Emil Kreplin
Emil Kreplin (born July 5, 1871 in Barth , † April 5, 1932 in Swakopmund , South West Africa ) was a German colonial civil servant, entrepreneur and first mayor of Lüderitzbucht .
Emil Kreplin learned the trade of a blacksmith, but then entered the military in Demmin and came to German South West Africa with the protection force . After 12 years he had to quit the service for health reasons and went back to Germany. But he soon returned and took up residence in Lüderitzbucht. Here he became head of the railway company Lenz & Co. and thus also the superior of railway foreman August Stauch .
On April 8, 1908, the railway worker Zacharias Lewala brought the railway master Stauch an unusual stone that turned out to be a diamond. Stauch reported the discovery to Kreplin and a little later both of them secured the mining rights in this area. Kreplin was one of the founders of the Charlottental diamond company in 1908, and later he became director of the Kolmankupper Diamond Mines Ltd.
In Kubub, south of Aus , Kreplin also bought a farm on which he bred workhorses for mining and racehorses. These are possibly considered to be the origin of the Namibian wild horse .
In 1909 Kreplin had the architect Friedrick Kramer build a house, the Kreplin House, on Lüderitzer Bergstrasse , which is now a listed building.
After the occupation by the English at the beginning of the First World War , Emil Kreplin was interned. His wife died in a flu epidemic in 1918. In 1920 Kreplin went to Germany. When Diamond Mines Ltd. was dissolved, he had a villa built on Lake Wolziger and married a widow who brought three daughters into the marriage. He himself had a daughter from his first wife.
In 1925 Kreplin went back to Africa for a year with his daughter and a stepdaughter. After losing a large part of his fortune in Germany, he finally moved back to Africa in January 1930. His daughter married the farmer Gustav Rösemann.
When a heavy storm had destroyed his last property, he traveled to Swakopmund to ask friends for help. Apparently this was denied him and so the sixty year old went to the beach and killed himself with a shot in the heart.
literature
- Steffi Schweizer: At home on two continents . In: Märkische Oderzeitung , 23./24. November 2013, p. 8.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Management Plan for Horses in the Namib Naukluft Park and the Tsau // Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) National Park 2020-2029. Ministry of Environment & Tourism, September 12, 2019, p. 13.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kreplin, Emil |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German colonial official, entrepreneur and first mayor of Lüderitz |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 5, 1871 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Barth |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 5, 1932 |
| Place of death | Swakopmund |