Franz Emil Hellwig

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Franz Emil Hellwig (* 1854 in Halle (Saale) ; † 1929 ibid) was a German businessman who did research as an ethnographer during his stay in German New Guinea (DNG) and built up an important collection on it.

Life path

After completing his apprenticeship as a merchant, Franz Emil Hellwig worked in various professions, from peddler to watchmaker to professional boar hunter. Most of the time he worked as a hotel manager, for example before his first departure in February 1895 to DNG in the "Elephant" in Ljubljana .

In 1896, just one year after his arrival, he was appointed court assessor for Herbertshöhe . At that time he was employed by the German Trade and Plantation Society ( DHPG ) in Mioko . During his stay, which lasted until April 1898, Hellwig built up a collection of ethnographics consisting of around 1,700 pieces, but now lost, which he sold to the city of Halle on his return that same year. He was also an avid stamp collector.

On September 1, 1899, Hellwig started his trip to New Guinea again, where he took over the management of the only hotel, the "Fürst Bismarck" in Herbertshöhe for a short time from the opening on August 4, 1900, which Queen Emma owned with the however, he soon fell out.

From November 1902 to January 1903 Hellwig was on board the Gazelle as a collector of ethnographic objects on behalf of the Hernsheim company . I.a. Together with the government doctor Otto Dempwolff , he visited various islands. He stayed alone on the island of Luf (1 ° 31 '60 "S, 145 ° 4' 6" E) near the Admiralty Islands to study the customs and language of the local people. In 1904 he went back to Germany. The items collected on this expedition were sold by Max Thiel , director of Hernsheim to Georg Thilenius , director of the Völkerkundemuseum Hamburg for 20,000M.

In 1907 Hellwig was able to use the proceeds of his private collecting activities to acquire a grocery store in Halle. From 1908 to 1910 he took part in the Hamburg South Sea Expedition , which was led by Friedrich Fülleborn in the first year , as a collector and photographer. After the expedition ended, Hellwig was employed at the Völkerkundemuseum in Hamburg.

Note: Franz Emil Hellwig should not be confused with Dr. med. Franz Karl Hellwig * 1861 in Danzig, who worked as a doctor in German New Guinea a few years earlier and died there in 1889.

Works, literature and sources

  • Franz E. Hellwig: Diary of the expedition in: Hamburg Scientific Foundation: Results of the South Sea Expedition 1908-1910. 1. Hamburg 1927
  • Karl Baumann: Franz Hellwig in German New Guinea: his life story based on traditional postal and literary documents. Fassberg 1994
  • Hellwig, Franz Emil . In: Biographisches Handbuch Deutsch-Neuguinea . 2nd Edition. Fassberg 2002.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Deutsches Kolonialblatt , 1896, p. 152
  2. ↑ Pictures in: Hermann J. Hiery: Pictures from the German South Pacific .
personal data
SURNAME Hellwig, Franz Emil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Master Cus Cus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Merchant and collector of ethnographics in German New Guinea
DATE OF BIRTH 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH Halle (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH 1929
Place of death Halle (Saale)