Hermann Hoffmann-Fölkersamb

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Hermann Hoffmann-Fölkersamb (born January 10, 1875 in Strasbourg , † September 20, 1955 in Kiel ) was a German lawyer and diplomat . He is considered to be the founder of the Wandervogel movement.

Life

Hoffmann's father was the Prussian fortification secretary Adolf Hoffmann (1835–1901). In Magdeburg , where his father was employed, Hermann Hoffmann attended high school. In 1890 he went on an 18-day hike in the Harz Mountains with his brother and a classmate . Further excursions followed. He undertook his last hike as a Primaner alone from the Fichtel Mountains through the Bohemian Forest to Venice .

In 1894 he began to study law and the oriental languages ​​in Berlin. As a student, he gave voluntary shorthand lessons to students at the Steglitz grammar school and from 1896 to 1899 went hiking with them in the Harz, Brandenburg , Rhön , Spessart and along the Rhine . More than 20 students took part in the summer trip in the Bohemian Forest in 1899, including the later migratory birds Karl Fischer , Hans Breuer , Wolfgang Meyen and Richard Weber.

In 1899 Hoffmann followed a call to the diplomatic service, which forced him to give up the leadership of the hiking group. As his successor, Karl Fischer launched the actual Wandervogel by registering it as a club on November 4, 1901 in Steglitz .

From February 1900 Hoffmann worked as a dragoman (translator and interpreter) in the German embassy in Istanbul . In 1905 he married Elfriede Schrey, daughter of the stenographer Ferdinand Schrey . The marriage resulted in four children (two sons, two daughters), one of whom, however, died at a young age. Hoffmann had his double name with the addition of the maternal family name since 1921 with official permission.

His professional advancement in his diplomatic activities abroad with changing stations (Istanbul, Beirut , Saloniki , Smyrna , Alexandrette , Aleppo , Damascus , Haifa , Lodz , Pilsen , Trebizond and Adana ) led him from the position of dragoman to the office of consul and finally the consul general .

During the First World War, Hoffmann was the German Vice Consul in Alexandrette and Aleppo and witnessed the persecution, expulsion and murder of the Armenians there. He reported on this to the German ambassador in Istanbul and the Reich government in Berlin. Franz Werfel processed these and other reports later in his novel The Forty Days of Musa Dagh and describes a moving relief effort by Hoffmann with his name.

Between 1931 and 1932 Hoffmann was a member of the People's Conservative Association . On April 1, 1936, he joined the NSDAP . After his retirement in 1941, he headed the Adana Consulate for two more years .

He spent the last years of his life in Kiel, where he died on September 20, 1955.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Maria Keipert (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 2: Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: G – K. Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2005, ISBN 3-506-71841-X
  2. ↑ http://www.armenocide.de/armenocide/ArmGenDE.nsf/$$AllDocs/1915-10-18-DE-011?OpenDocument
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Gust / Sigrid Gust (eds.), The genocide of the Armenians. Edition: Der Genozid 1915/16 ( Memento of the original from July 11, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.armenocide.net
  4. ↑ Franz Werfel, The forty days of Musa Dagh. Berlin: Zsolnay 1933, 3rd book, 5th chapter.
personal data
SURNAME Hoffmann-Fölkersamb, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hoffmann, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German initiator of the Wandervogel
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH 20th September 1955
Place of death Kiel