Ludwig Haber

Ludwig Haber (born March 15, 1843 in Brzeg near Opole, † August 11, 1874 in Hakodate ) was a German merchant and consul of the Japanese region of Hakodate.

Life and family

Ludwig Haber was the third child of the German businessman and traveling salesman Jacob Haber (died 1846) and his wife Caroline, née Glüchel (born on October 23, 1811) in Brzeg near Opole. The family belonged to the Jewish faith and the children were brought up in this sense. His father's trading activities mainly extended to Russia and the countries bordering the Baltic Sea. The main commercial products included hides, wood and agricultural products. During one of his business trips, his father fell ill with cholera in 1846 and died shortly afterwards. Thereupon the 6 children were raised by the mother alone. The eldest brother Eduard Haber (born on October 14, 1837) had to take care of the family support early on. He also worked as a merchant and was appointed Vice Consul in La Liberdat - Central America (now San Salvador ) in the 1870s . In the family he was considered wealthy. The second brother Siegfried Haber (1841-1920) graduated from university and then worked as a judge in the region between Opole and Breslau . He was the father of the later Nobel laureate in chemistry (awarded in 1918) Dr. Fritz Haber (1868-1934).

Ludwig Haber attended school in the Opole region and then studied until around 1865. After completing his studies, he worked as a self-employed businessman. In 1871 he left his hometown and went on business trips that took him via Egypt , India , Ceylon , China to Japan . At the individual whereabouts he quickly found contact with wealthy circles and traded in the goods needed locally. Some of these were brought to their destination over long journeys. From 1871 to 1872 he regularly sent travel reports to the regional press about his activities and impressions from the regions he visited.

A German merchant in Japan

Ludwig Haber came to Japan in 1873 and settled here in Hakodate, because the harbor here offered him a favorable starting point for his trading business. These took him with the rented sailing ship “Amaita” to the coasts of China , Korea and Russia . Since there was a strong current around the islands, it was often difficult to reach the protected harbor without long waiting times in unfavorable wind conditions. In Hakodate he lived in a house on the outskirts of the city that belonged to a local shipowner. He lived in this house with Captain Will. Its commercial freight consisted mainly of coal and timber shipments, furs, agricultural goods and seaweed. The Japanese who dealt with him rated him as very friendly, helpful and sociable. He was a foreigner, as was judged, who was not primarily “just” about making money. He had an open relationship with the landscape as well as with the nature that surrounded him and with the people he met. He contracted malaria on one of his previous trips .

At the beginning of 1874 Ludwig Haber founded a Japanese-German trading company in Hakodate. His confirmation as consul for this region did not reach him. The letter did not reach Hakodate until after his death. He was in contact with the German embassy in Tokyo, whose head was Prime Minister Max von Brandt (1835–1920). In this way, the information about Haber's stay and business activities in Hakodate reached the German scientist and Japan traveler Franz Martin Hilgendorf (1839–1904), who was in Japan in the middle of the year. He was an explorer who familiarized himself intensively with the flora and fauna of individual Japanese regions and was an avid collector of natural objects.

He stayed in Hakodate on August 11, 1874, both men had had tea at lunchtime in a tea room in the city center and went from there to Haber's house. On that day, Ludwig Haber was still a bit weakened from attacks of malaria, which he had to struggle with again. Halfway through, they parted for a short time because Hilgendorf wanted to collect some insects he didn't know. After everyone went their own way, Haber was approached by the samurai Hidechlika Tazaki from Akita. He wanted to make sure that Haber was actually a foreigner. After making sure he drew his sword and killed Haber. As was determined in the subsequent autopsy, a total of 22 wounds had been inflicted on him and he died immediately. After the murderer, who did not defend himself, was arrested, the local police questioned him. According to the minutes, the samurai hated foreigners and believed that his mission was to rid "the sacred soil of Japan" of foreigners. According to this view, in order to protect his country and to serve the Japanese emperor, it is his duty to kill the foreigners who come to Japan. He was subsequently convicted of what he did in court.

The German embassy in Tokyo was also informed of the matter. Since the chargé d'affaires Max von Brandt was on a business trip in another region at the time, an employee of the embassy was ordered to the location of the incident. After his return, he prepared a report. That was the basis for the obituary written by Chargé d'Affaires Max von Brandt and the information that was sent to Germany. A Japanese notary took the remaining personal effects and money from Ludwig Haber into custody. This was sent to the Haber family in Brzeg along with a letter that the reimbursement of expenses was waived. The credit was 10,400 thalers. Ludwig Haber was buried with a large gravestone in the Cemetry for Foreigners cemetery in Hakodate.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Margit Szöllösi-Janze, Fritz Haber 1864–1934. A biography, Verlag CH Beck Munich 1998, p. 23ff.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Peter Fraekel, Hokodate 1875, from March 29, 2007 - with the permission of the "Hakodate Library", translation by Prof. Saijo in: www.das-japanische-gedaechtnis.de/Haber-Ludwig-1843-1874
3. ↑ Anna B. Irish, Hokkaido: A history of Ethnic Transition and Development on Japan's Northern
4. ↑ Michael Gratze, The 122-year history of Ludwig Haber in Japan from October 8, 1996 in: www.das-japanische-gedaechtnis.de/Haber-Ludwig-1843-1874
5. ^ Obituary for Consul Haber from Hakodate in: Peter Fraekel, Hakodate 1875 - with the permission of the "Hakodate Livary", translation by Prof. Saijo www.das-japanische-gedaechtnis.de/haber-Ludwig-1843-1874