Hans Löhr (pedagogue)

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Hans Löhr (born November 16, 1896 in Harxbüttel , † January 1961 in East Berlin ) was a communard , teacher, early victim of Nazi persecution, expedition leader and emigrant. He had lived in Peru since 1932 , returned to Braunschweig in 1951 and moved with his family to the GDR in 1960.

Origin and school education

In January 1896, the Brunswick wood merchant Carl Wilhelm Löhr (1839–1918) married the painter Lucy Trümpler (born January 16, 1862) from England. Their son Hans was born in the same year, his full name being Hans Heinrich Andreas.

The Löhr family lived in the summer residence built in 1896/97, on whose arable land later vegetables, including asparagus, were grown that could be processed in their own small canning factory.

Hans Löhr attended the one-class introductory school in Harxbüttel for half a year and then switched to a boys' middle school in Braunschweig. From sixth onwards he attended the ducal high school Martino-Katharineum there . In June 1915 he passed his school leaving examination early in order to take part in the First World War as a volunteer.

Harxbüttel rural commune

Hans Löhr saw the end of the First World War in Belgium. He summarizes the following time in his résumé as follows:

“After several weeks of recovery, I began studying mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Braunschweig , which I had to give up after four semesters for economic reasons (decline in parental assets due to inflation ) in order to take over the agriculture I had acquired and a small factory for canned goods take over. At that time, I also worked a lot theoretically in the field of intensive agricultural and horticultural culture and efficient establishment and management. It should be noted by the way that, in the interest of professional training, I took on the task of converting a larger farm in the Holstein Geest . As a result of the well-known wave of catastrophic economic downturn after the deflation and the subsequent business measures by a partner who turned out to be unreliable, I was forced to rush to liquidate my company, and I lost my fortune. "

What is missing in this curriculum vitae, and to which Günter Wiemann could only contribute little, is the short history of the rural commune of Harxbüttel , of which Hans Löhr and Hans Koch are considered to be the leading figures . When and under what circumstances these two men met is as unknown as the exact time in which the commune existed. In an interview, Hans Koch only referred to an asparagus plantation with a house "that one of our friends inherited". He did not comment on the beginnings of this friendship. According to Wiemann, Löhr and Koch belonged to the left wing of the Free German youth .

It was thanks to Günter Wiemann's acquaintance with Greta Wehner , whose parents were the gardener Charlotte Clausen and the ship carpenter and boat builder Carl Burmester , that information about the Harxbüttel commune became known at all . In a letter dated June 11, 2006, Greta Wehner recalls:

“My mother worked in the gardens of the banker Max Warburg in Hamburg. My parents met in an SAJ group in Blankenese that met at the Jewish social democrat Berendsohn . They loved each other and absolutely wanted to have children, but for the time being they did not want to get married in order to put the Youth Welfare Act that came into force in 1924 to the test.
That was also the reason why we ended up in Harxbüttel, because an unmarried, expectant mother was a bad role model for the daughters of the Warburgs.
There were apparently political connections to the 'Harxbüttel rural community', where young people were to be prepared for emigration to Brazil through agricultural work. Harxbüttel was the third place when I was on the road.
There was plenty of work there for a skilled gardener, and vegetables were grown, especially asparagus, which was processed in the own canning factory. For a skilled man like my father, there was also a lot to do - but there was no money! My parents were starving and I with them. "

Whether at that time there were actually plans to emigrate to Harxbüttel must remain open, as does the question of whether Hans Koch was the “unreliable partner” that Hans Löhr mentioned in his résumé (see above). What is certain is that Koch in Harxbüttel continued to work on motorizing agriculture. He “received his first patent in 1925 for a light motor hoe with a backpack motor and flexible shaft to which hedge trimmers and other devices could be connected”. The failure of the rural commune could not stop that either.

“The Harxbüttel settlement was an economic failure - he [Koch] came to the conclusion that the economic structure of agriculture could not be combined with the community idea. Agriculture is developing into an industrial enterprise, but this has nothing to do with the fertile community forces that the settlers had hoped for from their 'service on the ground' - the romantic idea of ​​being rooted in the countryside would have to fail due to its false economic conditions. "

Education and political engagement

From communard to teacher

After the failure of the rural commune of Harxbüttel , Hans Löhr stated that he was unemployed. He began a kind of self-study and, in return to his time in the Free German youth , dealt with questions of depth psychology . In addition, he maintained contacts with teachers, built looms and knotted carpets. This led him "to the modern pedagogy in close contact" and helped him to the job for those of Wilhelm Lamszus led school Tieloh to build looms. Since the local works teacher was ill, he was able to take over his substitute for a quarter of a year.

Löhr met Adolf Jensen through Wilhelm Lamszus , which gave him the opportunity to attend the Rütli School in Berlin-Neukölln .

“My 'educational trips' also to other foreign schools (for example to Bremen), to educational congresses and trips with school classes [..] expanded and deepened my educational outlook and familiarity with modern educational and school policy in addition to academic excursions Problems. I owe many opportunities in these areas to the factual and economic support of my friends from Braunschweig and foreign educators, who have repeatedly made great personal sacrifices for me. "

In 1927, teacher training in Braunschweig was fully academicized when it was transferred to the Department of Cultural Studies at the Technical University . Löhr, who wanted to start studying there in the summer semester of 1927, was initially denied admission, allegedly because of his too old age. The newly appointed Minister of Education, Hans Sievers, allowed him to start studying in the winter semester of 1927/28. Hans Löhr's most important academic teacher was August Riekel , whom he occasionally represented at events. His final examination (first state examination) took place in July 1929 with the grade "good".

