Rudiger Siebert

Rüdiger Siebert (2007)

Karl Rüdiger Siebert (born January 17, 1944 in Chemnitz ; † January 6, 2009 in Stung Treng , Cambodia ) was a German journalist , editor and travel writer . The focus of his activities were the countries of Southeast Asia.

Life

Youth and education

Rüdiger Siebert was born in a barracks in Chemnitz as the son of the professional soldier Hans Hubert Rudolf Siebert. His mother, Theresia Siebert née Lichtenstern, came from a farm in Landsberg am Lech . He had a sister, Irmtraud, twelve years his senior.

After the end of the Second World War , the family moved to Weißenfels an der Saale (Saxony-Anhalt), where the father took over the city's guest performance organization. Here Siebert first attended the mountain school (elementary school) and then switched to high school, which he completed in 1958. In 1959 his family fled with him from the GDR via Berlin to Landsberg am Lech. He was denied registration at the secondary school in Landsberg due to a lack of knowledge of English. In the GDR he had learned Russian, but no other foreign language. To his disappointment, he was denied high school and university studies.

Rüdiger Siebert in the editorial office of the Nürnberger Zeitung (1964)

Rüdiger Siebert in 1964

After attending the private commercial school in Landsberg for two years and graduating in 1961, he moved to Nuremberg to do an internship at the Nürnberger Zeitung . He found accommodation in the Kolping House, where, among other things, he had to fulfill his religious duties.

In the summer of 1962 he hitchhiked through West Germany and France and to Heligoland. Two years later, he embarked on his first major journey, which lasted almost six months. He hitchhiked again through England, Ireland and Scotland to Iceland. In Iceland, lack of money forced him to work in a quarry and a whaling station to finance his trip home.

As he once said himself, it was probably the travel bans in his youth in the "quasi-prison GDR" that led him to set his travel destinations particularly far. In association with his need to communicate with others, he had found his calling: traveling, first in Germany and Europe, later in Africa and Asia, and journalism in order to publicize his experiences and experiences.

1965-1966 he completed a two-year military service in Tauberbischofsheim . There he devoted himself to the division newspaper “Soldat in Franken” (SIF), where he criticized grievances in the Bundeswehr from his point of view and came into conflict with his superiors.

Following his military service, in the spring of 1967, he lived in Paris for several months, learned French at the Alliance Française and in a language course in southern France. From August 26th, 1967 to January 24th, 1970 he worked as a volunteer for the Protestant youth magazine "Young Voice" in Stuttgart. Among other things, he published pointed opinions under the pseudonym "Felix Treibeis". At the beginning of 1970 Siebert successfully applied for a job at Deutsche Welle in Cologne . The Zeitfunk editorial staff gave him the opportunity to try something new as a radio editor. In mid-February 1970, he met 23-year-old Margarete Fiedler, who was 39, at the Cologne Adult Education Center on Neumarkt , where the intellectual and cultural meeting point "Josef-Haubrich-Forum" was set up in the Josef-Haubrich-Hof, now known as the art center to be his partner long until the end of his life. Three months later, in May 1970, they traveled together to Lerici in Italy on the Ligurian Sea , where they made the decision to go on an overseas trip.

To Africa

In June 1971 Siebert quit his employment with Deutsche Welle. As a freelance journalist, he and Margarete Fiedler embarked on a 14-month journey through large areas of North, West, Central and East Africa: Tunisia , Algeria , Morocco , Spanish Sahara , Mauritania , Senegal , Mali , Niger , Upper Volta , Ivory Coast , Ghana , Togo , Dahomey , Nigeria , Cameroon , the Central African Republic , Zaire (Congo), Uganda , Rwanda , Tanzania , Kenya . During this trip he reported on German development policy and its implementation on site. He sent the articles, which Margarete had transcribed into legible handwriting, to Germany, where a friend passed them on as typewritten copies to various newspapers. The journey home from Mombasa on the cargo ship Paranga took three weeks: the Suez Canal was closed for political reasons , which is why a course around the Cape of Good Hope had to be taken. Some of the results of this trip, a selection from 19 countries, were published by Siebert in his first book "Afrika schwarz Weiß" (Wuppertal 1974). 10 years later this book was published in a revised form with the title “Please, where is Africa?” (Würzburg 1984).

