Otto Günther von Wesendonk

Otto Günther von Wesendonk (family name until 1900: Wesendonck , born October 3, 1885 in Berlin , † June 27, 1933 in St. Margarethe / Schleswig-Holstein) was a German ambassador , orientalist and writer.

Life

Otto Günther Wesendonck's parents were Karl Wesendonck (1857-1943), professor, lecturer in physics and Eveline, born. Countess von Hessenstein (1861–1945). The family was raised to the Prussian nobility in 1900 as "von Wesendonk". Otto Günther Wesendonk studied from 1903 to 1908 at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin , at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg . Since 1904 he was a member of the Corps Borussia Bonn . On the basis of the doctoral thesis submitted in Heidelberg "The decision of Gaius in the I. 15" Digestorum de exceptione rei judicatae "44, 2 assessed according to modern imperial law”, Wesendonk was awarded a doctorate in 1908. jur. PhD.

Immediately thereafter, he entered the foreign service and began working in the Foreign Office in Berlin. From 1913 to 1914 he was employed as chargé d'affaires at the German consulate in Tangier / Morocco. Here he replaced Albert von Seckendorff (1849–1921). Wesendonk's first scientific publication came from this time under the title “Presentation and legal-political appraisal of the changes that occurred in the constitutional relationship between Alsace-Lorraine and the Reich through the Reich law of May 31, 1911”. Immediately after the outbreak of World War I, he was called to Berlin and placed in the Foreign Office in the Political Department. Here he acted as a link and coordinator between the " News Agency for the Orient " founded by Max von Oppenheim (1860–1946) in November 1914 , Undersecretary Ernst Langwerth von Simmern (1865–1942) of the Foreign Office and Rudolf Nadolny (1873–1953 ) Head of department in the Deputy General Staff, as this position was intended by the Foreign Office, but was only allowed to have a “semi-governmental character” due to its tasks. On the basis of the memorandum “concerning the revolutionization of the Islamic territories of our enemies”, the aim of the news agency was to implement the insurrection strategy with the central task of psychological warfare among the Muslims in the areas of interest of England, France and Russia. Associated with this were the production and forwarding of the necessary propaganda material, the procurement of information about the situation in the individual target areas of Muslim population groups - especially in the colonies - but also the creation and maintenance of a network of allies in these regions. In April 1914, the Indian anarchist Har Dayal was arrested and convicted of distributing inflammatory literature in the United States. To avoid imprisonment, Har Dayal fled to Berlin and was recruited by von Wesendonk for the Indian Independence Committee .

During the First World War Otto Wesendonk stayed temporarily in the contested region of the Great Game on the border between the Tsarist Empire and British India . Here he worked in the sense of the "revolutionary strategy" and propagated the uprising against the British colonial power among the local population groups. But the desired uprisings did not take place here.

Shortly before the end of the First World War, Transcaucasia also sought to break out of the Ottoman Empire and achieve its independence. Otto Günther von Wesendonk stayed temporarily in the German consulate in the Caucasus during these difficult conflicts in 1918 and witnessed the ongoing regional fighting here. At the subsequent conference in May 1918, when it came to the peace negotiations between the Ottoman government and the Transcaucasian forces, Otto von Wesendonk and Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg (1875-1944) from the German side took part as observers to pacify the region . Thereupon Wesendonk was proposed by the Caucasian and German sides as future consul general for the consulate still to be formed in Tbilisi. But due to the ongoing fighting in the region, this mission had to be postponed for the time being. During this time he began to work intensively as a writer, which increasingly distinguished him as an expert on the region and a specialist in the problems of the population groups living there. In 1919 he published several scientific works which testify to a very thorough study of the peculiarities of oriental traditions and culture. These were the writings published by the Berlin publishing house "Der neue Orient": "The oriental origin of medieval minnesong", "The Mithra cult: an Iranian rival of Christianity", "The Mazdakites" in which his comparative methodology between the Islamic and the became clear to European cultures.

After the signing of the Rapallo Treaty on April 16, 1922, relations between Germany and Soviet Russia changed significantly and Chancellor Joseph Wirth (1879–1956) made another attempt to enforce Otto von Wesendonk's appointment as Consul General in Tbilisi. But only after his certificate of appointment was drawn up at the end of the year he was able to hand over his introductory letter as German Consul General for Tbilisi in the Transcaucasian SFSR on February 28, 1923. He was responsible for the German representation of the countries Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. In the same year Otto von Wesendonk and Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg met in Baku, who had taken over the legation in Tehran in July 1922, in order to discuss the situation in the Transcaucasian and Persian regions. This is also where his book "From the Caucasian World" was created, which he edited together with his wife Margarete von Wesendonk. When the consulate in Baku had to be forcibly closed at the end of the year, Wesendonk temporarily took over the associated tasks. On May 20, 1925, he left Tbilisi, originally to take his vacation, but did not return to this post, as in the following months several German diplomats from his area of ​​responsibility were arrested on charges of espionage. It was not until September 1926 that these German citizens could be exchanged after difficult negotiations and returned to Germany.