The Socialist Student Group Braunschweig

Hans Löhr founded the socialist student group at the TH Braunschweig , which saw itself as the local group of the socialist student body in Germany and Austria . Some of its members belonged to the Association of German Teacher Emigrants when they emigrated . How big the group was is not known, but Günter Wiemann names some of its members:

  • Gustav Berking (* 1908) studied educational science at the TH Braunschweig until 1932. After his first teaching degree in 1931, he was unable to find a job in the state of Braunschweig for political reasons.
  • Hermann and Grete Ebeling
  • Else Gehrmann studied educational science at the TH Braunschweig and after emigrating to the Netherlands, where she also worked as a teacher. In Braunschweig she was a member of the General Free Teachers Union of Germany (AFLD)
  • Heinrich Grönewald
  • Alice Kindemann (* 1909 - † 1984 in Hanover) took part in the Montaña expedition (see below: Other participants: Alice Kindemann ).
  • Elementary school teacher Anna-Luise Haaris (born June 16, 1900 in Wolfenbüttel - † 1978) and student teacher Otto Meyer (* 1908 - † 1943) met and fell in love with each other at the Technical University of Braunschweig in 1929.
    “The two are enthusiastic about socialist educational ideals. When Anna-Luise Haaris was fired in 1931 and Otto Meyer did not get a job, they moved to Hanover and worked there for the " Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition" (RGO), a KPD organization. In 1933 they worked illegally until the Gestapo arrested the first members of the group. Anna-Luise and Otto managed to flee and reached Belgium via Switzerland and the Saarland. After the German troops marched in in the summer of 1940, an odyssey through southern France began for them. Eventually they are arrested and sentenced to several years in prison by the     Hamm Higher Regional Court. On May 12, 1943, three months after his release from prison, Otto Meyer died in Sachsenhausen concentration camp . Anna-Luise Haaris also expects a ordeal through the concentration camps at the prison
    gate . ” Haaris survived the Ravensbrück concentration camp , where she was housed in a barrack with other communist prisoners, including Charlotte Müller and Helene Overlach , and the Salzwedel subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp . Here it was liberated by American troops on April 14, 1945.
    In July 1938 daughter Marie was born while emigrating. When Anna-Luise Haaris and Otto Meyer were later imprisoned in Germany, they were forbidden to marry by the Hamm Higher Regional Court in 1941. “In November 1945 Anna-Luise Haaris subsequently married Otto Meyer in front of the Wolfenbüttel registry office. She tried to work as a teacher again, but eventually had to give up; again and again she collapsed. "
  • Gustav Schmidt (born September 19, 1908 in Holzwickede ) - † July 4, 1933 murdered by the SS .
    Gustav Schmidt was a senior student at the Technical University of Braunschweig and co-founder of the socialist student group .
  • Rose Thies (* 1898) took part in the Montaña expedition like her friend Alice Kindemann (see below: Rose Thies ).
  • Bernhard Winschewski (born June 24, 1908 in Schöningen ) studied educational science at the Technical University of Braunschweig and was a member of the board of the socialist student group. He was also a member of the Association of Resolute School Reformers and was dismissed from the Braunschweig school service in 1932. In 1933 he was arrested several times and had to go to prison for 10 months. He was then initially unemployed and then found a job in a construction company. In 1940 Winschewski was assigned to the front to restore his military status . He was captured in France. In 1949 he became head of the Lower Saxony educational center in Braunschweig, later government director in Lüneburg. He was a member of the Schwelmer circle .

In the fight for school reforms

Hans Löhr was a student representative of the Free Teachers Union . For this he wrote together with Heinrich Rodenstein and Leo Regener , whom he had known since 1919, the memorandum on the further development of teacher training , as a result of which Adolf Jensen was appointed professor at the TH Braunschweig. He was active as a journalist in the Prussian teachers 'newspaper , the regional edition of the general German teachers' newspaper , and in the Braunschweiger Volksfreund . In the struggle for secular collective schools, schools without religious instruction and with a reform pedagogical profile , Löhr also appeared as a speaker together with Rodenstein and Regener.

In 1929, on the initiative of Hans Löhr, Siegfried Bernfeld was invited to give a lecture at the TH Braunschweig. The lecture was intended to be a kind of trial lecture to prepare for Bernfeld's appointment, which was no longer possible due to the changing political situation.

“Siegfried Bernfeld's lecture ended with a scandal. Hans Löhr had spoken out and said that one could see in the 'Kielhornschule' (auxiliary school) in Braunschweig how sadists let off steam here. The scandal was perfect because Hans Löhr was unable to provide any evidence to support his claim. The auxiliary school teachers reported the offense. At the end of 1930 he had to make a declaration of honor for the teachers in order to avert pending criminal proceedings.
Hans Löhr had to pay for his statement, at Easter 1930, after his exams, he was employed as an assistant teacher in the most remote place in the Free State of Braunschweig, in the Rottmünde forest workers' settlement in Solling . "

After the Brunswick state elections on September 14, 1930, the bourgeois parties formed a coalition with the National Socialists, which quickly led to the reform-oriented educational policy being withdrawn and the first dismissals. Hans Löhr felt threatened because of his political activities and left Braunschweig. Wilhelm Lamszus helped him to a teaching position at the Hamburg Meerweinschule . "Here he meets Greta Wehner again, this time as his student."

The Montaña expedition

On April 6, 1932, a group of people embarked from Hamburg for Peru, where they founded the San Ignacio settlement in August 1932 .