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  Vocal recording in Togo

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  Village street in Central Africa

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  On a high termite den

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  Journey home on the cargo ship Paranga

As a radio editor at Deutsche Welle

Out and about in Indonesia

Rüdiger Siebert - sitting in the middle at the table - as head of the Indonesia editorial team at Deutsche Welle (1979)

Visiting Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1997)

At the beginning of 1973 he returned to Deutsche Welle, where at that time there was only one vacancy in the Indonesia editorial team. The Indonesian-language program of Deutsche Welle began broadcasting on September 30, 1963. "Inilah Suara Jerman ...", shortwave listeners in Indonesia were able to receive this announcement from the air for the first time: "Here is Deutsche Welle". In order to participate in this program, Siebert learned the Indonesian language through an intensive course at Cologne University and several weeks of internship at what was then "Radio Sonata" in Bandung . Siebert used his first stay in Indonesia to get to know the country, the people and their culture while traveling within Java.

After that he went on business trips to Indonesia almost every year - often twice a year. In addition to his work as an editor in cooperation with Indonesian radio stations - including "Radio Republik Indonesia" in Jakarta (RRI) and "Radio Sonata" in Bandung - Siebert was a journalist. He was interested in the life of the common people, described their worries and needs and took part in their religious and ceremonial celebrations. In addition, he was particularly interested in those people who have significantly promoted the historical, cultural, artistic and intellectual development of this country. They include the critic of Dutch colonial policy Eduard Douwes Dekker alias Multatuli , the women's rights activist Raden Adjeng Kartini , the poet Max Dauthendey , the writer Joseph Conrad and the painter and musician Walter Spies , but also explorers like Franz Junghuhn , whom he considered a pioneer of scientific Exploring Indonesia, or Karl Helbig , who, as an outstanding Indonesian expert, was at his side with advice and action. He was a welcome guest at Pramoedya Ananta Toer , the most important Indonesian writer of the 20th century. Siebert published biographical articles on these and numerous other personalities.

Siebert thus developed into one of the best Indonesian experts. This put him in a position to play a key role in the redesign of the Indonesian-language radio program. Together with his Indonesian colleagues - above all with Mariana Kwa and Mohammad Arsad - and in coordination with the radio scene in Indonesia, this program has been continuously developed. The exchange with the Indonesian radio stations was deepened through the promotion and training of young Indonesians, some of whom have chosen the Federal Republic of Germany as their new home and could be won over as temporary or permanent employees for the editorial team.

Important contacts were made in Germany for successful cooperation with institutions in Indonesia: to the malay apparatus of the Oriental Institute of the University of Cologne, to similar bilateral institutes in other universities and to Indonesian students. Siebert was a member of the board of trustees of the Asia House Foundation in Essen and a member of the board of the German-Indonesian Society in Cologne. In those years he was also a permanent freelancer for various newspapers, including the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (with the weekly column Unterwegs notated ), for Die Zeit , for the Frankfurter Rundschau and for the Mannheimer Morgen .

In recognition of his commitment, Siebert was appointed editor-in-chief for the Indonesian-language radio program of Deutsche Welle in 1977. He worked for this program for thirty years. One of his most important goals was to help build intellectual and cultural bridges between Germany and Indonesia. In Germany, his impressions and experiences from Indonesia were reflected in books, articles, slide shows and readings. The Indonesian audience was informed about current events in Germany and Europe through radio reports. Under the title "Sejenak bersama Bung Rudi" ("A moment with comrade Rudi") Siebert spoke up once a week; his entertaining chats from everyday German life were very popular with his listeners in Indonesia. In March 1986, a morning program was added to the evening program that had been broadcast until then. Daily news, political comments and reports and contributions from all areas of German life and international relations were broadcast twice for 50 minutes each, combined with music from classical to pop.