From 1925/1926 Otto Günter von Wesendonk continued his literary work with extraordinary intensity. Most of the work on the region he is about to leave and topics dealing with religious-historical and cultural-historical backgrounds dominated. These included: "Archaeological News from the Caucasus" 1926, "Islamic Problems" 1926, "The Religious-Historical Meaning of Yasna haptanhāti" 1931, "Some Thoughts on State and Religion" 1931 and many more. In pursuit of his writing and publishing activities, he founded the monthly magazine “Völkische Kultur” in 1932 together with the Dresden actor and director Wolfgang Nufer (born 1902), which was then published by Franzmathes Verlag Frankfurt a. M. appeared.

Otto Günther von Wesendonk died on June 27, 1933 in St. Margarethen / Schleswig-Holstein.

family

Shortly before the outbreak of World War I, Otto Günther von Wesendonk Margarete married Marie Jose da Silva Ferrao de Carvalho Martesn Condesa de Martens Ferrao (born June 30, 1893) in Tangier on February 15, 1914 . The marriage was divorced on September 16, 1921. The couple had several children:

• Mathilde Maria Helene Isolde Eva Alice Lydia Inga (born October 26, 1914) ⚭ 1938 George Betts
• Franz Karl Heinrich (born October 21, 1916)

He then married the Freiin Margarethe von Möller-Lilienstein (born January 18, 1898) on October 18, 1921 . The couple had a son:

• Otto Aladar Hugo Joachim Georg Peter Paul (born June 29, 1924)

Publications

• The decision of Gaius in I. 15 "Digestorum de exceptione rei judicatae" 44, 2 assessed according to modern imperial law, inaugural dissertation, Verlag Noske, Leipzig, 1908.
• Presentation and legal-political appraisal of the changes that occurred in the constitutional relationship between Alsace-Lorraine and the Reich through the Reich Law of May 31, 1911, 1913.
• The Oriental Origin of Medieval Minnesong, Berlin, Der Neue Orient, 1919.
• The Mithra cult: an Iranian rival of Christianity, publisher: Berlin: Der neue Orient, 1919.
• The Mazdakites, published by Berlin, 1919.
• Zarathustra, published by Berlin, 1919.
• The religion of the Druze, publisher: Berlin: "Der neue Orient", 1920.
• The teaching of Mani, publisher: Leipzig: O. Harrassowitz, 1922.
• The dissolution of matter, publisher: Berlin: Pätel, 1923.
• Primitive man and soul in Iranian tradition, Hanover: H. Lafaire, 1924.
• On Georgian Paganism, Leipzig: Asia Major, 1924.
• The Endless Dragon: Comments on a Persian Miniature, Verlag SL, [1924]
• Addenda to Georgian paganism, publisher: Leipzig: Asia Major, 1925.
• Falsafat Ibn Khaldūn al-ijtimāʻīyah: taḥlīl wa-naqd, authors: Ṭāhā Ḥusayn; 1st floor of Wesendonk; Muḥammad ʻAbd Allaah ʻInān; [Cairo]: Maṭbaʻat al-Iʻtimād, 1925.
• Foreign Policy, Publisher: Berlin: K. Büttner, 1926.
• To the origin of Manichaeism. Publisher: [Leipzig], [O. Harrassowitz], [1926]
• Plato and the Orient. Published by Berlin: Der neue Orient, 1926.
• Islamic Problems, [1926]
• Archaeological News from the Caucasus, Publisher: Berlin: De Gruyter, 1926.
• Jacques de Morgan: [died] 1924, publisher: Berlin; Leipzig: Gruyter, [1926]
• From the Caucasian world, Otto Gunther von Wesendonk; Margarete von Wesendonk ,: Berlin: Volksverband der Bücherfreunde Wegweiser-verlag GmbH, [1927]
• The Islamic Orient as a political factor, publisher: Berlin, 1927.
• On Georgian History, Publisher: Leipzig: Dieterich, 1927.
• The essence of Zarathustro's teaching: an investigation into the history of religion. Published by Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1927.
• Statements by Syrian writers about the home of Avesta, [Leipzig]: [Brockhaus], [1928]
• The newly discovered Mithras sanctuary in Dieburg, published by Berlin: Ring Verl, 1928.
• (Jean Honoré) Fragonard in Dresden. Dresden: Dresden. Scoreboard, 1928.
• Aremati- as Aryan earth deity, Publisher: Leipzig: Teubner, [1929]
• The use of some Iranian god names in Manichaeism, Verlag: Copenhagen 1929.
• On the Hellenistic mix of cultures: Basic questions in the history of mankind, Publisher: Berlin, Stilke, 1929.
• Cross-section through intellectual Germany, publisher: [place of publication cannot be determined], [1929?]
• The problem of ancient Persian art. Publisher: [Leipzig, O.], [Harrassowitz], [1930],
• On the character of the old Persian state: Lecture given at the 6th German Orientalist Day, Vienna, 1930,
• The Medes and Eastern Iran. Publisher: [Sl?], [1931?]
• The religious historical significance of Yasna haptanhāti, Verlag: Bonn; Cologne, 1931.
• On Yasna 51, 20–22, publisher: [Leiden]: [Brill], [1931]
• Some thoughts on state and religion, publisher: Berlin: Stilke, 1931.
• The state of the Arab question, magazine for politics, 21, 1931, publisher: Berlin [1931]
• The Kālavāda and the Zervanite System, Publisher: London: [Publisher cannot be determined], 1931.
• Grammar for the old Georgian Bible translation with text samples and vocabulary: Rome: Pontificio Instituto Biblico 1930, Author: Otto Günther von Wesendonk; Franz Zorell, Publisher: [Leipzig]: [Hinrichs], 1931.
• The Kurdish problem, source: Prussian year books, 223/1931/117
• About the use of Aramaean in the Achaemenid Empire, Verlag: [Leipzig], [O. Harrassowitz], [1932]
• Modern ideas in old times: Efrem the Syrian on the concept of space, publisher: Berlin: Stilke, 1932.
• Bardesanes and Mānī, source: Acta Orientalia; 10, published by [Oslo]: [Novus Forlag], 1932.
• Asia minor and the introduction of the worship of Kybele, Ma, and Mithra- into Rome, 1932.
• On the question of Zarathuštra's origin: (Lecture given at the Leiden Congress of Orientalists in 1931), publisher: Leipzig: Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, 1932.
• Diplomacy. An introduction to their nature and methods, publisher: Radolfzell am Bodensee, Heim-Verlag Adolf Dressler, 1933.
• On the oldest Persian history, publisher: [Leipzig], [O. Harrassowitz], [1933]
• The worldview of the Iranians, Publisher: Munich: Verlag Ernst Reinhardt, 1933.
• Völkische Kultur: Monthly published by OG v (on) Wesendonk u. Wolfgang Nufer, published by Frankfurt a. M. Franzmathes 1933.
• Kusan, Chioniten und Hephthaliten, book microfiche, publisher: Zug: IDC
• A Coptic fragment about the founders of Manichaeism, Friedrich Bilabel, article, source: Asia Major, Vol. 2
• Primal man and soul in Iranian tradition: a contribution to the religious history of Hellenism, Publisher: Osnabrück: Biblio Neuauflage, Verlag, 1971.