“The important questions about the motives for founding the expedition, the recruitment and the names of the 15 members, the organization of the group and the financing could not be adequately clarified. Concrete facts about the failure of the expedition, such as the members' return trip to Germany, could also not be determined. "

Nevertheless, for Wiemann there is no doubt that Hans Löhr was “the initiator, idea generator, tireless driver and probably also supplier of an important contribution to the financing of the Montaña expedition”. The background for his decision to embark on this expedition may have been his fear of further National Socialist persecution, but perhaps also a bit of a thirst for adventure. In a résumé from 1960 he put it this way:

“When the fight of the determined anti-fascist colleagues against two fronts became more and more hopeless, one day at Erich Mühsam's house , who was living in Neukölln-Britz at the time , I received a manuscript about Peru from his wife, the 'Zenzl', that was in me aroused a burning interest in this distant land and its great possibilities. I immediately set about organizing an expedition with a number of friends, as this was the only way to get an entry into Peru. "

Wiemann assumes that Löhr was still following the ideas that led him to found the rural commune Harxbüttel , and that he hoped to "implement a settlement model on the Amazon - far from capitalism - in which it can be managed and lived together". A passage from Löhr's résumé from 1960 also aims in this direction: “We hoped that we would find areas of land conducive to intensive settlement for Europeans and that a large number of the many unemployed would be able to catch up in order to gain an internal market and thus a political power factor This was not intended as a colonial land grab, but as support for the movement of the Peruvian people against the “measures of the then semi-fascist Peruvian government”. And elsewhere he writes:

“Maybe for some of us, after the struggles and struggles of the first time, the distance from civilization will be the big problem. It may be that in their dreams some people long for a job center and Quaker meals, for a cold, wintry apartment, for a cinema and a café. Life is difficult everywhere, but hunger is probably the hardest thing and, after it, the constant uncertainties of European overcomplicated existence. We firmly believe that at some point in the country that we set out to explore, communities will grow that offer what Europe no longer wants to give its people: soil for productive and intellectual work. "

Ultimately, Wiemann speaks of a “mixed bag” of motifs that, at least for Hans Löhr, were decisive for the expedition company.

“Escape from a fatherland that refused to work for millions of people, hope for a self-determined life that promised work and bread, cooperatives that knew how to organize this, finally an anti-capitalist reflex and a good deal of German natural romanticism - that was it what should justify the settlement in the jungle. "

Brief portraits of some of the expedition participants

Wiemann reports about 50 people who have agreed to take part in the Montaña expedition. 15 people were selected from this group, according to Wiemann it is unclear according to which criteria. Ursula Trede (see below) is at least certain that Hans Löhr "put the whole group together, I know that, I lived in his apartment!"

The group ultimately selected “consisted of twelve men and three women with the following professions: a scientist, two writers, two actors, a professional photographer, three teachers, a nurse and six craftsmen (locksmiths, carpenters). Six participants came from Braunschweig. ”Two of this group, an actor named Hildebrandt from Munich and his companion, had already turned back in Manaus and traveled back to Germany.

The Montaña expedition, which described itself on its own letterhead as an “independent company for exploring the Amazon headwaters” and had issued its own expedition passes for its members, listed three people with prominent positions on this letterhead:
- Hilmar Trede, Marienau School , Scientific Director;
- Hans Löhr, Hamburg, technical manager;
- Georg Seidler, Berlin-Halensee, commercial manager.

Hilmar Trede

Hilmar Trede (born December 28, 1902 in Neumünster - † 1947) was the son of a doctor, studied musicology and did his doctorate on Claudio Monteverdi . In 1926 he met Gertrud Daus (born August 19, 1901 in Hamburg - † October 14, 1996 in Heidelberg) in Leipzig, “the youngest of three children of an emancipated Jewish family of Protestant denomination; her mother Anna Daus, b. Marcus, had already been baptized as an infant, her father Dr. James Daus, a socially committed doctor and member of the Hamburg Parliament from 1909 to 1920 ”.

Hilmar Trede and Gertrud Daus initially lived in Leipzig, but moved to Hamburg in 1928, where Hilmar Trede became director of the Hamburg Volksmusikschule and lecturer at the Ugrino Verlag, which specializes in early music and was co-founded by Hans Henny Jahnn . Also in 1928 their son Michael was born, who later attended the Bunce Court School directed by Anna Essinger .

In October 1930 Hilmar Trede switched to the Marienau School , directed by Max Bondy , as a music educator, where Gertrud Trede also took part in the musical education of the children. Hilmar Trede met the nurse and works student Ursula Franz here. He divorced Gertud and married Ursula Franz in November 1932, who also took part in the Montaña expedition. The son Yngve Jan Trede , born in 1933 , the godchild of Hans Henny Jahnn, and three other children came from this marriage .

It is not known why Hilmar and Ursula Trede joined the Montaña expedition. It is possible that the initiative for this came from Ursula Trede, who remembered Hans Löhr in a conversation in 1990: "I had a good friend who was a teacher and who even made me take my Abitur."

Hilmar Trede “is described in all scriptures as a gentle, kind and wise man who, despite his introverted nature, was able to make many friends. Often he is suffering and sickly. ”The question of why“ a man with this humanistic way of life and poor health embarked on the uncertain adventure of an expedition into the Amazonian jungle ”remains unanswered. However, Hans Reiser (see below) takes an ironic look at another side of Trede, which he calls “Dr. Chevwely Taggert "occurs:

“What no one knows, wants to know, yes no one can know themselves, the scholar and the reference work know. Dr. Chevwely Taggert was a musicologist and his luggage contained (in addition to 200 razor blades) an extensive stack of musicological works, a box packed in a striking shape, a valuable instrument reconstructed according to early medieval models, a quarter of a hundred gramophone records, played with exotic music from different parts of the world, and also blank records for recording 'primitive' Indian music. "

According to Wiemann, it was indeed one of Hilmar Trede's academic interests to study Indian music.