Siebert's journalistic and journalistic activities have received several awards: in 1972 with the Terre des hommes Prize , 1974 with the Kurt Magnus Prize of the ARD, in 1985 with the Prize of the Bookworms of the ZDF. For his radio contribution "The Child Slaves of Carpet Belt - How Indian Carpets Are Knotted", which was broadcast by Norddeutscher Rundfunk in 1991, he received the Media Prize Development Policy from the Office of the Federal President and the BMZ ( Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development ) .

He also showed great drive in his social and political commitment. Organized by the Friedrich-Bödecker-Kreis , he undertook reading tours through schools in Germany and Luxembourg for 15 years, whereby his book "Island in the Black River - Story of a Sold Childhood in Thailand" triggered a remarkable response from many children and young people. Siebert has also been supporting the terre des hommes children's aid organization since the 1970s : his books “Insel im Schwarze Fluss” and “Bambus sich nicht breaks” were marketed as the “terre des hommes book”. At Amnesty International he campaigned for the politically persecuted.

On the move in Asia

In the footsteps of Joseph Conrad in Kalimantan

Margarete and Rüdiger Siebert on a local public transport boat in Kerala , South India (2007)

Siebert's position in the Indonesia editorial team at Deutsche Welle naturally made Indonesia the focus of his journalistic activities in his early years. He described the experiences and impressions of his first trips to Indonesia in his 1976 book “Red Rice in Paradise - Indonesian Conversations”. His reports on acute environmental problems, the plight of the poor in the slums of large cities, political prisoners without rights on the Moluccan island of Buru and the military regime resulted in him being temporarily banned from entering the country. In contrast to this are the encounters with Indonesian intellectuals, which are described in minutes of the conversation. In 1987, in his book "5x Indonesia", he added his first travel impressions. In five “attempts at rapprochement”, people are portrayed in their societal and social environment, their history and their culture.

Siebert researched the countries he visited with care. The intensity with which he evaluated the available sources can already be seen from the bibliographies in his books, which for reasons of space were mostly only published as selected bibliographies. His research encompassed not only acute social and economic problems, but also the history and historical development of these countries. In the Philippines he followed in the footsteps of the circumnavigator Magellan and published his end under the title "Death on Mactan" (Würzburg 1982). In Borneo he traveled in the footsteps of James Brooke , Sandokan , Almeyer and others, main characters in his book "Clouds over Borneo - the island of dreamers, fools and pirates" (Würzburg 1984). Five years later, also with a historical background, the book "The Sea of ​​Dreams - Joseph Conrad's East Indies" (Munich 1989) followed. For this purpose, Siebert followed the paths of the writer Joseph Conrad in Southeast Asia.

On May 27, 1994, Rüdiger Siebert married his partner Margarete Fiedler.

In the late 1990s, he increasingly turned to the countries on the Southeast Asian mainland. Together with the Cologne journalist Heinz Kotte, he traveled through Laos , Cambodia and Vietnam . The highlights of these trips were the visit to the " Plain of the Clay Jars " in northern Laos, which could only be entered in marked sectors due to minefields, and the ruins of Angkor in the north of Cambodia. In reunified Vietnam, the progress of reconstruction was examined.

In 2002, after more than three decades at Deutsche Welle, Siebert took early retirement in order to devote himself to his journalistic activities independently and without restriction. These studies, which also included the religions on the Asian mainland, served as preparation for his extensive trips to India . In 2003 he traveled through northern India to southern Nepal , in 2005 along the east coast of India from Calcutta to Cape Comorin , and in 2007 along the west coast from Kerala to Gujarat . On the first trip he followed the Buddha's life path . On the second trip he got to know the Hindu rites in honor of the goddess Kali in the area of ​​Calcutta and those in honor of the virgin goddess Kanyakumari on the southern cape. On the third trip he made with his wife Margarete, the historical remains of the first European colonies were visited.

The last photo by Rüdiger Siebert, taken on January 4, 2009 at the Khone waterfalls of the Mekong in southern Laos, about 36 hours before his death.

On December 15, 2008, Rüdiger and Margarete Siebert started their last trip together, which was planned from Northern Thailand to the Mekong Delta in the south of Vietnam. It was supposed to serve as the final research for a book about the Mekong, for which there was already a rough manuscript. With no sign of a previous illness, Rüdiger Siebert died on January 6, 2009 at 4 a.m. in the town of Stung Treng in Cambodia near the Laotian border.

