Johannes K. Soyener

Johannes K. Soyener (actually Johannes Klaus Loohs ; born September 13, 1945 in Altötting ; † December 18, 2018 in Bremen ) was a German writer .

biography

Soyener started writing in his youth, but for a long time only did it as a sideline. He trained as a chemical engineer , formed the Chemical Engineering on and has long held a management position at a large German pharmaceutical company.

Through sailing , he came to work with historical tall ships and was soon considered an expert on naval warfare of the 15th – 19th centuries. Century. One of his most famous books is The Master of the Seventh Seal , which he wrote together with Wolfram zu Mondfeld , who also came from Bavaria . This book, although it mainly plays on land, has to do with the history of naval warfare in that it deals with a then novel technique of cannon casting , which, according to Soyener , could have played an important role in the British victory over the Spanish Armada . The content of the novel also served as a template for the documentary film “The Empire Strikes Back”, broadcast in the series “Mission X / ZDF 2002”.

One of his works is the documentary novel Sturmlegende - The Last Voyage of the Pamir . Through extensive research, the author found the files of the “Pamir and Passat Foundation” in the Bremen State Archives, which were previously unknown. These, in turn, come from a law firm that represented the foundation and shipping company at the sea office negotiation in Lübeck in 1958. According to the files, the foundation was financially unable to carry out urgently needed repair work on the Pamir; especially the high deck was dilapidated and leaked heavily. According to the Maritime Administration's report, the water ingress in the high deck was one of the reasons for the capsizing of the Pamir. The files also provide information about serious personnel problems. Among other things, there was a lack of suitable officers to guide and train the cadets on the Pamir, especially before the last voyage.

His last book was the detective novel Toteissee, which was published for the 1200th anniversary of the Soyen community (Upper Bavaria).

Johannes K. Soyener worked as a freelance writer in Bremen until his death.

Works (selection)

Fiction

• Napoleon's surgeon. Historical novel . Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2009, ISBN 978-3-404-26914-3 (former title “Der Schatten des Kaisers”).
• The master of the seventh seal. Novel . Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1996, ISBN 3-404-12586-X (together with Wolfram zu Mondfeld ).
• The pharmaceutical plot. Thriller . Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2008, ISBN 978-3-404-15806-5 .
• Tea clippers. Novel . Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2000, ISBN 3-404-14416-3 .
• The Venus of Velazquez. Novel . Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2001, ISBN 3-7857-2063-7 (together with Bartolomeo Bossi ).
• Toteissee , Rosenheimer Verlagshaus 2016, ISBN 3475545810

Non-fiction

• The ships of Christoforo Colombo. Santa María, Niña, Pinta . Koehler, Herford, 1993, ISBN 3-7822-0516-2 (together with Peter Holz ).
• Storm legend. The last voyage of the Pamirs . Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2007, ISBN 978-3-404-15932-1 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Johannes K. Soyener in the catalog of the German National Library
• Author's website ( Memento from December 29, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
• Pamir storm legend ( Memento from August 9, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Website of the author with documents and research background on the sinking of the Pamir
• "My second career as a writer was never planned" , Johannes K. Soyener in an interview with Tina Groll, DIE ZEIT Online, Jan. 14, 2010

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Johannes K. Soyener. In: Kürschner's German Literature Calendar 2016/2017. Volume II: PZ. Walter De Gruyter , 2016, ISBN 978-3-11-045397-3 , p. 957.