Henry Noël

Henry Noël as a student in Berlin

Henry Noël von Bagirmi alias Abd el Faradj (* around 1856 - † February 16, 1931 in Ancona / Italy) was a black African slave freed by the German Africa explorer Gerhard Rohlfs and a ward of the German Emperor Wilhelm I and his wife Augusta .

origin

Gerhard Rohlfs and servant Henry Noël

Gerhard Rohlfs crossed the Sahara between 1865 and 1867. During a longer stay in the oasis town of Murzuk , he treated a sick slave trader from Kordofan . As a thank you for his recovery, Rohlfs gave a young slave who was about seven or eight years old. The boy was named Abd el Faradj. The slave trader claimed on December 25, 1865 that the boy was a king's son. Rohlfs gave him the name Noël, corresponding to the French name for Christmas. Noël himself was not known either his origin or his actual name. Even linguistically, it could not be assigned to a specific region. He was in poor physical condition. Rohlfs took care of him, and so the boy recovered quickly.

Crossing Africa

Rohlfs didn't want to leave the boy alone, so he took him with him as a servant on his further journey. This showed that Noël was reliable and possessed the natural ability to adapt to difficult situations and acquire skills. He had found out through observations that quinine must be given for fever . With this knowledge he probably saved Rohlfs' life when he and his companion Hammed Tandjani were seriously ill with intermittent fever in a boat on the River Benue . In the trading post of Lokodscha Noël was christened Henry by the black African clergyman Jonston. Noël accompanied Rohlfs to Bremen and, again as a servant, on Lord Robert Napier's punitive expedition to Abyssinia, in which Rohlfs took part as a German observer. After completing this contract, Rohlfs introduced Henry Noël to the German Emperor Wilhelm I in Bad Ems . The emperor promised to take care of the education and training of Henry Noël.

School education

Since Henry Noël did not have sufficient command of the German language, he initially did not attend a public school. The Kaiser commissioned Professor Strak, who was experienced in promoting practical talents, Vice-Principal of the Royal Realschule in Kochstrasse in Berlin , with the private lessons. Strak seemed to the emperor to be the right man to gently introduce the boy to European culture. Noël lived in the Straks family. He learned European behavior and was introduced to Berlin society. The Empress Auguste was well disposed to him. He visited her regularly. His date of birth was set to September 2, 1856 by an official civil office. He now had German citizenship.

Noël switched to secondary school in Lichterfelde in 1871 . Here he read a lot, especially fairy tales. He now spoke the German language almost perfectly. His school performance got worse and worse. In the winter of 1871/1872 Noël first began to have health problems, often and for a long time he had to fight colds. In the winter of 1872/73 pneumonia developed . Noël overcame the disease through intensive medical efforts. The emperor ordered the boy to be sent to the country to rest.

Soldier in Egypt

In 1873 the Khedive Ismail Pasha invited Gerhard Rohlfs to come to Egypt and generously financed an expedition to the Libyan desert . When Rohlfs announced the expedition to the emperor, he asked him to take Henry Noël with him to Africa. At court it was feared that he would die in Berlin if he were not brought back to a warmer area. At the end of the expedition they wanted to decide whether Noël could return to Berlin or whether he should be used in the Foreign Service of the German Empire in Egypt. Rohlfs agreed. Henry Noël left Germany in the autumn of 1873, accompanied by Gerhard Rohlfs. Although the expedition was extremely well equipped, Noël stayed behind in Assiut , as Rohlfs feared that he would not be able to cope with the rigors of the journey. After the expedition was over, Rohlfs returned to Germany. Henry Noël remained in Cairo in the care of the German missionary Trautevetter. He often went to the German consulate in Cairo and hoped for a job. The emperor continued to support him financially. In a letter dated September 7, 1876, Henry Noël asked Gerhard Rohlfs to personally explain his situation to the Kaiser. Although Noël worked in the mornings at the German consulate as an assistant clerk, he received no money for this. Gerhard Rohlfs turned to the emperor, who promised further financial support. Noël's further efforts for official employment were unsuccessful. Eventually he succeeded in being accepted as an officer candidate in the volunteer battalion of the Cairo Citadel. In 1877 he passed the recruit training. The emperor continued to grant a cash grant. A financial crisis in the Egyptian government forced the army to be reduced. There was a surplus of officers. Noël stayed in the citadel anyway. Suffering from the harsh conditions, he called in sick and, through the intercession of Trautevetter, achieved a vacation of 45 days. The German doctor Rottmann diagnosed bronchial catarrh and noticed that Noël was obviously nervous. Trautevetter informed Gerhard Rohlfs of his concern about Noël's mental balance in writing. After the emperor learned of Noël's difficulties, he suggested that Gerhard Rohlfs take him on his next expedition into the interior of Africa. The German consulate in Cairo was commissioned to send Henry Noël to meet the researcher in Malta . But Noël's mental condition deteriorated. He took refuge in fantasy worlds. There were money disputes with his husband and wife. He refused to eat, claiming that his dear cousin wanted to poison him, and wandered aimlessly in Cairo. With persuasion and violence, Noël was brought on a ship to Malta by the German consul. There was a meeting with Gerhard Rohlfs, in which Noël expressed delusions. Rohlfs had to realize that it would be irresponsible to take Noël on such a dangerous expedition and left Noël in the care of the consul Ferro until the emperor had made a decision, then he left. Rohlfs reported in his work Reise von Tripoli to the Oasis Kufra about his disappointment. After another examination by Rottmann in Cairo and a report to the emperor, the latter decided that Noël should be taken to the mental hospital in Ancona in Italy. This decision was made because of the mild climate there and also because the German Reich had a consulate there. The imperial couple received regular reports on Noël through the consulate.

In the mental hospital in Ancona

On May 16, 1879, Noël was admitted to the Manicomio mental hospital in Ancona, where intelligent patients, the slightly ill and temporarily mentally disturbed lived. The emperor paid the costs. Noël was a 1st class patient there. He lived in his own pavilion. The prison management attested that his behavior was exemplary. Noël was a gifted narrator and helped entertain the inmates. Gerhard Rohlfs wrote to inquire about Henry Noël's health. His letter of April 5, 1893 ends with the remark "Quelle triste existence" - What a sad existence . After Rohlf's death, his nephew, the zoologist Konrad Guenther , visited Henry Noël. After the deaths of Wilhelm I and Friedrich III. Wilhelm II took over the costs for the accommodation. After the First World War , the German state took over the financial obligations. Henry Noël spent 52 years in the mental institution. The Italian newspapers reported several times about Noël, most recently about his death.

Henry Noël died of pneumonia on February 16, 1931. He was buried in the Cimitero di Tavernelle mountain cemetery. After the Second World War , his bones were reburied in an anonymous mass grave, over which an unmarked column was erected.

literature

• Dieter Wellenkamp: The Mohr of Berlin - Researchers Gerhard Rohlfs and Noël the slave , Turris-Verlag, Darmstadt, 1970

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gerhard Rohlfs “Across Africa”. The first crossing of the Sahara from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Guinea 1865-1867 , edited by Herbert Gussenbauer, Verlag Neues Leben Berlin, p. 126/127.
2. ^ Gerhard Rohlfs: Journey from Tripoli to the Kufra oasis - carried out on behalf of the African Society in Germany. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1881.