Karl Hammes

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Karl Hammes (born March 25, 1896 in Zell (Mosel) ; † September 6, 1939 near Warsaw ) was a German opera singer ( baritone ) and fighter pilot in the First and Second World Wars . His places of activity were Bayreuth, Berlin, Cologne, Salzburg and Vienna.

Life

Hammes attended high school in Traben-Trarbach , came after the war began on August 2, 1914 voluntarily as a cadet the Schleswig-Holstein Foot Artillery Regiment. 9 and became on 13 October within the 6th Battalion of the Western Front in France for third Army transferred, where he took part in the fighting in the Champaigne and was promoted to lieutenant on March 30, 1915. In October 1915 his unit was transferred to the Balkan front. On November 9, 1916, Hammes reported to the air force and began training as a fighter pilot at Flieger-Ersatzabteilung 1 (FEA 1) in Johannisthal , which he completed the following year at FEA 10 in Württemberg . On April 9, 1917, he was assigned to the aviation department (A) 276 as a reconnaissance pilot, but switched back to fighter flying on August 2 and, after a short interlude at Jagdstaffelschule 1, joined Jagdstaffel 35 (Jasta 35) on August 11 assigned to the Flanders Front. There he scored four kills, but was seriously wounded in an aerial battle on September 9, 1917 . After a lengthy stay in the hospital, he was released on March 9th, only partially fit for use. He finished the First World War with the rank of major ; he resigned from military service on February 4, 1919.

Hammes then began studying at the Cologne Conservatory of Music ; first appearances at the Cologne City Theater followed. In 1926/27 he made a guest appearance at the Berlin Kroll Opera . Hammes had its first major success in 1927 with his appearance in Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival . From 1929 to 1935 he appeared at the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival . In 1931 he gave Don Juan in Don Juan at the Festival . In 1935 he moved to the Berlin State Opera and was appointed chamber singer .

On June 10, 1937, he volunteered again for the Air Force and was transferred to the Jüterbog / Damm airfield command as a first lieutenant in the reserve . When the I. Group of Destroyer Squadron 1 was set up there in 1939 , Hammes took over command of its 1st Squadron. In the course of the preparations for the attack on Poland , the unit moved to Regenwalde . Just a few days after the beginning of the war, his squadron was attacked by Polish P.11c fighters on an escort mission, with Hammes being fatally wounded. His Bf 110 C-1 crashed near the village of Wojcieszyn, where he was initially buried by the residents, but was later reburied in the Warsaw Powazki military cemetery. His grave is no longer preserved today.

Only a few testimonies to his singing skills are still preserved today. These include the opera by Richard Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos in a recording by Reichsender Berlin from June 11, 1935 (as Harlequin) and the opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Don Giovanni in a recording by Reichsrundfunk from March 27, 1936 (as Don Giovanni). Hammes also acted in two films.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jörg Mückler: Karl Hammes. A baritone on the warpath. In: Aviation Classics. No. 08/2019, Motor Presse, Stuttgart, p. 20f.
personal data
SURNAME Hammes, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (baritone) and fighter pilot in the First and Second World Wars
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Zell (Moselle)
DATE OF DEATH September 6, 1939
Place of death Warsaw