In his research, Wiemann was able to rely on several letters from Ursula Trede as well as on her thirty-page travel diary. However, this information can only be based on Trede's own experience for part of the expedition: "Ursula Trede fell so seriously ill in Iquitos that it was urgently advisable to return home with her husband Hilmar Trede." When that happened can be determined to narrow it down only roughly: In a letter dated August 15, 1932, Ursula Trede reports on an arduous boat trip from Iquitos to San Ignacio, in which she did not take part. On October 18, 1932, however, the Tredes were already back in Germany, as a letter from Löhr to them shows.

Hilmar Trede died of tuberculosis in 1947 and was buried in the cemetery in Hinterzarten . He left behind an extensive musicological work.

Georg Seidler

Georg Seidler (born September 30, 1900 in Braunschweig - † 1943 as a soldier in the Crimea ) was the son of a higher regional judge and passed the final exams at the Wilhelm Gymnasium . In 1918 he was drafted into the army and then studied theology, philosophy, economics and law in Leipzig. "As a former first commissioner of a corps [he] went to the communists."

On December 27, 1924, Georg Seidler married Luise-Emma Bernstein (* December 21, 1900 in Braunschweig - † around 1975 in London). The couple moved to Weimar in early 1925 , where their daughter Barbara (born November 10, 1925 - † 2000 in England) was born.

In the catalog of the German National Library (DNB) there are some publications, including a volume of poetry, that could possibly be assigned to Georg Seidler. Some of these publications were probably the reason why he received “a scholarship at the University of Göttingen because of his literary work” in 1928. It is not known how intensive his studies were in the following years. Wiemann speaks of “years of wandering”, and his participation in the Montaña expedition can certainly be attributed to them. It is unclear what qualified him as commercial director of the expedition; his real interest was rather in "describing observations from nature".

Seidler initially took part in the expedition without his family. During his stay in Iquitos, Ursula Trede describes him as “head chef”, who “uses a lot of imagination to put together a fabulous meal from the most unlikely things in order to feed the eleven hungry mouths”.

After the Nazis came to power, their daughter Barbara attended the Quaker School in Eerde and then followed her father to Peru with her mother in 1934. Her stay there could not have lasted long, because Georg Seidler was back in Germany in 1937 and received his doctorate in 1937 with a dissertation on Georg Christoph Lichtenberg . The marriage also fell apart, and Luise-Emma emigrated to England in 1938 without her daughter - whether alone, or as Luise-Emma Gottwald, her name after her remarriage, is not clear.

Georg Seidler worked as a Lichtenberg researcher before he was recruited, married Marie-Luise Bienert for the second time and was able to look after his threatened daughter before his death in 1943. “She escaped forced labor and deportation in the deaconess institution Neudettelsau near Nuremberg, where her father hid her. After the war she followed her mother to England, she became a doctor and worked in a London hospital. ”She lived in South Africa for a long time and ran a clinic for the black population in KwaZulu-Natal . When she opposed the government's plans to relocate tens of thousands of Zulu to a homeland , she was expelled from the country and lived and worked in England again.

Hans Reiser

The writer Hans Reiser , who has already traveled to Peru and also published about it, probably provided an important basis for the expedition in which he also took part with an opinion on settlement possibilities in the headwaters of the Amazon - but only as far as Iquitos. Ursula Trede wrote about the background to his early departure:

“We have been in Iquitos for three weeks now, and today we had to part with our travel companion Hans Reiser. Despite many difficulties of a factual and human nature, we are doing well - we have always foreseen all kinds of difficulties, even if it is painful that they begin precisely at this point where they are least expected. There are long and inconsequential stories that belong to it, in the end it was the enormous difference in temperaments that led to alienation. Above all, Hans Reiser's wife, a very simple, simple human child, was affected by the 'poet megalomania' and that was bad because Hans Reiser is an easily influenced, almost childlike person. We are sincerely sorry for him, despite the fact that the matter finally degenerated into the most petty bullying. "

According to Wiemann, who printed excerpts from Reiser's book One went into the wilderness , which was published in 1936, the latter “took revenge” in his own way and ironically ironized the company's real or supposed dilettantism in his book, he encoded the names of some of the participants and does not treat them fairly ”.

Rose Thies

Rose Thies (born October 14, 1898 in Braunschweig - † 1971 in Braunschweig) attended the Realgymnasium in Braunschweig and graduated from high school in Göttingen in 1918. She studied German, history and geography in Göttingen and Freiburg and finished her studies in 1923 with the first state examination for teaching. She spent her legal clerkship with a two-year break in Braunschweig and Holzminden before taking the second state examination in 1927. She belonged to the socialist student group.

After her legal clerkship, Rose Thies worked in a Swiss children's home and then joined the Montaña expedition in 1932. The connection to this may have come about through her membership in the Free Teachers Union .

After the expedition failed, Thies stayed - like Hans Löhr - in Peru. She married a Peruvian and taught native children. After her husband's death, she returned to Braunschweig in 1938, but was not allowed to return to school for political reasons. Instead, she worked in a coffee roastery.

From 1945 to 1962, Thies taught again in Braunschweig and was most recently deputy principal at a girls' middle school. Together with the International Haus Sonnenberg , she organized student exchanges with English schools.

