Gevezin Indian Museum

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Gevezin Indian Museum was a private museum in the Gevezin manor in the Mecklenburg community of Blankenhof . With over 4,000 exhibits, the museum's collection was the largest private collection of Indian cultural assets and clearly documented the origin and development of the North American Indians up to the 20th century. In addition to the collection, the manor house also housed a Karl May memorial and a gallery with works by German painters of the 19th century. The museum was closed in 2012.

The collection and the museum's founder

Karl-Heinrich Gehricke (1929-2010), the founder of the museum, grew up in Zerbst and was a judge in Berlin . As a child he met Patty Frank , administrator of the Karl May Museum in Radebeul . Gehricke's grandfather began collecting Indian items on trips to North America at the end of the 19th century, and his father continued to collect. The family also collected paintings.

Gehricke first visited Indians in the United States in 1975 and then lived repeatedly with different tribes. Little by little he collected original clothing, hunting, war, jewelry and everyday items in his spacious apartment in an old building in Schöneberg . After his retirement in the early 1990s, he tried to get exhibition rooms in Berlin for his collection. The two castle buildings offered to him in the eastern part of the city were in a desolate condition despite the high price, and funding was rejected by the cultural and economic senates.

The Gevezin manor house, which housed the Indian Museum.

Gehricke then acquired the Gevezin manor house built in 1912, renovated it and began building the Indian Museum in 1999, which he ran together with his son Friedrich W. Gehricke. It was opened in 2002. Even before Karl-Heinrich Gehricke's death, he and his son were looking for another property for the museum at other locations with the aim of being able to reach more walk-in customers. According to the company's own statements, it was not possible in Blankenhof to “position the exhibition in an economically profitable manner on the tourist market”. After Karl-Heinrich Gehricke's death, the museum finally closed in 2012.

Gehricke also wrote two books, both published by CW Nordwest Media (Grevesmühlen): The Indians of North America. Fascination of a life. On the creation of his museum for the cultural history of the American Indians (2004) and the peculiarities of a hunter's life. Hunting Reminiscences (2005).

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Gevezin Manor , Fine Media.
  2. ^ The Sons of the Great Bear , Deutschlandfunk , September 27, 2008.
  3. ^ The Indians are leaving the city , Berliner Zeitung , February 27, 1999.
  4. Opening date taken from The Indians of North America: Fascination of a Life .
  5. Peace pipe seeks asylum , Schweriner Volkszeitung , February 7, 2010.

Coordinates: 53 ° 33 ′ 50 ″  N , 13 ° 6 ′ 34 ″  E