Sönke Nissen

Sönke Nissen (born December 27, 1870 in Klockries , Lindholm parish, † October 4, 1923 in Glinde ) was a German industrialist.

life and work

Nissen was born in Klockries, North Frisia. Here he grew up as the son of the carpenter Nis Nissen.

Training time

He attended school in his hometown from 1877, before going to the North Lindholmer School from 1877 . After working on the farm of a Lindholm farmer in 1886, he apprenticed to his father. He then completed the building trade school in Hamburg and then did military service.

Professional career

At the end of 1898 he was hired as a technician at Lenz & Co. In the period up to 1898 he was entrusted with the construction of various railways. Due to the successful implementation of the projects entrusted to him, he was awarded the title of Railway Construction Engineer . From 1903 on, the next stop was to be the German East Africa colony , where he was involved in the further expansion of the Usambara Railway . After a successful course - the railway line was completed four months earlier than planned - Nissen was appointed chief engineer and received substantial compensation.

In December 1905 he finally emigrated to German South West Africa (today Namibia ), where he made a career as a craftsman and engineer. First of all, he was responsible for the construction of a section of the Lüderitzbahn . The section from Lüderitzbucht to Kubub, a place east of Aus , was put into operation on October 31, 1906. At the same time he prepared the documents for the extension of the line to Keetmanshoop , the start of which was delayed until March 1907. In June 1908, the entire route was finally inaugurated.

Together with the railway foreman August Stauch and another partner, he secured the rights to the diamonds found near Lüderitz and thus became a multiple millionaire within a short time.

Return to Germany

Nissen returned to Germany in 1909. At first he lived in Berlin. From 1912 he settled on Gut Glinde east of Hamburg. He remained connected to his old homeland, North Frisia, and used his money to support various projects there. His financial support contributed significantly to the fact that the Sönke-Nissen-Koog (now part of the Reußenköge community ) could be diked in the 1920s.

Nissen died before the dyke construction began. Seven farms of the Koog went to his descendants in return for his financial support. These courtyards still bear the names of stations on the Lüderitz – Keetmanshoop railway line.

Aftermath

The tribe of Christian Boy Scouts , "Sönke-Nissen", based in Glinde , was named after him - with the consent of the descendants of Sönke Nissen. The community school, which is also located in the village, was renamed the Sönke-Nissen community school after a survey at the school.

In his hometown of Klockries a path was also named after him, the Sönke-Nissen-Wäi .

literature

• Sönke Namanny: Sönke Nissen from Klockries in: Series Andersen-Haus (Volume 4), Risum-Lindholm 1997, ISBN 3-00-002018-7
• Marco L. Petersen: Dykes, Death and Diamonds. Remembrance work on the biography of the North Frisian colonial actor Sönke Nissen ; in: Marco L. Petersen: Sønderjylland-Schleswig Colonial. The legacy of colonialism in the region between Eider and Königsau. Odense 2018, ISBN 9788740831610

Documentary film

2003: The road of the dikers. A diamond find and its consequences by Mario Damolin

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sönke Namanny: Sönke Nissen from Klockries. In: Series Andersen-Haus (Volume 4), Risum-Lindholm 1997, ISBN 3-00-002018-7 , p. 37 ff.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Christian scouts tribe Nissen: Sönke Nissen , seen April 24, 2010.
3. ↑ Sönke Namanny: Sönke Nissen from Klockries. In: Series Andersen-Haus (Volume 4), Risum-Lindholm 1997, ISBN 3-00-002018-7 , p. 41.
4. ↑ ibid., P. 42.
5. ↑ ibid., P. 43
6. ↑ ibid., P. 44f
7. ↑ ibid., P. 46