributing to the propaganda of Russian culture abroad. (No longer available online.) In: Website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. February 16, 2002, archived from the original on January 5, 2014 ; accessed on November 19, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Putin awarded Baron von Falz-Fein with the Pushkin medal. In: Sputnik . August 23, 2007. Retrieved November 19, 2018 .
  13. ↑ О награждении барона Э.А.Фальц-Фейна орденом Святой великомученицы Екатерины. (No longer available online.) In: Website of the Russian Embassy in Switzerland. Archived from the original on August 13, 2014 ; Retrieved on November 19, 2018 (Russian, notification of the award of the order).
personal data
SURNAME Falz-Fein, Eduard Alexandrowitsch von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Falz, Eduard Aleksandrovich; Falz-Fein, Baron von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Liechtenstein nobleman and sports official
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Gavrilowka , Cherson Governorate , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH 17th November 2018
Place of death Vaduz , Liechtenstein