Willy Merkl
Willy Merkl (born October 6, 1900 in Kaltennordheim , † probably July 16, 1934 at Nanga Parbat , often also written Willi Merkl) was a German engineer and mountaineer .
Life
In the First World War Merkl served as a soldier. From 1920 to 1923 he studied mechanical engineering at the Technical State College in Nuremberg , where he was an active member of the Nuremberg fraternity of Danubia from the summer semester of 1922. Merkl accepted a position as an engineer at the Deutsche Reichsbahn in the Augsburg railway depot , which from 1929 led him to the Neuaubing Reichsbahn repair shop near Munich .
As a mountaineer, he opened up around 40 new rock climbs in the Eastern Alps and since 1927 has also undertaken tours in the Western Alps. In 1929 he and Fritz Bechtold carried out eight first ascents on a crossing of the Caucasus . As leader of the German-American Himalayan Expedition in 1932, Merkl discovered a route to the summit of Nanga Parbat , on which he wanted to reach the summit with the " German Himalayan Expedition 1934 ". The company ended with the not fully understood deaths of ten climbers. Merkl's body was found in 1938. His notes were published in 1936 by his half-brother Karl Herrligkoffer under the title Ein Weg zum Nanga Parbat .
Fritz Bechtold's report on the expedition “Germans on Nanga Parbat. The attack in 1934 ”stylizes Willy Merkl as a hero figure who is central to the myth of Nanga Parbat as the“ German mountain of fate ”.
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The German Alpine Association operates the Willi-Merkl-Gedächtnis-Hütte at 1,550 m near Grän and Musau in the area of the Allgäu Alps / Tannheimer Mountains adjacent to the Otto-Mayr-Hütte and Füssener Hütte . The mountain sports department of the Reichsbahn-Turn- und Sportverein Neuaubing , whose director was Willy Merkl, built the Bergheim Willy-Merkl on the Spitzingsee . It was opened in 1938 and is now operated as Willy Merkl Haus . In Flensburg near the Flensburg train station , Willi-Merkl-Platz , a soccer field of VfB Nordmark Flensburg , was apparently named after him.
Fonts (selection)
- From my mountaineering life . Hermann, Berlin 1934.
- A way to the Nanga Parbat. Life, Lectures, and Legacy Writings . 2nd edition, ed. by Karl Herrligkoffer, Bergverlag Rother, Munich 1936.
literature
- Günter O. Dyhrenfurth: The book from Nanga Parbat. The story of his ascent. 1895-1953 . Nymphenburger Verlagshandlung, Munich 1954.
- Peter Grimm: Merkl, Willy. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 158 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Karl Herrligkoffer (Ed.): Willy Merkl. From the Karwendel to the Nanga Parbat. The fateful fight of a great climber . Neuer Jugendschriften-Verlag, Hanover 1961.
- Personal folder on Willy Merkl (PDF) in the historical Alpine archive of the Alpine clubs in Germany, Austria and South Tyrol (temporarily offline)
Individual evidence
- ↑ www.willy-merkl-haus.de
- ↑ Flensburger Tageblatt : VfB fights for its home , from February 11, 2013; Retrieved on: October 26, 2014
Web links
- Website of the Willi Merkl Hut
- Willy Merkl in the historical Alpine archive of the Alpine associations in Germany, Austria and South Tyrol (temporarily offline)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Merkl, Willy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Merkl, Willi |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German engineer and mountaineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 6, 1900 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kaltennordheim |
| DATE OF DEATH | uncertain: July 16, 1934 |
| Place of death | at Nanga Parbat |