Karl Ebermaier

Karl Ebermaier (1916)

Karl Ebermaier (born October 2, 1862 in Elberfeld (now part of Wuppertal ), † August 21, 1943 in Bernried am Starnberger See ) was Imperial Governor of the German colony of Cameroon from 1912 to 1916 .

Life

He was born the son of the state procurator Friedrich Wilhelm Ebermaier. He attended the humanistic grammar school in Elberfeld (high school graduation at Easter 1881) and studied law in Tübingen (member of the Corps Rhenania ).

After graduating as Dr. jur. In 1889 he became a Prussian court assessor and in 1897 a district judge. In 1898 he switched to colonial service and was appointed chief judge and legal adviser for the governorate of German East Africa . Because of a duel affair , he was soon recalled and transferred back to Germany.

After a short interlude in the Prussian judicial service, he was able to return to the colonial department of the Foreign Office and served as the first speaker and deputy governor of Cameroon from 1902 to 1904. Then he was employed again in the colonial department, in 1906 promoted to the Real Legation Councilor and Lecturing Council and in 1909 to the Secret Upper Government Council. From 1912 to 1916 he was governor of Cameroon.

The First World War broke out during his tenure as governor . Ebermaier, as governor formally commander of the protection force, left the leadership largely to their commander Carl Zimmermann . In 1916, the majority of German civil servants and military personnel moved to neutral Spanish territory after Rio Muni due to a lack of ammunition . Ebermaier was interned in Madrid and headed the internment administration there until 1919.

The so-called Ebermaier Railway is named after him. It operated on the Cameroon Mountain and is to be put back into operation as a tourist attraction in the next few years.

See also

• Cameroon in the First World War

literature

• Florian Hoffmann: As the last German governor in Cameroon: Karl Ebermaier (1862–1943) , in: Geschichte im Wuppertal 15 (2006), pp. 18–27, digitized from yumpu.com
• Johannes Hürter (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. 5. T – Z, supplements. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 5: Bernd Isphording, Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-71844-0 , p. 429

Web links

Commons : Karl Ebermaier  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Newspaper article about Karl Ebermaier in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .