Leopold goat leg

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Leopold Ziegenbein, captain of the Bremen , 1931

Georg August Louis Leopold Ziegenbein (born November 16, 1874 in Celle ; † June 21, 1950 in Nordholz ) was a navigator and commodore at the North German Lloyd (NDL) in Bremen . He is one of the most prominent German captains in merchant shipping.

Life

Early years up to the First World War

The Crown Princess Cecilie was furnished by some of the most important architects and artists of the time.

Ziegenbein went to sea since 1890. From 1895 he attended the Geestemünde Navigation School , which granted him the ship officer patent on June 26, 1896 and the master's license on April 29, 1900 . As a coaster, he was entrusted with the command of various steamers after joining the NDL in 1900 as an officer on most of the lines of the Bremen shipping company. So Ziegenbein initially drove as fourth officer on the steamer Willehad . From 1905 to 1907 he served as second officer on the Blue Ribbon winner Kaiser Wilhelm II and then in the same position on her sister ship, the Crown Princess Cecilie , which from May 1913 was led by Ziegenbein's later friend Charles August Polack . The high-quality equipment of this luxury ship was designed by some of the most famous artists of the time and made the Crown Princess Cecilie one of the most popular transatlantic express steamers before the First World War. Ziegenbein was also employed as first officer on this ship.

After 1918

The Bremen in 1931. She was one of the most important transatlantic steamers before the Second World War.
Goat leg with Avery Brundage (left), then a leading member of the Olympic movement in the USA and other officials on board the Bremen. The Americans were on their way to the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch.

At the end of the war, Ziegenbein had to leave the NDL for a short time, but he was hired again in 1920 and came as first officer on the steamer Seydlitz , which made the first post-war voyages of Lloyd with passengers to South America (1921) and the USA (1922). After this engagement, Ziegenbein was assigned to the construction supervision of the new express steamer Columbus and received the post of first officer under Captain Nikolaus Johnsen when this ship was commissioned . After temporarily successfully managing Columbus as a representative, the NDL appointed him regular captain in 1926 and entrusted him with Berlin in 1927 . From 1928 he was in the construction supervision of the express steamer Bremen , which he took over as captain after its commissioning in July 1929. The Lloyd's new flagship steamer was able to win the Blue Ribbon during its maiden voyage to New York . Ziegenbein was appointed commodore in 1932 and retired on November 13, 1936. He lived in Bremerhaven- Lehe until 1945, when his house was confiscated by the Americans . After his death he was buried in the cemetery in Langen near Bremerhaven.

Ziegenbein was captain of the Bremen from 1929 to 1936 and thus captain of the largest and most luxurious passenger steamer in the German merchant fleet. Many celebrities of the time sat by his side at the Captains Diner and praised the incomparable charisma of the experienced captain, who officially retired in 1936 for reasons of age. Political reasons were also given unofficially because he was not on the line of the now ruling National Socialists. His successor as captain of the Bremen was captain Adolf Ahrens , who was promoted to commodore after the outbreak of war in 1939 after an adventurous but ultimately successful voyage home by the steamer from New York.

Honors

Maritime resting place of honor

literature

  • Reinhold Thiel: The history of the North German Lloyd 1857-1970 . Verlag HM Hauschild, Bremen 2004, ISBN 3-89757-166-8 .
  • Deutsche Post AG (ed.): Stories about the Blue Ribbon: Records, legends, catastrophes.
  • Gertrud Becker-Ferber: "Eight Glass". Commodore goat leg . D. Reimer, Berlin 1940.

Web links

Commons : Leopold Ziegenbein  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Hartmut Bickelmann (ed.): Bremerhaven personalities from four centuries . A biographical lexicon. Bremerhaven City Archives, 2003, ISBN 3-923851-25-1 , p. 384.
  2. ↑ Reinhold Thiel: The history of the North German Lloyd 1857-1970 . Volume 3, Verlag HM Hauschild, 2004, ISBN 3-89757-166-8 , p. 16.
  3. ^ A b Reinhold Thiel: The history of the North German Lloyd 1857-1970 . Volume 3, Verlag HM Hauschild, 2004, ISBN 3-89757-166-8 , p. 211.
personal data
SURNAME Goat leg, Leopold
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ziegenbein, Georg August Louis Leopold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German captain
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Celle
DATE OF DEATH June 21, 1950
Place of death Nordholz