Other participants

  • Alice Kindemann (* 1909 - † 1984 in Hanover)
    She was the friend of Rose Thies, a teacher and member of the Free Teachers' Union in Braunschweig. It is not known why she took part in the expedition. In Wiemann's terminology, “Miss Alice” is one of those expedition participants with whom Hans Reiser treated “not very fairly” in his description.
    After the expedition failed, she returned to Braunschweig in 1934. All that is known about her is that she then married and had three daughters.
  • Otto Helm (born July 22, 1905 in Braunschweig)
    is known only that he was a carpenter and left the Evangelical Church in 1926. In connection with the failure of the expedition, however, he possibly played an important role: “In a letter from Hans Löhr to Hilmar Trede of October 18, 1932 in connection with the breakup of the group, Otto Helm is mentioned. The statutes were based on the idea that 'community work' comes before 'private work'. A conflict developed at this position that divided the group, and the members were now hostile to one another. Otto Helm took part in the rebellion and, in the best Braunschweig dialect, managed a number of unsavory things with Hans Löhr. "
  • Günther Schaper
    Wiemann only has to report that he intended to "take professional photos and films" during the expedition.

About the course and failure of the expedition

The journey initially ran from Europe to Manaus. There the entire equipment was loaded onto a smaller river boat, with which the journey continued to Iquitos, about 2,000 kilometers away. As mentioned above, two people left the expedition in Manaus, and four other people (Hilmar and Ursula Trede, Hans Reiser and his wife) left the group in Iquitos for different reasons. The onward journey to San Ignacio was to take place on a boat still to be built by the group, which succeeded despite great difficulties. The entire equipment weighed around 50 quintals and included everything that was needed to set up a jungle settlement with a sawmill and wood and metal workshops. There were also boat motors, darkroom equipment, typewriters and pharmacy equipment. This can be read in even more detail with Reiser:

“The gas engine alone, which was designed to start a motorboat that was yet to be built, weighed seven hundredweight. There was also a Ford engine, a dynamo, three sewing machines, four gramophones, five typewriters, a locksmith's workshop, a mechanic's workshop, a carpenter's workshop with a circular saw and tools, spare parts, light bulbs, tents, sails, hammocks, life jackets, rifles, revolvers, ammunition, canteens, Binoculars, drive belts, wire ropes, chains, pulleys, lanterns, glass beads, medicines, scientific instruments, medical utensils, photographic and film material. "

What was the aim of all these things - after the boat building in Iquitos - in San Ignacio can best be seen from a letter from Ursula Trede.

“The Haziendero Antonio Vela has offered us an area on his large estate, about four acres have been cleared here, there are cattle and chickens, that's enough to start. Mr Vela is hoping for the enterprising Europeans, he first delivers the draft oxen, the mules and provides the food. He hopes that we can get his power plant (small dam with turbine), which has been idle for years, going again. Just in case, that would be a calm and carefree beginning for the whole group, which makes it possible to get to know the land and the conditions on the Amazon from personal experience, which otherwise only settlers have who have their government behind them as security. "

Ursula Trede, who should not get beyond Iquitos, had a keen sense that it was not the material conditions that could lead to problems, but the situation of the group. For her, “the whole thing is an experiment, mainly of a human nature, but this new task could help over the first few months until space is made for 'fresh blood' from home - the most urgent requirement to loosen up the human atmosphere. The current composition of the group is simply too small. ”This experiment was doomed to failure at least since Iquitos. Disagreement, arguments and noise shaped the coexistence, which was obviously due to the fact that there was no basic understanding of the common future. This was based on little things, such as the women's argument about who should do the washing up, but had deeper causes, which Ursula Trede described in turn.

“In the course of our trip it did not turn out to be so clear whether a group like us is really suitable for settling in the most remote jungle and here - compulsorily - having to lead a life together. If the craftsmen feel the urge to do handicrafts and undertake their own activities, then, for God's sake, one shouldn't graft any ideologies on them that are very far from them. We and Georg Seidler have always foreseen this possibility and have in no way determined our future way of life in the settlement. The form must remain completely open and must not be decided in advance. You must not misunderstand that there are no divisions in our group. People have so much fun with the great 'opportunities' in this country. Hans (Löhr), however, closes his eyes to that and sticks to his favorite idea (community life and economy) and does not want to give it up. "

The split in the group, which Trede denied here, came faster than expected. Hans Löhr reported on this in a letter dated October 18, 1932 to Tredes, who were already in Germany, and went into the situation in San Ignacio. He reported quarrels, mutual accusations, threats, intrigues and refusal to work.

“Apparently there was also a dispute over the question of 'private work versus work for the community', for example when creating a garden. Some members apparently refused to do any further collaborative work; there was a lot of useless arguments.
One of the members gathered the “opposition” and asked the “Direktion Seidler / Löhr” to submit a general account of the financing of the expedition, which they did. Some of the members threatened to leave - the group morale began to deteriorate - the optimism of the founding weeks was gone. "

This letter from Hans Löhr was the last information about the Montaña expedition. When and under what circumstances the group finally disbanded and the members of the expedition returned to Germany, Wiemann could not find out either. Just as Ursula Trede had already problematized the behavior of Hans Löhr above, Wiemann also closes with a critical look at his role.

