Ellery from Gorrissen

Ellery von Gorrissen (right) at the 1910 spring flight week in Johannisthal

Ellery von Gorrissen (born April 10, 1886 in Hamburg-Rotherbaum ; † July 12, 1973 ) was the fourth German pilot.

Childhood and military career until 1909

Ellery von Gorrissen was the son of Orleana (1858–1895) and Elbert Charles (1848–1899) von Gorrissen, the consul general of the Grand Duchy of Baden in Hamburg . His mother was a native American, as were his two grandmothers. He had three brothers, Robert Curt (1887–1978), Karl Friedrich (* 1888; fallen in 1918 (crashed)) and Georg Redwood (* 1892; fallen on April 11, 1918).

At Easter 1904 Ellery von Gorrissen passed his Abitur at Wilhelm-Gymnasium in Hamburg . In February 1905 he volunteered as a flag junior in the Guard Dragoon Regiment (1st Grand Ducal Hessian) No. 23 . His training took place at the Hanover War School, which he graduated as a lieutenant with "the highest distinction". He began his service in the Dragoon Regiment 23 and was later transferred to the Jäger Regiment on Horse No. 5 .

Despite very good business evaluations by his superiors, there was a surprising career breakdown in 1909 when Gorrissen was suddenly transferred to the reserve position. This probably happened because of his homosexual disposition, which is not known for certain, but is likely. Even in later years he got into trouble again and again because of his stories about women, but also because of his homosexuality.

Aviation pioneer

As the fourth German, he graduated in 1910 as a pilot from aviation pioneer August Euler , the pilot with license number 1. Gorrissen had financed the training himself and received pilot license number 4. He bought two Euler planes and performed at air shows.

In May 1910 he started as one of six Germans at the International Flight Week at the Johannisthal airfield . In August 1910 he flew as a passenger on Robert Thelen's sensational and internationally acclaimed overland flight Frankfurt – Mainz – Mannheim .

After his comrade Oskar Heim crashed during the National Flight Week in Johannisthal from August 7th to 13th, 1910, Ellery von Gorrissen visited him on August 11th in the Britz hospital by plane.

In 1911 he became chairman of the Bund Deutscher Flugzeugführer , a predecessor of today's cockpit pilots' association . In addition, he had himself retired from the reservist relationship “at his own request because of a heart condition” and was then only a lieutenant. D.

On March 8, 1912, von Gorrissen set a world record with a five-passenger flight of 32 minutes, which he improved on November 7, 1912 to six passengers.

On April 1, 1912, he became head of the aviation school in the subsidiary of AGO Flugzeugwerke in Johannisthal, founded by Gustav Otto . In May 1912 he received the Kaiserpreis for a flight of 880 meters with a passenger on an Otto biplane .

In autumn 1912 Ellery von Gorrissen tried out the first AGO floatplane in Heiligendamm .

First World War

At the beginning of the First World War in August 1914, he volunteered for military service and was employed as a flight instructor in Johannisthal. In May 1915 he was transferred as a surprise, allegedly because of business involvement in the service and his former employer, who was also at the airport, but probably more because of some traditional women's stories and the discovery of his close sexual relationship with the 16-year-old AGO apprentice Fritz Luban (or Lubhahn ). He became head of the fortress flight station in Wilhelmshaven-Rüstringen and was promoted to first lieutenant in the army on July 12, 1915.

On September 23, 1915, he was sentenced by a court martial for “immoral behavior” and, in this context, for “abuse of his official position against subordinates” to three months imprisonment, which he did not have to face. His request for transfer to the Ottoman army was rejected. Since, apart from his homosexual preferences, which were extremely problematic at the time, he was officially regarded as a very reliable and organizationally highly talented officer, he was transferred to the news office in Constance as a civilian . In the secret service, he was also responsible for operational work in Switzerland. Here he saw the end of the war.

In August 1919 Ellery von Gorrissen entered the "Greater Berlin" protection regiment as a temporary volunteer with the rank of first lieutenant.

Failure in civil life after the war and career in the SS and NSDAP

His second attempt to gain a foothold in civilian life ended in January 1922 with a conviction before the Berlin Regional Court for insult. He was sentenced to four months' imprisonment and from now on has a criminal record. Few facts have been proven over the next few years. At the beginning of the 1930s he reappeared as authorized signatory and managing director of the Berlin Stutzwagen -verkauf-AG . In May 1931, however, Ellery von Gorrissen was released. Again, this was not a voluntary departure, because a process followed in 1933.

Ellery von Gorrissen offered himself to the rising rights in November 1931 and became a voluntary SS member under membership number 51,257 . At first he only worked in the lower rank of a simple troop leader (equivalent to sergeant ) as a clerk at the staff of SS-Standarte  44. Within a few months, his commitment, his intelligence and his experience made him the SS-Obersturmführer (equivalent to his former rank as first lieutenant ) and became adjutant of his standard.

On August 1, 1932, he joined the NSDAP under the number 1,331,675 . Whether he did this out of conviction or for the sake of his career cannot be definitively determined today.

On June 13, 1933, the Berlin Regional Court again brought charges against him - this time for “continued customs offenses in the offense with continued serious falsification of documents ” due to his earlier pushing at car imports at Stutzwagen -verkauf-AG. In November 1934 he was sentenced to seven months' imprisonment and a fine of RM 40,000  .

When the SS-Standarte learned of the renewed conviction and the hushed criminal record, Ellery von Gorrissen was demoted to a simple SS man on December 8, 1934 after an honorary trial by the SS and released.

Second half of life

From then on, his life was calmer. In 1937 Ellery von Gorrissen left Berlin and moved into a room in the garden house of Rheinfels Castle in Sankt Goar . He dedicated himself to breeding dachshunds and lived there at the expense of Professor Reusch.

In 1950 Ellery von Gorrissen became a member of the traditional association of old eagles , without making a big impression there.

Between 1969 and 1971 he moved to Dillingen (Saar) and lived with the family of Hauptmann a. D. Kuntz (1915-1998). The knight's cross carrier Kuntz (RK 1943 at KG 100 ) took the completely destitute Ellery von Gorrissen into his house, where he died on July 12, 1973 lonely and forgotten. His urn was buried in the main cemetery in Saarbrücken . The grave no longer exists today.

Today's assessment

On July 9, 2002, the Treptow-Köpenick District Office took the decision to name a road to Ellery von Gorrissen planned on the site of the former Johannisthal airfield . The associated research, in particular the magazine Fliegerrevue , showed, apart from his worthy flying achievements, a rather dubious picture of a very conservative person who willingly made himself available to the SS and the NSDAP. The district office evidently gave the name by a narrow majority. Contrary to modern practice, the new street is not written with its full name and only Gorissenstraße (without the “double r”).

literature

• Jörg Mückler: Old eagle on the wrong track . In: Fliegerrevue , 10/2010, pp. 50–53
• Günter Schmitt: When the classic cars flew . 2nd Edition. transpress Verlag, 1987, ISBN 3-344-00129-9

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gorissenstrasse. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert )