Eugene Kalmar

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Eugen (Jenő) Kalmár

Eugen Kalmár (born December 28, 1873 in Csernely , Hungary ; † October 21, 1937 in Bratislava / Preßburg , Hungarian: Jenő Kalmár ) was a Hungarian explorer and collector of folkloric objects.

Life and activity

After completing his studies at a military academy, he became an engineer and lived in Berlin . Among other things, he was for some time chairman of the Berlin Hungarian Association and from 1899 employee of the Society for South Cameroon . In this position he went to Cameroon where his work was the identification and mapping of Hinterkamerun in order to explore the possibility of establishing trading settlements. The most important products of Cameroon at that time were ivory and rubber , the main aim of which was to organize the export of these products. His letters to his family contain detailed descriptions of the life, manners and customs of the local population, as well as of the many casualties they waged against one another and against the Europeans. Later he became general director of the Society for South Cameroon AG .

He returned to Hungary in 1912 and gave many lectures about his experiences in scientific associations, some of which were also published in scientific publications. He donated a rich and valuable collection of original African objects to the Hungarian Ethnographic Museum. His detailed travel description and some maps he personally drawn are deposited in the Hungarian Geographic Museum.

As a captain he took part in the First World War, he was wounded and received a high honor. After the war he settled in Bratislava (Pressburg) and started a family. He finally died there in 1937.

Publications

  • E. Kalmár: My experiences in darkest Africa. Report of the Elisabeth Volksakademie, 1911
  • E. Kalmár: From my experiences in South Cameroon. Report of the Elisabeth Volksakademie, 1913
  • E. Kalmár: Negro folk customs in Cameroon. The report of the Ethnographic Department of the Hungarian National Museum, Volume 3–4, 1913

Life

  • Katharina Gerő: A fulfilled life. Koechler & Amelang, Leipzig 1933 (the author was Eugen Kalmár's sister-in-law).
  • Publications of the Elisabeth Volksakademie, 1910–1911, and 1913 (see under publications)
  • The report of the Ethnographic Department of the Hungarian National Museum, Volume 3–4, 1913
personal data
SURNAME Kalmár, Eugene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kalmár, Jenő
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian ethnographer, Africa explorer, collector
DATE OF BIRTH December 28, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Csernely , Hungary
DATE OF DEATH October 21, 1937
Place of death Bratislava