“He alone, in his dual role as 'intellectual and craftsman', could have acted as a mediator between the two, meanwhile hostile groups! Apparently, however, he did not have the authority of a 'fisherman of men', who could have balanced the different interests here and accepted human inadequacies with generosity.
His pursued goal of founding a kind of 'socialist commune' in the Peruvian wilderness had to fail, there was no sustainable ethical basis among the members - Hans Löhr had overwhelmed himself with his idea.
He had to pay a high price for having to spend 19 years - all alone - in the jungle. "

Hans Löhr confessed, however, four years later, in a letter dated September 15, 1936 to his old friend Leo Regener: “Community life is not a romantic illusion, as Wilhelm (Lamszus) once said about me, but is a prerequisite for my life. like for others (maybe) sexuality or caviar or good liqueur. "

Jungle years

There is little information about what Hans Löhr did after the early failure of the Montaña expedition. Sources for this are only two letters to Leo Regener and two newspaper articles from 1953 after his return to Germany

In the newspaper articles, the presentation of the failure of the expedition is astonishing. In both cases, the search for settlement land for German emigrants is named as the expedition's goal. But this goal was not achieved because there was a change of government in Peru. The new government was no longer interested in the plans, and promised support was no longer granted. Neither article can read anything about the quarrels within the group; it looks as if Hans Löhr created his own picture of his failure with the expedition every eleven years.

The fact is, however, that Hans Löhr stayed on the Rio Ucayali for the next few years, in or near the Peruvian city of Requena. ( Situation ) He makes a living as a mechanic, repairs farm implements and shotguns. In 1936, in a letter to Leo Regener, he describes his everyday life on the verge of neglect very drastically.

“Towards morning I sleep, and since I only have assignments for half a day anyway, I sleep eight hours, the end of which of course extends well into the day. After a strong Ucayali coffee with real milk, the routine begins. There is a shotgun to be repaired (of course things are in a hurry because the Cholos don't think more than a day ahead and always come at the very last minute). Since I only spend hours with very reliable people and only for a short period of time, I will soon have my money in hand, which is sufficient for my body's food and necessities. If there is still time after the repair of the tools and other activities that are not immediately profitable, then I go to the schnapps and liqueur question. This is a very interesting chapter, but only brings in enough that I myself have a battery of bottles with eggnog, Curacao, Benedictine, Half on Half Aromatique, Pineapple Liqueur, Mandarinata, Cordial Medoc etc. pp. have for free. But since humans do not live on schnapps alone, after the appropriate preparation there are still some demijohns with pineapple wine for fermentation, some of which are distilled in my small retort, produce a kind of cognac, which again serves as a base for liqueurs. Lunch is actually a more annoying interruption, which is largely consoled by the good coffee and the heavy, black cigar, which of course I make myself. And finally it's evening again. And if after all that there is a little bit of money left over, it goes on the nighttime lighting and the airmail. "

Despite this life on the edge of the abyss, Hans Löhr was still in contact with the outside world, as his reference to the cost of airmail shows. He reports to Regener about contacts with the former Braunschweig comrade Heinrich Grönewald , who had offered him the position of headmaster at the Pestalozzi School in Buenos Aires , he corresponded with Fritz Karsen in Colombia and received mail from Otto Rühle from Mexico. As part of a compensation procedure, Heinrich Rodenstein certified him in 1952 that he had been a member of the Association of German Migrant Teachers and wrote: “Although he lived quite isolated in those years in South America, he regularly kept in touch with our association and took part in his work with all his strength . “For many years he has also written articles for the magazine Das Andere Deutschland in Buenos Aires .

Hans Löhr reacted skeptically to the offers from outside, had "no desire to come into conflicting circumstances that I am so sick of that I can not console myself despite my years of existence in the jungle". His precarious circumstances and his commitment to the interests of the Indians, which made him a target for attacks by the local patronage , force him to change. He left Requena - presumably in 1941 - and became a gold panner in the Amazon - but only for a short time. By chance he met Max Kuczynski , who helped him get a job at the San Pablo leprosy station . ( Location ) From January 1, 1942 to January 30, 1949 he worked here as head of the workshops and, according to a certificate issued by the chief doctor, was responsible for a wide range of work: "Metal turning, construction of wooden ships, industrial and sanitary facilities (including design of constructions), repair of engines, management of tractors and barrack architecture ”.

The professional change is also followed by private ones. In August 1943 he married the young Peruvian Marina Manzur (born September 9, 1926). The two daughters Sonia Luci (born March 14, 1945) and Nora Marina (born December 22, 1946) result from the marriage. The end of the Second World War gave him another opportunity to make contacts in Germany, especially with his sister Anna, who lived in Braunschweig. Grete Ebeling, who now lives in New York, acted as contact person for a time (see above). Angelica Balabanova , also from New York, provided him with books. Hans Löhr offers his sister support, even offers her to come to see him in Peru, and then asks for addresses of old Brunswick friends. But in another letter to Anna Löhr on September 30, 1946, he suddenly had completely different plans.

“I'm very tired of living in this area. It's not just the boredom of forever the same environment, but I also feel that after 14 years of tropical jungle the climate is no longer as good as it used to be. In the years in which I drove around on the rivers in the motorboat, I did not feel that so much, and later the hopeful development work in the new leprosy campaign formed a good mental foundation. But now things have slackened over the years, the government is making insufficient sums of money available and bureaucratic weeds are growing over the formerly blooming garden. War and Nazis are over; I would like to work in Europe again. I can imagine that you advise against me. The economic conditions are certainly miserable and the food scarce, but a new structure must be extremely interesting, especially for me, who stayed away from the whole mess. I will be 50 years old in November, so theoretically I still have a number of years of vigorous cooperation. This country offers me nothing more. "

This dream of returning to Germany will keep Hans Löhr busy for four more years before it finally becomes a reality.

