Otto Kemmerich

Otto Kemmerich (* 1886 in Husum ; † August 1952 near Utersum , Föhr ) was a German long-distance swimmer and popular hero of the 1920s.

Act

In the 1920s, he was considered the best long-distance swimmer in the world. His life was marked by numerous records in continuous swimming. In addition, he devoted himself to dressage work in various circus companies and during the last years of his life worked as the head of a health insurance company in Husum.

Success in long distance swimming before World War II

In 1923 he swam across Lake Constance . In 1925 he mastered the 80 kilometers between Fehmarn and Warnemünde by swimming. A permanent swim from Fehmarn to Denmark earned him a prize from the Danish newspaper Politiken .

In the summer of 1925 he planned to swim the route from Husum via Nordstrand , Pellworm , Hooge , Langeneß , Föhr and Amrum to Sylt . Because of treacherous ocean currents, no one had yet managed to swim the 15 kilometer long passage between Amrum and the neighboring island of Sylt. He was always equipped with a watch, compass and nautical chart for his swimming activities. A red flag indicates its position in the water. Kemmerich usually refused an escort boat. On this great tour through the North Frisian Wadden Sea , at least one was there for the last section; it took him on when he had to give up exhausted between Amrum and Sylt.

On June 11, 1925, on the Norddeich - Norderney route , instead of the red flag, ten large red children's balloons - floating at a height of 20 meters - marked his location. The start took place in the afternoon at 3:00 pm:
"All alone he pulled his path, around him the roaring song of the eternal sea, greeted by hastily passing seagulls in light plumage, looked after by the laughing June sun", wrote the printer, editor and local writer Jan Janssen .

In 1926 he tried to swim the English Channel between Cap Gris-Nez and Dover in the best time, but had to give up nine miles from the coast: a shark probably attacked him and seriously injured his hand. Since then, a stiff wrist has held him back. In 1927 Otto Kemmerich set a world record in endurance swimming: he stayed in the water for 32 hours. In the summer of 1929, he swam the 100-kilometer stretch of water between Pillau ( Fresh Nehrung / East Prussia) and the seaside resort of Sopot in the Bay of Danzig , which took him 23:15 hours.

In a storm he crossed the Westerems from Rottum to Borkum on August 17, 1929 , and on the following day he completed the stage from Borkum to Memmert in storms, rain and rough seas . His luggage in a duffel bag was lost; The sea tore the watch, compass and red flag from it, and the ebb flow of Memmert drove it seaward. The flood current and exploiting for more than 12 hours in the water, he reached up to 20:30 Norddeich .

On September 3, 1929, Kemmerich swam the 62-kilometer route from the Staberhuk lighthouse (Fehmarn) to Warnemünde in 20 hours, despite the bad weather.

On July 5, 1930, he planned to swim the stretch from Juist to Norderney - announced in the Norderneyer bathing newspaper:
“The world champion has deliberately chosen the worst conceivable flow conditions (half-time flow) and gives himself only 50% chances. Experienced seafarers consider it impossible to swim through the half-time current. ”He also passed this challenge, swam the bus and sea ​​gates and landed on the beach at Norderney, where he was again expected by a large crowd.

In 1938 he swam from Borkum to Norddeich.

Last continuous swimming action and death in 1952

After a long break, he started at the age of 66 on July 25, 1952 from Esbjerg (Denmark) to Husum. His goal was to swim the 200-kilometer stretch of sea, to get from island to island without a dinghy, and then to start again after a break as soon as the tide and weather allowed. The company, which he called the "private Olympics", was successful as far as Hörnum on Sylt . In front of him was the 15-kilometer-wide passage between Sylt and Amrum, on which he had already failed in 1925. Despite all warnings, he started. The high swell threw him back onto the beach three times . He made a fourth attempt - the last time he was seen alive. On August 17, 1952, his body was found between Amrum and Föhr by a boatman from Sylt. He still carried flippers, a compass and his watch, which had stopped at 15 minutes before 7 a.m., with him. The swimmer's body was towed and anchored about 500 meters from Hedehusumer Strand. There, when the water was falling, she was recovered, caged and transferred to Husum. He was buried in the Ostfriedhof there.

literature

• Wilhelm Munnecke: Death swam with it. Wonderful swimmer Otto Kemmerich , W. Fischer-Verlag , Göttingen 1953.

See also

• Open water swimming
• Canal swimming

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [1]
2. ↑ Karin de la Roi-Frey: Record attempt ends tragically in the Wadden Sea, Inselmagazin No. 30, summer 2012, special publication by SHZ Schleswig Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag, page 43
3. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ [2]
6. ↑ Karin de la Roi-Frey: Record attempt ends tragically in the Wadden Sea, Inselmagazin No. 30, summer 2012, special publication by SHZ Schleswig Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag, page 43