literature

• Johannes Hürter (Red.): Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service 1871 - 1945. 5. T - Z, supplements. Published by the Foreign Office, Historical Service. Volume 5: Bernd Isphording, Gerhard Keiper, Martin Kröger: Schöningh, Paderborn a. a. 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-71844-0 , pp. 256-258
• Nirode K. Barooah, India and the official Germany, 1886-1914 , 201 pages

Individual evidence

1. ^ Kösener corps lists 1910, 19 , 773
2. ↑ the printing took place in Borna / Leipzig, in the printing house R. Noske, scope 61 pages,
3. ^ Salvador Oberhaus, German Propaganda in the Orient during the First World War, Master's thesis at the University of Düsseldorf, 2002
4. ↑ Max von Oppenheim, memorandum on the revolutionization of the Islamic areas of our enemies, Berlin 1914 in: Wilfried Loth, "Jihad Made in Germany", p. 13ff .; Wilfried Loth, Mark Hanisch (Ed.) First World War and Jihad. The Germans and the Revolution of the Orient, Oldenbourg Verlag Munich 2014
5. ↑ Martin Kröger, Revolution as a program. Aims and reality of German policy towards the Orient in World War I, in: Michalka, Der First World War, Effects, Perceptions, Analyzes, Munich 1994
6. ↑ Thomas G. Fraser: Germany and Indian Revolution, 1914-18 , in: Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 12 (1977), No. 2, pp. 255-272.
7. ↑ Gerhard Hirschfeld, Encyclopedia First World War, p. 619
8. ↑ Armenia: un homenaje cultural a la ciudad en sus 75 años de vida, Volume 1 , p. 173
9. ^ Matthias Dornfeldt, Enrico Seewald, History of German-Azerbaijani Relations, Part III. 2015 in: www.irs-az.com

predecessor	Office	successor
Albert von Seckendorff 1849–1921	Consul of the German Reich in Tangier 1913–1914	Walter Zechlin 1879–1962
none	Consul General of Germany in Tbilisi, responsible for Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia December 28, 1922– May 20, 1925	Curt Prüfer 1881–1959