Hermann Kallenbach

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gandhi, Sonja Schlesin , Hermann Kallenbach, 1913

Hermann Kallenbach (* 1. March 1871 in Žemaičių Naumiestis (German: Neustadt) in time to Russia associated Lithuania ; † 25. March 1945 in South Africa ) was a South African architect and associate of Mahatma Gandhi .

Life

Kallenbach was the third oldest of seven children of the former Hebrew teacher Kalman Leib Kallenbach and his wife Rachel. From 1894 to 1895 he completed his military service. After completing his apprenticeship as a carpenter and studying structural engineering and architecture in Strelitz , Stuttgart and Munich , he emigrated to South Africa in 1898 . He practiced as an architect in Durban and later as a senior partner in the company Kallenbach & Reynolds in Johannesburg .

In South Africa in 1904 Kallenbach met one of the later leaders of the Indian independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi , whom he greatly admired, and both became friends. Together they founded the Tolstoy farm near Johannesburg in 1910 , where, together with other people, they realized their ideal of a life without luxury and equality. Kallenbach supported Gandhi in the peaceful resistance ( Satyagraha ) against colonial rule. Since he was white, the South African government, unlike Gandhi, could not lock him up for publishing Gandhi's Indian Opinion newspaper .

Kallenbach (seated, 4 from right) and members of the Tolstoi Farm, 1910

In 1914 Kallenbach was interned during a trip in England and thereby separated from Gandhi, but remained in contact with him via letters after his release. After his return to South Africa he worked there again as an architect. Kallenbach, the son of Jewish parents, supported the Zionist movement because of the persecution of the Jews under the National Socialists , but with the aim of creating a community without a state, army and industry in today's Israel. He wanted to avoid colonialism and imperialism in Zionist settlements, following the example of Aharon David Gordons . Gandhi showed understanding for Kallenbach's ideas at a meeting in 1937, but publicly opposed the plan of Jewish colonization of Palestine by armed force, since Arabs also lived there. Both of them then tried together to get the Muslims in India to agree to a solution between Arab and Jewish claims in Palestine.

Kallenbach died of heart failure on March 25, 1945; his urn is in Kibbutz Degania in Israel . Its extensive library was sent to the University of Jerusalem in 1955 and has been kept there ever since.

literature

  • Christian Bartolf and Isa Sarid: Hermann Kallenbach, Mahatma Gandhi's friend in South Africa. Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-930093-13-8
  • Joseph Lelyveld : Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India. New York City 2011
  • Raimund Wolfert: The photo on the mantelpiece. Hermann Kallenbach - the "great love" of Mahatma Gandhi? In: Lambda Nachrichten 33 (2011), No. 4, pp. 36-39.
  • Shimon Lev: Soulmates, The Story of Mahatma Gandhi and Hermann Kallenbach. Orient BlackSwan, 2012
  • Gandhi Information Center (ed.): My life is my message: The life and work of MK Gandhi , Kassel 1988. ISBN 3-88713-033-2

Web links

Commons : Hermann Kallenbach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography Hermann Kallenbach
  2. ↑ Biography: Gandhi's White Brother
  3. ^ Gandhi Information Center (ed.), Kassel, 1988
  4. ^ Gandhi Information Center (ed.), Kassel, 1988
  5. ↑ Gandhi, Kallenbach and Buber ; Graswurzel.net, 1998
personal data
SURNAME Kallenbach, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African architect and companion of Mahatma Gandhi
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Žemaičių Naumiestis (German: Neustadt), Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH March 25, 1945
Place of death South Africa