Margarete Siebert: “It all happened very quickly. When I was woken from his bed by strange noises and looked after him, he apparently could no longer perceive me. I had no idea what was going on, did not think about dying, because Rüdiger had been fit and resilient the whole trip and the evening before he was still lively, apparently as always ... "

Siebert was buried according to the Buddhist rite. The coffin was burned on a pile of wood. In a place where a Khmer temple once sank, its ashes were given to the Mekong. In memory of Rüdiger Siebert, a memorial ceremony took place on February 28, 2009 in the MediaPark in Cologne.

Honors

• Terre des hommes award
• ARD Kurt Magnus Prize
• Award of the bookworms of the ZDF
• Media Prize Development Policy

Publications

Siebert was an exceptionally prolific journalist. To even begin to grasp his literary oeuvre is a hopeless undertaking. He has filled more than a hundred travel diaries with his notes. The number of his manuscripts for newspaper articles, slide presentations, readings and radio reports cannot be overlooked. Viewing and registering the remaining material would take months without any prospect of completeness. Therefore only his books can be named.

• Africa black and white. Snapshots of a trip through 19 African countries. Jugenddienst-Verlag, Wuppertal 1974 (edition pacific). 257 pages. ISBN 3-7795-7413-6 .

Experiences and observations from North, West, Central and East Africa.

• Red rice in paradise. Indonesian conversations. Jugenddienst-Verlag, Wuppertal 1976 (edition pacific). With 1 map and 34 (19 color) photos on 8 sides. 175 pages. ISBN 3-7795-7606-6 (2nd edition 1977).

Reports from Jakarta, Java, Buru, Bali, Flores, Timor, Kalimantan and Sumatra. About the bright side of Indonesia and about the dark side of the “paradisiacal” dictatorship in this country.

• Everyday life under palm trees. Images and stories from Africa and Asia. Jugenddienst-Verlag, Wuppertal 1978. With numerous b / w photo images. 61 pages. ISBN 3-7795-7629-5 .

Contributions from: Central African Republic, Calcutta (2 ×), Sulawesi (4 ×), Bangkok, Bangladesh (3 ×), Benin, Upper Volta (2 ×), Seram (Moluccas), Jakarta, Cameroon, Ghana.

• Death on Mactan. Searching for clues in the Magellan v. Lapulapu case. Arena Verlag Georg Popp, Würzburg 1982. 256 pages. ISBN 3-401-03935-0 .

With historical data (time table), bibliography, register of persons and geographical register.

• Pictures from a trip - Indonesia. With Jürgen Däuwel and Günter Nagel (photography). With 46 full-page b / w photos. 68 unpaginated sheets. 4 °. 1982. Self-published without location information (Karlsruhe; edition: 300 copies).

The texts are revisions of Siebert's articles from the series “Unterwegs notiert” in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung as well as quotations from the books “Roter Reis im Paradies” and “Everyday life under palm trees”.

• Clouds over Borneo. Island of dreamers, fools and pirates. Arena-Verlag Georg Popp, Würzburg 1984. With numerous b / w photo images and 2 map sketches in the text. A double-sided Borneo map on the endpapers. 176 pages. ISBN 3-401-04023-5 .

Exciting stories, painstakingly researched, about people who have enriched Borneo's history: Charles Brooke, the first “White Radjah” on Borneo, Sandokan, freedom fighter in today's Sabah, Charles Almeyer, whose life served as a template for Joseph Conrad. In addition, the contrasts between the jungle and mangroves, sultans and headhunters to big cities with airports and oil fields with drilling rigs are described.

• Please, where is Africa? Snapshots of a trip. Arena-Verlag Georg Popp, Würzburg 1984 (Arena-Taschenbuch Volume 1487). With numerous b / w photos and a sketch map with the travel route. 263 pages. ISBN 3-401-01487-0 .

Revised new edition of the book "Africa black and white" (Wuppertal 1974).

