Peter Heinrich Brincker

Peter Heinrich Brincker (born February 9, 1836 in Isselhorst , today part of the city of Gütersloh ; † November 26, 1904 in Stellenbosch , South Africa ) was a German missionary in German South West Africa (today Namibia ) and an ethnographic and linguistic author who emerged from the Ravensberg revival movement Work. In 1899 he was made an honorary doctorate from the University of Cape Town .

Life

After his confirmation, Brincker reported to the Diakonie pastor Theodor Fliedner in Kaiserwerth near Düsseldorf, who hired him as a nurse, but soon afterwards sent him on a collection trip. On his travels through the Prussian provinces, where he collected money for the Diakoniewerk, Brincker's idea of mission was awakened. He asked for admission to the mission seminar in Barmen , but was put on the waiting list for a long time before mission inspector Friedrich Fabri accepted him in 1859. After his theological training, Brincker was ordained in November 1862 and sent to German South West Africa on November 5, 1862, with the task of proselytizing the warring Herero and Nama .

After an 83-day journey, he landed in Cape Town at the beginning of February 1863 . In Stellenbosch , about 50 kilometers east of Cape Town, he was accepted by mission brothers and sisters. There he met his future wife Johanna Rath and became engaged to her. Had worked with the Herero missionary Johann Rath, who 15 years Brinckerhoff led to the Herero language one.

At the end of May the voyage to German South West Africa was able to continue. In June Brincker reached Walvisbaai , from where he continued on an arduous land route to Otjimbingwe , which was in Hereroland . On July 12, 1863, he arrived there with missionary Franz Heinrich Kleinschmidt to replace him.

From now on Brincker worked as a missionary for the Rhenish Mission Society among the Herero. The Hereroh captain Maharero gave him language lessons. At the beginning of 1864 Brincker married his fiancée Johanna Rath, with whom he took over the work in the mission station of Otjikango , known as Klein-Barmen, founded in 1844 , on February 20, 1864.

Over the next year and a half, the couple had to flee to Otjimbingwe seven times because of the flare-up fighting between Herero and Nama. In September 1865 the station in Otjikango was destroyed by the Nama and had to be laboriously rebuilt.

In May 1866 Brincker was able to celebrate the first baptismal service in Otjikango (12 Hererro were baptized) and thus found a Christian community. On June 25, 1871, a 10 × 15 meter church building was consecrated, the cost of which was 1,230 Reichstalern u. a. was financed with donations collected by Brincker in Gütersloh and in the Ravensberger Land. In 1875, 204 of the 1,450 inhabitants were baptized in Otjikango, and the number of churchgoers was 400. The texts that Brincker translated into Herero contributed to the popularity of the church chants.

At the beginning of 1879 he went on home leave to Germany for a year. In Gütersloh he wanted to have his translated manuscripts printed by Bertelsmann .

At the beginning of February 1880 Brincker returned to German South West Africa with a new assignment. Instead of going back to Otjikango, he now acted in Otjimbingwe as the director of the Augustineum , a school for teachers and evangelists founded in 1866, where he succeeded Carl Gotthilf Büttner . The aim of the school, developed by missionary Carl Hugo Hahn , was to give the sons of the Herero leaders, later also the Nama, a Christian education. Hahn assumed that when the upper class of the Herero became Christian, the lower classes would follow suit. Bible studies, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and music were taught. As leader, Brincker extended the admission to Ovambo and Damara , because he believed that all of the country's tribes should be united in the school. After nine years, in 1889, Brincker had to give up active missionary service at the age of 53 due to old age problems.

In 1890 he moved with his wife, four sons and three daughters to Stellenbosch, what was originally his first stop in Africa. There he dealt with the publication of numerous ethnographic and linguistic works. He was the author of an important dictionary of the Herero language . He published the Small Catechism of Luther and the New Testament in Herero.

In 1892 Brincker retired . In 1899 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Cape Town for his scientific work.

Peter Heinrich Brincker died in 1904 at the age of 68.

Fonts

The two most important works by Brincker include the dictionary and brief grammar of Otjiherero and the German spokesman for the three Bantu dialects: Otjiherero, Oshindonga and Oshikuanjama with an appendix: theses and hypotheses about the clicks in Nama and Kafir .

• Reading book of the Herero language. 1879.
• Translation of the New Testament. 1879.
• Herero dictionary. 1886.
• Grammar and Dictionary of the Otjikwanyama. 1891.
• Translation of Luther's Small Catechism. 1893.
• Translation The Four Gospels. 1896.
• German spokesman for Bantudialects. 1897.
• Acts and i. John. 1902.
• The magic poison of the Bantu.
• The tribes of South West Africa I. according to the story; II. According to manners and customs; III. According to languages.

literature

• Julius Baumann: missionary and linguist. Pastor Dr. Peter Heinrich Brincker. In: 950 years parish Isselhorst. How it became - what it is.
• Walter Moritz: Herero and Nama War 1863–1870. Memories of the chaos of war and the missionary peace work of PH Brincker. In: From the old days in the southwest. Issue 14, self-published.

Web links

• Literature by and about Peter Heinrich Brincker in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature list in the online catalog of the Berlin State Library
• Detailed biography with photos