Lorenz Jensen

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Lorenz Jensen (born September 11, 1883 in Bækken , Rinkenis parish , Appenrade district, † October 21, 1961 in Rendsburg ) was a German diplomat .

Life

Lorenz Jensen learned from Eugen Wednesday and the first Amharic lecturer at the University of Berlin, Aläqa Tayye, Amharic and in 1909 diplomatic Dragoman at the newly opened German Legation in Ethiopia. In 1910 he was the first head of the Vice Consulate in Harar . Jensen's estate included a photograph from May 1914 of the coronation of Ras Mika'el, an Oromo prince in Dässé in Wollo, who was then installed as king of all of northern Ethiopia. This photograph was previously unknown in historical science and initially sparked an Ethiopian historian controversy in 2001, as it shows him with the imperial crown, which he used for his own coronation against the Ethiopian traditions. Negus Mika'el was the father of the Ethiopian ruler Iyasu V. Mika'el was called Imam Mohammed Ali before his conversion to Christianity (1878), was married to a daughter of Menelik II and wrote on the occasion of his coronation: “I greet you, today I put the crown of Wollo and Tigre on myself , so I am very happy and I have the honor to inform you of my joy King Mikhail. "

In 1915 Jensen was the ambassador of the German Reich at the court of Negus Mika'el in Wollo. One aim of Jensen's diplomatic mission during World War I was to influence the rulers of Ethiopia in favor of the Central Powers . As a result of his efforts, there were military preparations in Wollo and soon he was also negotiating with the mullah of Somalia . In 1916 there was a revolt against Iyasu V in Ethiopia . The Christian elite supported Ras Täfäri as the new regent, under the largely nominal rule of the new Empress Zawditu. As a result of the revolt, the staff of the embassy of the German Reich, which had close ties to Lej Iyasu, were interned. After the end of the First World War, the Germans were given back their freedom of movement, and Jensen was ultimately the highest representative of Germany in Ethiopia, as the German chargé d'affaires of the legation. In 1921 he left the country. Later diplomatic posts were in Tbilisi, Georgia, and Turkey.

Jensen was employed in the Foreign Ministry of the German Reich until 1945. Jensen married Grete Pahl, who survived him.

Publications

  • From the memories of Consul Lorenz Jensen - 13 years in Addis Ababa. In: Rendsburger Tagespost. Rendsburg, April 15, 1954
  • Wolbert Smidt: Jensen, Lorenz in: Biographisches Lexikon für Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck , Volume 12, Neumünster 2006, pp. 232-235
  • Wolbert GC Smidt: The coronation of nägus Mikael in Desse in May 1914: a photograph from the Nachlass Jensen and its historical background. In: Annales d'Ethiopie. Volume XVII, Année 2001

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wolbert GC Smidt: The coronation of nägus Mikael in Desse in May 1914: a photograph from the Jensen estate and its historical background. In: Annales d'Ethiopie. Volume XVII, Année 2001, p. 362 ( digitized version )
  2. ^ Wolbert GC Smidt: The coronation of nägus Mikael in Desse in May 1914: a photograph from the Jensen estate and its historical background. In: Annales d'Ethiopie. Volume XVII, Année 2001, p. 362 ( digitized version )
predecessor Office successor
Friedrich Wilhelm von Syburg (1854–1934), Robert von Scheller-Steinwartz Ambassador of the German Reich in Ethiopia in
1918 		Fritz Max Weiss
personal data
SURNAME Jensen, Lorenz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH September 11, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Bækken , Rinkenis parish , Appenrade district
DATE OF DEATH October 21, 1961
Place of death Rendsburg