• Island in the black river. The story of a sold childhood in Thailand. Würzburg: Arena Verlag, 1984. Terre des hommes edition. 168 pages. ISBN 3-401-04080-4 .

A new print (8 to 10 thousand) received the ZDF Bookworms Prize in the spring of 1985 .

2nd edition 1988. Arena-Taschenbuch Volume 1596. ISBN 3-401-01596-6 .

3rd edition 1995. New edition revised by the author. Arena-Taschenbuch Volume 1820. ISBN 3-401-01820-5 .

New edition 2000: terre des hommes-Verlag, Osnabrück 2000. A terre-des-hommes book. 192 pages. ISBN 3-924493-32-4 .

New edition 2002: terre des hommes-Verlag (like 2000).

Rüdiger Siebert's most successful book. - This novel on the subject of "child labor" describes the everyday life of the Thai boy Thong , who was sent to Bangkok by his parents to earn money and has to work there under inhumane conditions in various factories. Siebert met such a boy in a children's village on the River Kwai; Representing many other boys and girls in Thailand, this boy became the model for his fictional character Thong.

Dutch edition:

Thong: een overcooked jeugd in Thailand. Vert. uit het Duits door Harriet Laurey. UMHolland, Haarlem, 1990. 128 pages. ISBN 90-251-0624-2 .

French edition:

Une île sur le fleuve noir: L'histoire d'une enfance vendue en Thailande. Traduit de l'allemand by Olivier Barlet. Paris: Harmattan 1991 (Collection Jeunesse-l'Harmattan). 137 pages. ISBN 2-7384-1129-0 .

• Philippines [anthology: Robert Fischer]. With Rafael Toussaint (photography). Bucher, Munich a. Lucerne 1985. 142 pages. Photo book with numerous partly colored photo illustrations. ISBN 3-7658-0490-8 .

In 1989 an updated new edition appeared.

• Bamboo cannot be broken. Reports on survival in Southeast Asia. A “terre des hommes” book. Arena, Würzburg 1986 (Arena-Taschenbuch, Volume 1534). With foreword by Karl Helbig and afterword by terre des hommes. With 1 card and 12 photo illustrations in the text. 215 pages. ISBN 3-401-01534-6 .

Reports of life and survival in the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Some of these descriptions had already been published in Mannheimer Morgen , in the Deutsches Allgemeine Sonntagsblatt , in the Frankfurter Rundschau and in the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung ; with the permission of the publishers, they have been revised and summarized in this book.

• 5 times Indonesia. Approaching an archipelago. With 2 cards on the inside cover and 32 illustrations. Piper, Munich 1987 (Piper Panoramas of the World, 5116). 531 pages. ISBN 3-492-15116-7 .

Five "attempts at rapprochement": people and fates (including about Eduard Douwes Decker, Max Dauthendey and Pramoedya Ananta Toer) - Islands and volcanoes (reports from all parts of the country from Sumatra to New Guinea) - times and powers (history) - shadows and languages ​​( Religions, media, social change) - treasures and opportunities (including via the women's rights activist Kartini, family planning, transmigration, health care, oil extraction, corruption). - With glossary, selection of literature, index of persons and subjects, picture credits.

• Magellan - Explorer in the Twilight. Searching for traces in Southeast Asia. Arena, Würzburg 1987 (Arena-Taschenbuch, Volume 1557). With 34 (14 full-page) illustrations in the text and two map sketches. 312 pages. ISBN 3-401-01557-5 .

Revised and updated new edition of the 1982 book "Death on Mactan". Appendices: Historical data in the tension between Southeast Asia and Europe (pp. 304–309), books on the subject (pp. 310–312).

• Bucher's Bali. Photos: Otto Stadler and Ernst Hermann Ruth. CJ Bucher, Munich a. Lucerne, 1987. Photo book with numerous colored partly double-sided photo illustrations. 55 pages. 4 °. With a contribution by Marina Tetzner: Bali in keywords (pages 46–55). ISBN 3-7658-0561-0 .

2nd edition: CJ Bucher, Munich a. Berlin, 1992. ISBN 3-7658-0798-2 .

