Emil Ohrt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Emil Heinrich Ohrt (born October 23, 1868 in Hahnheide near Trittau , † September 23, 1934 in Hamburg ) was a German lawyer , Japanese interpreter and German consul in Japan .

Life and professional history

Emil Heinrich Ohrt was born in Hahnheide near Trittau in 1868 as the son of forester Johann Heinrich Ohrt. He grew up in the region around Rendsburg , attended school there and graduated from high school in 1888. On March 6 of the same year he began studying law in Munich , Berlin and Kiel . During his stay in Berlin he attended the newly opened oriental seminar with the subjects Japanese language and national history of Japan. His professional goal was to be able to work in the diplomatic service in Japan . During these additional courses he became increasingly enthusiastic about the country and its historical development. On July 17, 1892, he passed the diploma examination for Japanese in Berlin and on December 6 of the same year he received his doctorate from the University of Kiel. jur.

On December 15, 1892, Emil Ohrt entered the Prussian judicial service. But after only six months, on May 13, 1893, he moved to the Foreign Office in Berlin.

Working as an employee of the Foreign Office in Japan

Emil Ohrt's first assignment abroad takes him to the German embassy in Tokyo . He arrived here in August 1893 and began working as the "interpreter team" on August 10th. In the following years he was employed at the consulates in Tamsui / Formosa , in Kobe / Osaka and Yokohama . In 1895 he became a full member of the “ German Society for Natural and Ethnic Customers of East Asia ” (OAG).

Due to his demonstrated achievements and the safe handling of people who were in contact with the individual consulates, he was appointed interpreter for the German embassy in Tokyo on January 13, 1907. During his stay in different parts of Japan, he had dealt extensively with the history of Japan, the traditions and habits of the people, but also their attitudes. He was always an attentive listener in conversations with the people he dealt with on business, but also in daily encounters.

He processed the knowledge he had gained and deepened through his own studies in scientific sketches or offered it in lectures in the social committees in which mainly Germans frequented. For example, as part of his collaboration with the German Society for Nature and Ethnology of East Asia (OAG), he gave a lecture on the topic: "FW Grube's trip to India and China (1843–1845)". He also reported his study results in the company's newsletters and information sheets. For example with the article “The Prussian Expedition to Japan (1869–1861)”. The following edition contained two articles by Emil Ohrt on the “State funeral of Prince Ito” and the article “Customs for the dead in Japan”. Here he showed that he had a very profound knowledge of the culture and history of Japan. In 1910 the German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia (OAG) made Emil Ohrt a member for life.

His next service assignment took him to Nagasaki in 1911 . Here he was appointed consul in October and replaced his predecessor Karl Mechlenburg (1876-1957). In April 1913 Emil Ohrt was transferred to Kobe and headed the consulate there from April 28, 1913. Here was his predecessor Fritz August Thiel (1863–1931). After Japan declared war on Germany in 1914, he and the other members of the embassy had to leave the country. In this intermediate phase he was used in the USA . He worked in the consulate in Atlanta , New York City , Cincinnati , Chicago and Seattle until diplomatic relations with Germany were broken off here too when the USA entered the war.

Emil Ohrt returned to Germany on February 7, 1918 and from 1919 became head of the Japan Department at the Berlin Foreign Office. But in 1921 he was called to Japan again. He took over here as consul general in Yokohama. During the great earthquake in September 1923 he was in Tokyo and lost all his belongings. Immediately thereafter, the consulate was relocated from Yokohama to Kobe. He moved to Kobe and took over the business of the new consulate on October 4th. Robert Schinzinger (1898–1988), who came to Kobe in 1923 as a lecturer, later recalled that Emil Ohrt was "a quiet, serious and friendly person who spoke good Japanese and took care of his compatriots like a father".

Emil Ohrt retired on April 1, 1933. His health was not in the best of times. He had suffered a difficult biliary and liver disease. In order to recover and enjoy his old age, he traveled back to his homeland in Schleswig-Holstein in 1934. He was admitted to a clinic in September and had an operation on September 20th. Emil Ohrt died on September 23, 1934 in a Hamburg hospital.

Own work and publications

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Janacha short biography of Emil Ohrt, in: http://www.schleswig-holstein-und-japan.de/emil-ohrt.html
  2. ↑ Documentation on people of the OAG and a short description of their work, in: https://www.oag.jp/people/ viewed on November 27, 2018
  3. ↑ OAG Volume XIII, 1910/1911 p. 199ff.
  4. ↑ OAG Volume XIII, Part 2, 1910/1911 P. 123ff.
  5. ↑ OAG Volume XIII, Part 2, 1910/1911 P. 81ff.
  6. ↑ https://oag.jp/people , viewed on November 27, 2018
  7. ↑ Peter Janacha short biography of Emil Ohrt, in: http://www.schleswig-holstein-und-japan.de/emil-ohrt.html
personal data
SURNAME Ohrt, Emil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ohrt, Emil Heinrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, Japanese interpreter, German consul in Japan
DATE OF BIRTH October 23, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Trittau
DATE OF DEATH September 23, 1934
Place of death Hamburg