Georges-Marie Haardt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
December 3, 1930 in Washington, DC :
(from left to right) John Oliver La Gorce, Vice President of the National Geographic Society , Georges-Marie Haardt , organizer and director of Croisière Jaune, Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor , President of the National Geographic Society and Maynard Owen Williams, journalist and expedition participants.

Georges-Marie Haardt (* 1884 in Naples , † March 16, 1932 in Hong Kong ) was a Belgian - French businessman who worked for the French car manufacturer Citroën for 20 years , most recently as general manager . He was considered a brilliant businessman and the "right hand man of the car manufacturer André Citroën ".

Life

Origin and career

Haardt's parents were Belgian and owned a clothing store . He began his career as a sales representative and then joined Mors , a former company that manufactured locomotive parts. There he swung himself up to the executive position within a short time. At the age of 24 he was promoted to general director. At the same time he met André Citroën. In 1918 he became general manager and board member at Citroën . Between 1920 and 1931 he controlled the entire trading network of the company, as he was considered an exceptionally good businessman.

Expeditions

In 1922 Haardt took over the leadership of the first Sahara expedition. This led through the Sahara (from Touggourt in Algeria to Timbuktu in Mali ) and was carried out with Citroën half-track vehicles . In 1924 he was entrusted with the highest management of the Croisière Noire , a Trans-Saharan expedition that led through Africa from 1924 to 1925 and which made him particularly well known. In addition to these two expeditions, Haardt finally organized the Croisière Jaune (1931–1932) through Central Asia .

Haardt did not live to see the end of the "Croisière Jaune" ( Yellow Expedition ), however, because he died on March 16, 1932 in Hong Kong of pneumonia .

Trivia

The "Yellow Expedition" was filmed in 1975 in a Franco-German co-production under the title The Yellow Caravan (French: "La cloche tibétaine"). Georges-Marie Haardt was portrayed by Wolfgang Preiss .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Georges-Marie Haardt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files