Licensed edition: Munich, Cormoran, 1998. ISBN 3-517-07977-4 .

• Esperanza means hope. Arena-Verlag Georg Popp, Würzburg 1988. With 10 photo images in the text and a map sketch. 165 pages. ISBN 3-401-04189-4 .

Fact-based free story of workers in the Philippines ruthlessly exploited in the production of sugar.

• At the edge of the world. On the way listed in Asia. With a foreword by Fritz Schatten. Mai Verlag, Buchschlag near Frankfurt, 1988. With 26 photos. 153 pages. ISBN 3-87936-186-X .

Reports from South Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Burma, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. - Updated and revised selection of the articles that have appeared in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung since 1977 under the column title “Unterwegs notiert” .

• 3 times Philippines. The other Asia. Piper Verlag, Munich 1989 (Panoramas of the World, No. 5131). With 30 b / w photos and 2 cards on the inside cover. 394 pages. ISBN 3-492-15131-0 .

According to the title, the content is divided into three sections: shape and geography, spirit and history, size and limits. The author investigates the socio-political conflicts and describes the power struggles in the past and present. At the beginning of the second section, Rüdiger Siebert uncovered the hoax about the “newly discovered” tribe “Tasaday”. - With glossary, index and selection of literature.

• The sea of ​​dreams. Joseph Conrad's East Indies. Piper Verlag, Munich 1989. Piper series, volume 953. With 12 (4 full-page) photo illustrations and two maps. 113 pages. ISBN 3-492-10953-5 .

Searching for traces on the routes of the native Poland Joseph Conrad (actually Józef Teodor Nałęcz Konrad Korzeniowski) to the authentic scenes of his stories in Thailand, Singapore and Borneo. With timetable and selected bibliography.

• Java ▪ Bali. An invitation. Prestel-Verlag, Munich 1991. With 32 color pages, 49 text illustrations, 12 maps and plans as well as an overview map on the endpapers. 392 pages. ISBN 3-7913-1171-9 .

On a trip from Jakarta to Bali, the traces of once important empires are shown. In the appendix there are practical travel tips, an overview of the historical connections, a glossary with the most important cultural-historical terms and references.

• Bali . With Martin Thomas (photography) and Karl Mertes (co-author). CJ Bucher, Munich, no year (1996). Series title: Beyond the Ocean. Photo book with numerous colored partly double-sided photo illustrations. 88 pages. 4 °. ISBN 3-7658-1116-5 .

Rüdiger Siebert: In Search of Paradise Lost (pp. 14–61).

Karl Mertes: Plan - travel - enjoy (pp. 62–87).

• Vietnam. The new time on 100 clocks. Co-author: Heinz Kotte. With a foreword by Pham Thi Hoai. Lamuv Verlag, Göttingen 1997. With 1 map and 20 (17 full-page) photo illustrations. 255 pages. With attachments: timetable, glossary, Vietnam in figures and a selection of literature. ISBN 3-88977-467-9 .

2nd updated edition: 2001. Lamuv paperback 301. 256 pages. ISBN 3-88977-604-3

Observations, impressions and background information from the reunified Vietnam. Conveys the consequences of the economic turnaround in this country very clearly in sensitive reports.

• Our rivers - our life. Flow stories on diversity and globalization. Co-author: Hans-Martin Große-Oetringhaus. edition terre des hommes, Osnabrück 2009. 314 pages. ISBN 978-3-924493-91-2 .

With guest contributions by Iris Stolz, Peter Strack, Bettina Printz, Annira Busch, Simon Bösterling, Britta Gohl, Clorinda Cruz Pinazo, William Léon Guerrero and Heinz Kotte.

Reports and stories from rivers in Asia, South America, Africa and Europe. Of the total of 43 articles, 17 were written by Rüdiger Siebert; they have been published posthumously in this book.

All of the following books have been published by Horlemann Verlag .

• Indonesia. Island kingdom in turbulence. With a foreword by Karl Mertes. Unkel / Rhein, Bad Honnef, 1998. With 46 (13 full-page) photo images in the text. 253 pages. ISBN 3-89502-086-9 .

