Karl-Heinz Schwadtke

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Karl-Heinz Schwadtke (born August 5, 1925 in Berlin ; † April 7, 1986 there ) was a German shipping historian and non-fiction author . He dealt with the history of the German merchant fleet and its whereabouts and development after the Second World War .

Life

Karl-Heinz Schwadtke spent his childhood in Berlin, where he also went to school. The view from his parents' apartment over the tracks of the Anhalter Bahnhof aroused his interest in the technology early on . The first drawings of locomotives , signal boxes and, after visits to Swinoujscie and Stettin, photographs of ships were made . From 1940-41 Schwadtke began a correspondence with Erich Gröner , which a Marine - Archive headed.

After the family was bombed for the second time, Schwadtke left Berlin and found a job with Erich Gröner , whose extensive collection of photos, drawings and other documents had been relocated to Dahlenberg in the Torgau district since January 1944 . He worked for him as a researcher, draftsman and courier. At the end of the war, both were captured by the Soviets and the naval archives were confiscated.

His talent for drawing saved him through the immediate post-war period , during which he earned his living with advertising labels and designing advertisements for various Berlin-based companies. During this time he also worked on his first books, which were published by Eckardt & Meßtorff in Hamburg , which specializes in shipping publications . The side elevations shown on a scale of 1: 1250 were drawn with attention to detail and gave his publications an unmistakable character.

On June 13, 1952 , he married the bank clerk Gabriele Sandner. She helped him work on his books and created the tables for them on the typewriter at home . In 1956 he graduated from customs school in Herrsching and initially worked at Tempelhof Airport . They had 2 children, Ekkehard (* 1956) and Bettina (* 1958). A transfer to Bremen Airport in 1961 brought him into contact with other people from the “Shiplover” guild, in addition to Jürgen Mayburg, Arnold Kludas , who was working at the Hamburg shipyard Blohm & Voss at the time .

Create

His first book dealt with the German merchant fleet and its fate after the war. This was followed by the periodical yearbook of the German merchant fleet and other books, such as the edition Moderne Handelsschiffe in 1954. The books "Ore Freighter" and "Fähr - Ferries" brought an excerpt from the worldwide fleet of these two types of ships , while the book "Hansa" A "," B "," C "" dealt with German standard cargo ships of the Second World War.

This was followed by the volume "The new German merchant fleet in pictures" with photos from his own archive, which was published by Stalling Verlag . Since 1968, Schwadtke took over the ciphers already used by Erich Gröner to identify different types of ships by bow and stern shape as well as superstructures and masts in his books.

In 1970 the last edition of “Germany's Merchant Fleet” was published by JF Lehmanns Verlag in Munich. The book was lavishly printed, but sold poorly due to the high price. In 1974 the volume “Deutschlands Handelsflotte 1939 - 1945” was published by Stalling Verlag, but the quality of the drawings did not match the level of detail of the earlier editions. In the years that followed, until his death, Schwadtke drew mainly on commission for various publications.

Fonts

  • The German merchant fleet and its fate in 1939 . Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg 1953. (Reprinted by Libri Books on Demand, 2000, ISBN 3-7702-0532-4 )
  • Germany's merchant fleet in 1952 . Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg
  • Germany's merchant fleet 1953/54 . Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg
  • Modern merchant ships . Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg 1954.
  • Germany's merchant fleet in 1956 . Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg
  • Germany's merchant fleet in 1957 . Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg
  • Germany's merchant fleet 1958/59 . Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg (reprinted by Libri Books on Demand, 2000, ISBN 3-7702-0533-2 )
  • Germany's merchant fleet 1960/61 . Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg (inside cover shows 1959/60)
  • Ore carrier . Self-published in 1961.
  • Germany's merchant fleet in 1962 . Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg
  • Germany's merchant fleet in 1964 . 8th edition. Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg
  • Ferries - Ferries . Self-published in 1965.
  • The new German merchant fleet in the picture . Stalling Oldenburg / Hamburg 1966.
  • Germany's merchant fleet 1968. 9th edition. Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg
  • Hansa "A", "B", "C" . Self-published in 1969
  • Germany's merchant fleet in 1970 . JF Lehmanns Munich, ISBN 3-469-00343-2 .
  • Germany's merchant ships 1939–1945 . Stalling, Oldenburg / Hamburg 1974, ISBN 3-7979-1840-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The German merchant fleet and its fate in 1939. Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg 1953.
  2. ^ Germany's merchant fleet in 1952. Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg.
  3. ↑ Modern merchant ships. Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg 1954.
  4. ↑ Ore Freighter . Karl-Heinz Schwadtke self-published in 1961
  5. ↑ Ferries - Ferries . Karl-Heinz Schwadtke self-published in 1965
  6. ↑ Hansa "A", "B", "C" . Karl-Heinz Schwadtke self-published in 1969
  7. ↑ The new German merchant fleet in the picture. Stalling, Oldenburg / Hamburg 1966.
  8. ↑ Germany's merchant fleet 1968. 9th edition. Eckardt & Meßtorff, Hamburg.
  9. ↑ Germany's merchant fleet 1970. JF Lehmanns, Munich, ISBN 3-469-00299-1 .
  10. ^ Arnold Kludas : The ships of the German Africa Lines 1880-1945 . Stalling, Oldenburg / Hamburg 1975, ISBN 3-7979-1867-4 .
  11. ^ Arnold Kludas: The ships of Hamburg-Süd. 1871-1951 . Stalling, Oldenburg / Hamburg 1976, ISBN 3-7979-1875-5 .
  12. ^ Arnold Kludas: The German tankers in shipping international . Koehler, Hamburg 1980–1988
  13. ^ Hans-Joachim Wenner: German Ship New Buildings 1980. Deliveries from the German shipyards . Self-published, Stuttgart 1981.
  14. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenner German ship newbuildings 1981. Deliveries from the German shipyards . Self-published, Stuttgart 1982
  15. ↑ Hans-Joachim Wenner German ship newbuildings 1982 . VUD Verlag, Freudenstadt 1983, ISBN 3-923719-03-5
personal data
SURNAME Schwadtke, Karl-Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German shipping historian and non-fiction author
DATE OF BIRTH August 5, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 1986
Place of death Berlin