New beginning in West Germany

On May 27, 1946, Hans Löhr had already applied to the Braunschweig Ministry of Education for re-employment in school. Obviously because of the old story in connection with Siegried Bernfeld's lecture (see above), Löhr's application is initially difficult in Braunschweig, and the responsible department head Karl Turn, with Leo Regener per you, first turns to the East -Berlin living Regener to sound out a job in Berlin. On July 12, 1947 the Magistrate of Greater Berlin - Hauptschulamt declares itself ready to hire Löhr. But there are many bureaucratic hurdles to be overcome, and there is no discernible progress for Löhr. On January 28, 1950 he wrote to Leo Regener: "Rather, since I am known as a sore thumb, I have gradually become the mockery of my contemporaries with my travel plans within a radius of 1000 kilometers." And on the same day he wrote to the head of the Hauptschulamt in Berlin: "The only result I can record is that I now have the well-founded reason to get the passport for my wife and children, so to speak, I got to the bars of my prison."

Why the Löhr family arrives in Braunschweig on September 15, 1951 - and not in Berlin - and can move into an apartment there provided by their old friends is unclear. And the bureaucratic hurdles are by no means all removed. At the age of 55, he first had to take the second state examination to get a teaching position. "He was initially employed as a works teacher (on a salaried basis) and had to take part in a 'young teachers' working group', which was a prerequisite for taking the second teacher examination." On April 1, 1952, he finally started teaching.

What was doomed to fail, however, was his demand for compensation for being persecuted by the Nazi regime. The competent special aid committee for the Braunschweig administrative district rejected his application on June 4, 1953. The reasoning states:

“According to the applicant's own submission, it is certain that the applicant emigrated from Germany in 1932 in order to evade any possible persecution by the National Socialists. He himself did not claim that any persecution against him by the National Socialists actually took place. Such persecution could not take place against him, since he was not in Germany at all and was therefore beyond the reach of the National Socialists. "

A completely different problem arose due to Hans Löhr's many contacts with the East. Due to his stay in Peru, which lasted until the 1950s, he was possibly not aware of the suspicion with which contacts in countries beyond the Iron Curtain were viewed in times of the intensifying Cold War in West Germany . Löhr visited colleagues in the GDR whom he knew from his time in Braunschweig, was involved in Fritz Helling's Schwelmer Kreis , took part in conferences in the GDR and corresponded with colleagues there and in Czechoslovakia . It is not known whether he was exposed to direct pressure from the school authorities as a result, but he felt that the political climate around him in the Adenauer era was becoming increasingly unbearable for him.

“I have the impression that I've been sitting in our Lower Saxony state long enough. It's not enough that I've already been jostled several times because of my worldview and the resulting behavior, now my photos are even being incriminated - I always have to wait until the next one happens. What else can I expect here? Because of my attitude, I had to eat the bitter lot of exile for almost 20 years. Today the people from whom I had to flee at the time are back on the trigger in every instance in order to prepare a Fourth Reich. If that no longer works outwardly even according to all human judgment, it will get worse and worse internally. "

Relocation to the GDR

What followed must have been done in close coordination with Leo Regener and in agreement with his wife, because the future of the family was also important to him: “I don't want to stay where all the last hideous remains of a world of cold are with all my might War, introverted so to speak, kept alive. When I am no longer there, at least my children should grow into a better, more liberated and pacified world. Where children are doing well, people are also doing well! ”In February 1960, the company moved to the GDR - with a moving company from East Berlin.

Günter Wiemann draws attention to an interesting detail in such relocations: “When moving to the GDR, the newcomers (from the so-called intelligentsia) were initially housed in 'Intelligenzheim Ferch ' (Brandenburg). They are checked by special 'commissions' for their political reliability and professional suitability. From here they are assigned to workplaces and apartments. "

Thanks to his knowledge of Spanish and the support of Leo Regener, Hans Löhr got a job with the General German Intelligence Service (ADN) from May 15, 1960 . The family got an apartment in Berlin-Friedrichshain and their daughter Nora got a place at the ballet school in Leningrad from September 1960 .

Hans Löhr had been struggling with health problems since 1952 at the latest and was ill for several months. Wiemann speaks of a “later, serious illness” that reported early, and this may have been the reason why Löhr only remained a short phase of his life in the GDR. He died in January 1961, and his old friend Leo Regener gave the funeral oration on January 30, 1961.

