Theodor von Hassel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theodor Berthold Paul Hassel (from 1887 von Hassel , born September 29, 1868 in Trier , † November 29, 1935 in Mahenge , Tanganyika ) was a German officer and farmer in East Africa. He was the father of the Federal Minister and Bundestag President Kai-Uwe von Hassel .

Life

Theodor von Hassel was the second son of the Prussian officer Friedrich von Hassel (1833–1890) and his mother Elise Helene Christiane Hassel nee. Thormann (1846-1896). The father was raised to hereditary nobility on March 22, 1887 by Kaiser Wilhelm I.

In 1878 von Hassel was accepted into the Prussian main cadet institute in Groß-Lichterfelde near Berlin. In 1885 he moved to Magdeburg High School , which he graduated from with the Abitur in 1887 . In the same year he joined the Prussian army as an officer and served in the Schleswig-Holstein Fusilier Regiment No. 86 , which was stationed in Flensburg and Sønderborg . For rescuing a child from the Copenhagen harbor basin , von Hassel was awarded the Rescue Medal on Ribbon. At times he was a sailing instructor in the 1st  Sea Battalion in Sønderborg, but returned to his previous association in 1900.

In 1903 von Hassel reported as first lieutenant to the protection force for German East Africa and thus resigned from the army. When he reported in Dar es Salaam in May 1903, von Hassel was promoted to captain , although initially he was listed as a surplus captain without a post. After learning about the legal system in the protected area and familiarizing himself with the language, Swahili , he was given command of the 3rd Company in Lindi at the end of August 1903 . In November 1904, von Hassel was appointed chief of the 12th company in Mahenge. The location was in the area of ​​the Maji Maji uprising , which broke out in the south of the colony in late July 1905. At the end of August 1905, several thousand rebels reached the station. In the battle of Mahenge that followed, von Hassel had machine guns used against the attackers, which finally broke off the siege after heavy losses.

During a home leave in October 1906, he married Emma Jebsen (* May 14, 1885), the daughter of the ship owner and politician Michael Jebsen from Aabenraa . On January 10, 1907, von Hassel and his wife arrived in Dar es Salaam. Kurt von Schleinitz , commander of the Schutztruppe, presented von Hassel with the Order of the Red Eagle for his work in the Maji Maji uprising. From Hassel became chief of the 5th company in Massoko near Neu-Langenburg . His first child, Gertrud , was born in Dar es Salaam on September 10, 1908 (the second child, Friedrich, was born in Germany on April 16, 1910). In 1909 von Hassel left the Schutztruppe, but remained as a farmer in German East Africa. He founded the Neu-Aabenraa farm near Wilhelmstal in the Usambara Mountains , where mainly coffee was grown. Kai-Uwe was born as the third child on April 21, 1913 in the nearby mission town of Gare .

During the First World War, von Hassel again became a member of the Schutztruppe. In November 1917 he became a British prisoner of war, from which he was released to Germany in 1919. His marriage and the attempt to build a new life in the north German town of Glücksburg failed. In 1926 he returned alone to the former German East Africa, which was now largely under British administration as Tanganyika . He wanted to build a new coffee plantation near Mahenge, his former station. In the last months of his life he was supported by his son Kai-Uwe, who had completed an apprenticeship as a colonial farmer in Germany. On November 29, 1935, von Hassel died of brain malaria . He was buried in the Mahenge military cemetery.

Awards

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kilian 2013, p. 34.
  2. ↑ Kilian 2013, p. 45.
  3. ↑ Kilian 2013, p. 46.
  4. ↑ Kilian 2013, p. 71.
  5. ↑ Kilian 2013, p. 82f.
  6. ↑ Kilian 2013, p. 91.
  7. ↑ Kilian 2013, pp. 102, 118.
  8. ↑ Kilian 2013, p. 124.
  9. ↑ Kilian 2013, p. 157.
  10. ↑ Kilian 2013, p. 176.
personal data
SURNAME Hassel, Theodor von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hassel, Theodor Berthold Paul von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer and farmer in East Africa
DATE OF BIRTH September 29, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH trier
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1935
Place of death Mahenge , Tanganyika (now Tanzania )