Theodor Gunzert

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theodor Gunzert (born July 19, 1874 in Seckenheim , † July 26, 1964 in Heidelberg ) was a German lawyer , colonial official and secret government councilor .

Life

Gunzert was the son of the businessman of the same name and Emilie Gunzert, née Vonck. He attended the humanistic grammar school in Mannheim , then studied law in Heidelberg and Berlin from 1892 to 1896 . He passed his first legal exam in April 1896, the second in May 1899. After stays in France and England, he went into the regional public service and in 1901 switched to the Reich Colonial Service of the Foreign Office .

From 1902 he was first district judge in the capital of the German East Africa colony Daressalaam , then from 1904 in Tanga . That year he carried out an expedition in the colonies with Carl Uhlig and Fritz Jaeger . From 1905 to 1906 he was administrator of the Pangani district . As District Officer of Mwanza , he worked from 1907 to 1916. At that time, a house called Gunzert House was built and still exists today. During his tenure he left the chiefs in their positions and thus created an instance of contact persons for the population, but relied on slave labor and hangings as a means of the district leadership. From 1910 he also wrote publications about his time there.

During the First World War he fought in East Africa and was a British prisoner of war from 1916 to 1919 .

After being a prisoner of war, he returned to Germany, became a secret government councilor and until 1924 held the position of director as a permanent representative of the director general in the Reich Return Commission. From 1924 to 1936 he was chairman of the Heidelberg Chamber of Rulings and worked in the colonial department of the Foreign Office until 1936/1939 . He was briefly recalled to this post during World War II . He also worked as a lawyer until 1954 .

Regarding his denazification, he said that his participation was a "patriotic duty". From 1945 he lived in Heidelberg.

He was awarded the Red Eagle Order of the IV class.

His marriage to Elisabeth Wille, the daughter of the historian Jakob Wille , in 1913 resulted in two sons. One of them is Professor Gerhard Gunzert (* 1920).

There is a comprehensive collection of letters between Käthe Hadlich, an acquaintance of the wife, who later received legal support from Theodor Gunzert, and Eduard Spranger , which describes the family's time between 1920 and 1956. In October 1925 Hadlich wrote: “ What was your impression of Theodor Gunzert, the tall, black African? He wrote to his mother that he had voted völkisch, out of opposition to the DN, because they were not allowed to participate in the Locarno hoax. Does his position give him any more insight than others? “In 1955 Eduard Spranger named him Dr. Gunzert denotes that there is no evidence of a doctoral thesis.

He fell seriously ill in 1949, among other things, but kept recovering. For example, a phlebitis and pulmonary embolism healed first in 1949 , followed by pleurisy . In 1956 a femoral neck fracture followed .

Publications (selection)

  • Native communities and native participation in the government of German East Africa , 192X
  • Agriculture of the Germans in East Africa , 1929
  • The legal situation in Cameroon and East Africa under mandate and suggestions for the future German administration , 1937.
  • The legal development in German East Africa under a British mandate , Junker and Dünnhaupt , 1938
  • Colonial Problems of the Present , ES Mittler & Sohn , 1939
  • Memoirs of Theodore Gunzert, administrative officer in German East Africa and later in charge of East African Affairs at the German Foreign Office , Tanzania Notes and Records, 66, p. 171 to p. 179

Web links

literature

  • Wolfgang Hinnenberg: The German efforts to penetrate Tanganyika economically 1925 to 1933 , University of Hamburg, 1973.
  • Michael Pesek : Colonial rule in German East Africa . Campus , 2005.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Gunzert, Theodor. In: Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service, 1871–1945. Volume 2 'G – K' [= Foreign Office - Historical Service - Maria Keipert, Peter Grupp [Ed.]: Biographical Manual of the German Foreign Service 1871–1945. ] Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn Munich Vienna Zurich 2000, p, 137-138. ISBN 978-3-50671-841-9 ( limited preview in Google Book Search)
  2. ↑ Carsten Gräbel: The exploration of the colonies: expeditions and colonial knowledge culture of German geographers, 1884-1919 . transcript Verlag, 2015, ISBN 978-3-8394-2924-2 , pp. 54 ( google.de [accessed on January 11, 2019]).
  3. ↑ H. Jürgen Wächter: Nature conservation in the German colonies in Africa (1884-1918) . LIT Verlag Münster, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8258-1767-1 , p. 79 ( google.de [accessed on January 11, 2019]).
  4. ↑ Lewis H. Gann, Peter Duignan: The Rulers of German Africa, 1884-1914. Stanford University Press, 1977, p. 96 ISBN 0-80470-938-6
  5. ↑ Tourism in Mwanza. Retrieved January 11, 2019 .
  6. ^ Lewis H. Gann, Peter Duignan: The Rulers of German Africa, 1884-1914 . Stanford University Press, 1977, ISBN 978-0-8047-0938-5 , pp. 97 ( google.de [accessed on January 11, 2019]).
  7. ↑ Innocent Kabagema: Rwanda under German colonial rule 1899-1916 . Lang, 1993, ISBN 978-3-631-45969-0 , pp. 111 ( google.de [accessed on January 11, 2019]).
  8. ↑ Wolfgang Hinnenberg: The German efforts to penetrate Tanganyika economically 1925 to 1933. A contribution to the history of the German colonial policy in the Weimar Republic. Hamburg, Univ., Diss., 1937, p. 23.
  9. ↑ Angela Borgstedt : Denazification in Karlsruhe 1946 to 1951. Political cleansing in the area of ​​tension between occupation policy and a fresh start in local politics. (Zugl .: Karlsruhe, Univ., Diss., 2000), UVK-Verlags-Gesellschaft, Konstanz 2001, p. 377. ISBN 3-89669-985-7
  10. ^ Eduard Spranger: Käthe Hadlich to Eduard Spranger, 21./22. May 1951 (Heidelberg). Retrieved January 12, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Angela Borgstedt: Denazification in Karlsruhe 1946 to 1951 .: Political cleansing in the area of ​​tension between occupation policy and a fresh start in local politics. Uvk Verlags GmbH, 2001, ISBN 978-3-89669-985-5 , p. 99 u. a . ( google.de [accessed on January 11, 2019]).
  12. ^ Lewis H. Gann, Peter Duignan: The Rulers of German Africa, 1884-1914 . Stanford University Press, 1977, ISBN 978-0-8047-0938-5 , pp. 99 ( google.de [accessed on January 11, 2019]).
  13. ↑ Norbert Beleke: Who is who ?: The German who's who . Arani, 2001, p. 490 ( google.de [accessed on January 12, 2019]).
  14. ^ Register of persons: G - Online editions of the BBF. Retrieved January 12, 2019 .
  15. ^ Eduard Spranger: Eduard Spranger to Käthe Hadlich, January 2, 1955 (Tübingen). Retrieved January 12, 2019 .
  16. ^ Käthe Hadlich: Käthe Hadlich to Eduard Spranger, 20./21. November 1949 (Heidelberg). Retrieved January 12, 2019 .
  17. ^ Eduard Spranger: Käthe Hadlich to Eduard Spranger, September 6, 1956 (Heidelberg). Retrieved January 12, 2019 .
  18. ^ Tanzania Notes and Records . Tanzania Society, 1966 ( google.de [accessed January 11, 2019]).
personal data
SURNAME Gunzert, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gunzert, Theodor (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, colonial official, district administrator in German East Africa and secret government councilor
DATE OF BIRTH July 19, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Seckenheim
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1964
Place of death Heidelberg