Daughter Nora Marina did not become a dancer but a teacher of Spanish and French, while her older sister Sonia Lucy became an educator. Her mother Marina “worked as a tailor in the Berlin fashion institute, she married the linguist Horst Isenberg , with whom she has the children Renia and Cecilia”.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Löhr is mostly only mentioned in connection with Hans Koch , if at all . An appreciation of his person and his political work was only made in the book by Günter Wiemann, on which this article alone can be based. Unless otherwise stated, all information provided comes from this book; Individual references are only shown for longer text citations or cited documents.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Hans Löhr: curriculum vitae from October 15, 1929 , in: Günter Wiemann, pp. 25–26
  3. ↑ A conversation with Jutta Bohnke-Kollwitz with Hans Koch , in: Günter Wiemann, p. 190
  4. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 28
  5. ^ Letter from Greta Wehner to Günter Wiemann dated June 11, 2006, in: Günter Wiemann, p. 11
  6. ↑ a b Günter Wiemann, pp. 195–196
  7. ^ Certificate of the acquisition of the teaching qualification for Braunschweigische elementary schools , in: Günter Wiemann, p. 49
  8. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 34
  9. ↑ Unless otherwise specified, all information comes from Günter Wiemann, pp. 47–48
  10. ↑ Hildegard Feidel-Mertz (Ed.): Schools in Exile. The repressed pedagogy after 1933 , Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1983, ISBN 3-499-17789-7 , p. 228
  11. ↑ Bernhild Vögel: Biography of the teacher couple Haaris / Meyer
  12. ^ Andreas Speit: Pedagogues in Resistance , taz, March 8, 2005
  13. ↑ Bernhild Vögel: Never again the feeling of security - The teacher couple Anna-Luise Haaris and Otto Meyer . The undated speech manuscript was probably created in 2005 in the context of the exhibition Teachers against Hitler. Braunschweig reform pedagogues: dismissed - persecuted - returned .
  14. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 43
  15. ^ Wilhelm Pieper: Lower Saxony school reforms in the air fleet command. From the Lower Saxony Educational Center to the IGS Franzsches Feld, Julius Klinkhardt Publishing House, Bad Heilbrunn, 2009, pp. 156–157
  16. ↑ Leo Regener's letter of recommendation for Hans Löhr dated May 12, 1960, in: Günter Wiemann, p. 162
  17. ^ Reform schools in Braunschweig
  18. ↑ Günter Wiemann, pp. 36–37
  19. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 32
  20. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 44
  21. ↑ On the political situation in Peru at this time and overall for Hans Löhr's length of stay, see: Oligarchic rule and political renewal in Peru
  22. ↑ According to Günter Wiemann, pp. 90–91, nothing can be found of this settlement on the Rio Ucayali .
  23. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 52
  24. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 59
  25. ↑ a b Hans Löhr: CV of April 23, 1960, in: Günter Wiemann, pp. 54–55
  26. ↑ Günter Wiemann, pp. 54–55
  27. ↑ Hans Reiser, series of articles on the Montaña expedition in Der Volslehrer (1932), quoted from excerpts in: Wiemann, pp. 56–58
  28. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 94
  29. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 71
  30. ↑ a b Conversation between Ursula Trede and Günter Wiemann, 1990, quoted from Wiemann, p. 59
  31. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 53
  32. ^ Hans Löhr: The last letter from Europe (April 11, 1932), in: Günter Wiemann, pp. 73-76
  33. ↑ a b c Lexicon of persecuted musicians during the Nazi era: Gertrud Trede
  34. ↑ a b Günter Wiemann, pp. 62–63
  35. ↑ a b c d Excerpt from Hans Reiser: One went into the wilderness , List, Leipzig, 1936, printed in Wiemann, pp. 105-106
  36. ↑ a b c Wiemann, p. 71
  37. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 54
  38. ↑ a b c d e f Impressions from the life of the expedition . Excerpts from letters from Ursula Trede, in: Wiemann, pp. 85–92
  39. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 93
  40. ↑ Hilmar Trede in the DNB catalog and in WorldCat
  41. ↑ a b c d Günter Wiemann, pp. 64–68
  42. ↑ A handwritten note relating to Georg Seidler in the personal file of his brother Gerhard Seidler, who was President of the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court for some time after 1945. (Wiemann, pp. 66–67)
  43. ↑ Günter Wiemann names 1977 as the year of death.
  44. ↑ a b Stolpersteine ​​in Braunschweig: Family Bernstein
  45. ^ Georg Seidler: attempt on the remarks Lichtenbergs in the catalog of the DNB.
  46. ↑ Hans Reiser: Adventurous hike through Peru , Berlin, 1932
  47. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 59
  48. ↑ a b c d e Günter Wiemann, pp. 68–70
  49. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 72
  50. ^ Günter Wiemann, p. 93. Wiemann only reports on this letter, but did not print any extracts.
  51. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 96
  52. ↑ a b c Hans Löhr: Letter of September 15, 1936 from the Peruvian city Requena to Leo Regener, in: Günter Wiemann, pp. 107-109
  53. ^ Hans Löhr: Letters from the jungle of September 15, 1936 and January 15, 1937, in: Günter Wiemann, pp. 107-112
  54. ↑ a b Hans Joachim Langner: Don Juan from the great river , Braunschweigische Landeszeitung from July 18, 1953 & Adventurer again will , Hamburger Abendblatt from 8./9. August 1953, both articles in: Günter Wiemann, pp. 141–143
  55. ^ Certificate from Heinrich Rodenstein dated March 20, 1952, in: Günter Wiemann, pp. 144–145
  56. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 113
  57. ↑ (Translated) certificate from the Ministerio de Salud y Asistencia Social dated August 20, 1951, in: Günter Wiemann, p. 130
  58. ^ Hans Löhr: Letter to Anna Löhr of June 20, 1946, in: Günter Wiemann, pp. 119-120. Where the acquaintance with Angelica Balabanova comes from, who, according to Löhr, was also known with Leo Regener, is unknown.
  59. ^ Hans Löhr: Letter to Anna Löhr of September 30, 1946, in: Günter Wiemann, pp. 124–125
  60. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 132
  61. ^ Hans Löhr: Letter to Leo Regener from January 28, 1950, in: Günter Wiemann, pp. 136-137
  62. ↑ Hans Löhr: Letter to Ernst Wildangel, head of the Hauptschulamt Berlin, from January 28, 1950, in: Günter Wiemann, p. 137
  63. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 139
  64. ^ Resolution of the Special Assistance Committee for the Braunschweig Administrative District of June 4, 1953, in: Günter Wiemann, pp. 146–148
  65. ^ A b Hans Löhr: Letter to Leo Regener of September 1, 1959, in: Günter Wiemann, pp. 159-160
  66. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 164
  67. ↑ Günter Wiesemann, p. 161
  68. ↑ Günter Wiemann, p. 169
personal data
SURNAME Löhr, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Communard, teacher, emigrant, head of the workshop of a leprosy station in the Peruvian jungle
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Harxbüttel
DATE OF DEATH January 1961
Place of death East Berlin