Louis Sanne

John Louis Adolphe Sanne (born August 21, 1875 in Aux Cayes , † October 7, 1940 in Berlin ) was a member of the Hamburg Parliament and a publicist .

Work as a businessman and politician

Louis Sanne was a son of the businessman Ludwig Sanne (1842–1875). The father, who died a few days after the birth of his son, worked in Haiti , where Louis Sanne was born. Together with his mother Theda Sanne, née Gerdes (1849–1927), he moved to Paris after his father's death , where he lived for seven years. Then he went to Hamburg with his mother. Here he attended the pre-school for boys at Neue Rabenstrasse 15 under the direction of Th. Wahnschaff. From Easter 1885 he studied at the Wilhelm Gymnasium . On March 11, 1891, he finished the sub-second with the qualification for one-year voluntary military service. He then completed a three-year commercial apprenticeship at Weber & Schaer , which subsequently helped him to a position at Arning & Co. in Manchester . On October 2, 1900, he married Dora Louise Adele Emilia Grommé (1875–1933), whose father was a well-off businessman.

Sanne went back to Hamburg with his wife. With his former employer Weber & Schaer , Sanne took a share as a limited partner in Ludwig Deuss & Co. He paid 150,000  gold marks into the company founded in 1892 and was given an authorized signatory position . Since the company carried out import and export business with Africa, Sanne traveled for a long time through several East African countries in 1901. On January 22, 1904, he was appointed director of the South Cameroon Society. Since he paid a further 100,000 gold marks as a deposit with Ludwig Deuss & Co. on April 12, 1907 , he must have been commercially successful.

In 1910 Sanne was appointed commercial judge. As an elected notary , he moved into the Hamburg citizenship in the same year. For the citizenship he acted in 1911 as a tax appraiser in District 1, Old Town South. In 1915 he also took over the office of secretary. The Hamburg Senate delegated him on September 29, 1916 as one of five citizens to the War Supply Office . Since December 10, 1917, he was a member of the Senate Commission for the Administration of Justice. A little later the right, the left center and the left formed a coalition in the national liberal faction. During this time, Sanne took over the post of second deputy chairman of the National Liberal Party , which became part of the German People's Party (DVP) at the end of 1918 . Sanne was one of the 26 people who had a seat on the DVP State Committee.

At the beginning of 1922, Sanne took part as a delegate of the Hamburg citizenship in the "Senate and Citizenship Commission for the preparation of measures to rebuild Hamburg's trade, shipping and industry". He was a member of the Presidium and the Working Committee that prepared and carried out the “Hamburg Overseas Week”, which took place from August 17 to 27, 1922. From December 1, 1926 to June 30, 1928, he worked as a delegation counselor at the Hamburg legation based in Berlin . From the embassy in Berlin, Sanne moved to the heirs of the publisher Johann Heinrich Hermann . As publishing director, he was responsible for the Hamburger Nachrichten , which appeared until the seizure of power in 1933.

Engagement in the Red Cross

With the outbreak of World War I , Sanne's trade with Africa came to a standstill. Since he had a heart disease and was therefore considered unfit for military service, he became involved in the Hamburg regional association of the German Red Cross . Under the direction of Max von Schinckel , Sanne took over the day-to-day business as deputy chairman. From time to time he accompanied hospital trains to the front to find out about the needs of the soldiers and to be able to adapt the work of the Red Cross accordingly. Kaiser Wilhelm II awarded Sanne the Red Cross Medal for his commitment.

After the end of the war, Sanne took over the post of President of the Hamburg State Association in 1920, succeeding Max von Schinckel. As a delegate elected by the regional associations, he moved a short time later to the main board of the Red Cross in Berlin. On February 16, 1920, he received an extraordinary power of attorney from the Central Committee of the German Red Cross Associations. He visited the International Committee of the DRC in Geneva , where a contact was made with the American Relief Administration , which invited him to the USA. Sanne traveled from August 19 to November 11, 1920 and in March 1924 to several major American cities, where he thanked for American food donations and asked for further help.

In 1926 Sanne left the Hamburg Regional Association and received a state position. At the request of his successor Wilhelm Cuno , however, he remained a member of the board. Cuno left the regional association in 1930. Sanne then headed the Hamburg organization until it came to power in 1933.

Work during the time of National Socialism

On May 1, 1933, Sanne joined the NSDAP , presumably because he wanted to continue working for the Red Cross. On May 1, 1934 he had to give up the post in Berlin on the instructions of the new President of the DRK. This appointed him honorary president of the Hamburg regional association, which was now called "DRK Hamburgischer Landes-Männerverein". Due to his skills and contacts to American aid organizations, he received the post of "Commissioner of the German Red Cross at the Governor General for the occupied Polish territories" at the end of 1939. In this position in Krakow , Sanne was responsible for ensuring that relief supplies from abroad were distributed correctly. The donations came from Herbert Hoover 's Commission for Polish Relief, Inc. , the Joint Distribution Committee and other Red Cross institutions and were intended for the exploited Polish and Jewish residents. Sanne conducted complicated negotiations with many interlocutors, which resulted in the “main welfare council ” Rada Glowna Opiekuricza . This institution coordinated the work of the local aid organizations and the occupying power. The statutes drawn up by Sanne granted Governor General Hans Frank and SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger some co-determination rights, but still enabled the needy to be provided for in an orderly manner. Sanne also received praise from the Polish side for his commitment.

Other engagement

Louis Sanne joined the Hamburg section of the German Colonial Society before the First World War . He sponsored the Hamburg Scientific Foundation and the second Hamburg South Sea Expedition . He was also involved in the conference of the German Colonial Society, which took place from June 3 to 7, 1912 in Hamburg. From 1914 to 1920 he was part of a commission established by the Hamburg Senate for the Museum of Ethnology . This museum owns several slides that Sanne made during his travels through Africa. For several years he chaired the Society for the Promotion of Amateur Photography .

In the 1920s, Sanne wrote many essays on economic policy that appeared in the Hamburg Voices . Since he traded with Africa before the First World War, it is not surprising that in the post-war period he called for the German colonies there to be returned. Due to his interest in African countries, he campaigned for the Institute for Marine and Tropical Diseases . In August 1921 he was one of the founding members of the Association of Friends of the Hamburg Tropical Institute . The institute honored him with an honorary doctorate in medicine at the celebration of its 25th anniversary on October 17, 1925.

death

Louis Sanne, who had three sons, fell ill during his time in Poland in August 1940. He then traveled to Berlin, where he wanted to be treated. Here he died on October 7th of the same year. His grave can be found today in the Ohlsdorf cemetery .

literature

• Claus Gossler: Sanne, Louis . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 5 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8353-0640-0 , p. 317-319 .