Impressions from Jakarta open this book. Talks with Pramoedya Ananta Toer and other intellectuals about the background, power struggles and living conditions after the resignation of President Suharto . Further stations: Bandung, Central and Eastern Java, Bali, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Moluccas. - Appendix: Explanations of words (pp. 248–249), about the author (p. 250) and three pages with map sketches (pp. 251–253).

• The dream of Angkor. Vietnam - Cambodia - Laos. Co-author: Heinz Kotte. Bad Honnef 2000. With 4 maps, 1 sketch of the location and 95 (6 full-page) photo illustrations in the text. 245 pp. ISBN 3-89502-111-3 . - Unchanged new edition: Bad Honnef 2001.

Results of a trip through the Mekong Delta in South Vietnam to Angkor in northern Cambodia. Relentless reports are made of the devastation of the country, the traumatization of the people in three wars, extortion in the Cold War, the genocide in Cambodia and the communist mismanagement. - Appendix: Timetable (p. 238–240), glossary (p. 241–243), information sources on the Internet (p. 243), selection of literature (p. 244–245).

• German traces in Indonesia. Ten résumés in turbulent times [with the support of Deutsche Welle in Cologne]. Bad Honnef 2002. With 1 map, 10 full-page portraits and 21 partly full-page illustrations in the text. 246 pages. ISBN 3-89502-159-8 .

According to a foreword from Heinrich Seemann, ambassador a. D., and the introductory chapter "German-Indonesian bridging" ten personalities with their work from the 18th century to the present are presented: Gustav Wilhelm Baron von Imhoff (Governor General of the VOC ), Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn (doctor and natural scientist) , Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen (missionary), Max Dauthendey (poet), Emil Helfferich (businessman), Hans Overbeck (businessman, linguist and insect researcher), Karl Helbig (geographer and seaman), Walter Spies (painter and musician), Werner Joachim Meyer (Doctor) and Franz Magnis-Suseno SJ (priest and professor).

With two important appendices: Timeline (Indonesia's historical development, pp. 239–241) and a detailed bibliography (general and for each person in detail, pp. 242–245).

Excerpts from this book: Challenge Indonesia. Power, criticism, liberation - Dutch colonial history as reflected in German résumés . German-Indonesian Society eV, Cologne 2011.

Parallel edition in Indonesian (translated by Elisabeth Soeprapto-Hastrich):

Berjejak di Indonesia: Kisah hidup sepuluh tokoh Jerman. Katalis, Jakarta 2002. 231 pages. ISBN 979-8060-58-X .

• Laos - Departure on the Mekong. Co-author: Heinz Kotte. With a foreword by Hans U. Luther. Bad Honnef 2002. With 2 maps and 42 (22 full-page) photo images in the text. 254 pp. ISBN 3-89502-150-4 .

Laos, a landlocked country with no access to the sea, has almost always been ruled by powerful neighboring states in the past. The history of conflict is dealt with in detail: From the legacy of the Khmer, subjugations to Siam, France and Vietnam, from the secret war of American intervention. Other topics are the country's economy and the ethnic diversity of the population and their future prospects. - With a timetable (pp. 243–246), a glossary of the most important local terms (pp. 247–259) and a selection of literature (pp. 251–253).

• On the way with Buddha. A search for traces in India and Nepal. Bad Honnef 2004. With 1 map and 45 (18 full-page) photo images in the text. 238 pages. ISBN 3-89502-176-8 .

Seldom have all the holy places of the Buddha been visited so consistently. The book contains an abundance of religious ideas that are hardly known in the western world, but which, despite their poverty, bring well-being and satisfaction to the great mass of believers.

• India southwards. From Calcutta to Cape Comorin. Travel reports . Bad Honnef 2005. With 1 map and 54 (14 full-page) photos in the text. 267 pages. ISBN 3-89502-198-9 .

• Vietnam up close. A country in upheaval. Co-author: Heinz Kotte. Bad Honnef 2006. With numerous partly full-page photo images in the text. 206 pp. ISBN 3-89502-214-4 .

Updated and updated revision of the 1997 book “Vietnam. The new time to 100 clocks. ”About the current development of the country, which is still marked by the consequences of the war (e.g. about Agent Orange victims in the second generation). After Vietnam opened up to tourists, the view became clear to the testimonies of great cultures and landscapes of breathtaking beauty, but also to the consequences of rapid progress with all the problems of globalization.

• India northward. From Kerala to Gujarat. Travel reports . Bad Honnef 2007. With 1 map and 75 (24 full-page) photo images in the text. 252 pages. ISBN 978-3-89502-233-3 .

• Vision Malaysia. Multicultural malls - mosques. Approaching a multiethnic state. Bad Honnef 2008. With numerous partly full-page photo images in the text. 256 pages. ISBN 978-3-89502-259-3 .

The author visits places steeped in history, tells the development of the country from the first Indian influences to the end of British colonial rule, introduces the ethnic groups and religions and describes the clash of tradition and modernity. - With an excursion to the Sultanate of Brunei .

• Mekong myth. Life and death by the great river. Bad Honnef 2011. Excellent illustrated: With 2 maps, 11 (5 full-page) reproductions of engravings from old travel books, 1 text illustration and 24 (9 full-page) color photos on 16 blackboard pages. 223 pages. ISBN 978-3-89502-312-5 .

In thirteen chapters, this book reports on the current geographical knowledge of the Mekong and goes into great detail on the history of its discovery. Further topics are the colonial rule and its consequences, the residents on the banks of this great river and current environmental problems. The fourteenth chapter contains Siebert's unfinished diary from December 15, 2008 through January 5, 2009.

This book was published by his widow after Siebert's death. In her foreword, written in December 2010, Margarete Siebert describes the beginning and the premature end of their journey together and convincingly justifies the publication of the book as an unfinished fragment, which - according to her - happened in the interests of her deceased husband.
WDR journalist Hermann Krause said: "Overall, it is a book worth reading, perhaps the most beautiful, but certainly the most moving that Rüdiger has ever written."

From Rüdiger Siebert's last diary. - Left: Copy of the penultimate page of the original. Just a few hours after this entry, Siebert died suddenly and unexpectedly. - Right: copy of the text. - In the book “Myth of the Mekong”, this text was edited by Margarete Siebert and an addition about the pollution of the water was added, which is written as a footnote on the last page of this diary.

swell

Much information was given verbally or in writing by Rüdiger Siebert's widow, Mrs. Margarete Siebert. With the exception of the portrait “Siebert with Ganesha”, all pictures were also made available by Ms. Siebert. Individual proofs are therefore not possible.

The same applies to the chapter “As a radio editor at Deutsche Welle”: This chapter was edited by email by Mohammad Arsad, a member of the Indonesia editorial team there.

In addition to studying the books by Rüdiger Siebert, the following sources were used:

• German-Indonesian Society Cologne (editor): Rüdiger Siebert. In: DIG magazine. Announcements from the German-Indonesian Society Cologne e. V., Volume II / 91 (beginning of a series of articles entitled “Portrait”). Galerie Smend, Cologne 1991. pp. 43–50.
• Karl Mertes: Obituary for Rüdiger Siebert. In: KITA - The Magazine of the German-Indonesian Society , issue 1/09, Cologne 2009. pp. 3–11 (bibliography pp. 9–11).

• An important source is the commemorative brochure which Margarete Siebert self-published a few copies on the occasion of the commemoration ceremony on February 28, 2009 in the MediaPark in Cologne: Rüdiger Siebert. Journalist and writer. 1944-2009. 38 pages with 10 photos (December 2009). - With contributions by Margarete Siebert (introduction, greeting the guests, review), Karl Mertes (a life in fast motion, Rüdiger's topics over decades and Rüdiger's legacy, two readings and a bibliography), Albert Klütsch and Winfried Kurrath (readings), Sven Hansen , Yusiu Liem and Arifien Musnadi (memorial speeches). - This brochure did not reach the book trade.

Web links

Commons : Rüdiger Siebert  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Rüdiger Siebert in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ His teacher was the important Malayologist Irene Hilgers-Hesse (1905–2004); Obituary: [1]