Open Password – Friday March 18, 2022
#1043
Homage to the book – Open Password – Simon Verlag für Bibliothekswissen – Books that moved us
Barbara Schulz-Bredemeier – Harry Potter – Joanne K. Rowling – First State Examination in Law – Friendship and Courage – Bravery and Loss – Harry Potter Exhibitions – Hamley London – Universal Theme Park Orlando – Potsdam – Hermione
Helga Schwarz – The Lost Man: Wilhelm Solf in German History – Peter J. Hempenstall – Paula Tanaka Mochida – Honolulu – Hanna Solf – Samoa Islands – Governor – University of Hawai – Colonial Office – Western Samoa – Berlin – Federal Archives – Albert Einstein – Apia – Foreign Office – Hamburg Samoan Club – Pacific Network – Austrian South Pacific Society – Erich Schultz-Ewert – Berlin Tourism Exchange – Samoa National Archives – Natural Disaster 2009 – Polynesian Languages – Consonants
Homage to the book (VII)
An initiative by Open Password
and the Simon Verlag für Bibliothekswissen
Written with heart, passion and deep knowledge about books
“that moved us”
Now that the book is threatened by short attention spans, lack of reading pleasure and electronic formats, it is time for a tribute to the book. Open Password and the Simon Verlag für Bibliothekswissen have teamed up on the project “Books that moved us” and have recruited 41 authors who report with passion, passion and deep knowledge how they were influenced by a particular book.
In the seventh episode of our homage to the book, Barbara Schulz-Bredemeier turns the Harry Potter books into a three-generation family project, not without saying that her daughters are more into Hermione. Helga Schwarz, known to Open Password readers through several articles in Open Password and author of the history of the German Library Institute, falls into Samoan culture and tries to clarify the mystery of the missing consonants.
Barbara Schulz-Bredemeier is reading the book of her life
“Harry Potter” by Joanne K. Rowling
A book that changed my life? Made a life-changing change? Even after much thought and despite my great desire to make my father happy by participating in his new project, I couldn’t think of anything.
But perhaps a book or a book series that means a lot to me – and has enriched my life incomparably?
Anyone who has lawyers in their family or friends knows how difficult it is to prepare for the first state examination in law. And so I came home at Pentecost 1999, not only to celebrate my big little brother’s high school graduation with my parents, but also to recharge my batteries for a week to prepare for further exams. In these beautiful early summer days, my father had a new reading tip for me; He had bought three volumes of a new book series in a bookstore in Hanover – and he really liked the first volume. And so I immersed myself in the world of Harry Potter and his friends in the beautiful sunshine in the Hattinger Wildgarten. I read about friendship and courage, bravery and loss.
The next few years got their own rhythm as we waited together for the new volume and the next film adaptation. During and afterward, I visited a Harry Potter exhibition at Hamleys in London with my father and brother, drank Butterbeer with my husband at Universal Theme Park in Orlando on our honeymoon, and learned about favorite characters and favorite scenes from friends and family. And two and a half years ago, it was a particular pleasure for me to visit a Harry Potter exhibition in Potsdam not only with my brother and his wife, but also with our daughters. By the way, after a good year of reading and watching the films, my daughters have also become big fans. And believe it or not, her favorite person is Hermione.
Helga Schwarz is reading the book of her life.
“The Lost Man: Wilhelm Solf in German History”
by Peter J. Hempenstall and Paula Tanaka Mochida
Helga Black
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- Aerosols
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“Helga, can you read this?” asks my friend and colleague Paula, whose house in Honolulu I was visiting in 1991. She pushes a small book into my hand with a text written in German and current German script. Yes, I can read that because I learned these sharp letters at school. It is the diary of Hanna Solf, the wife of Wilhelm Solf, the first German governor of the Samoa Islands, which she kept from 1907 to 1909. And so I start reading to Paula. The first two pages are difficult because I forgot a lot of letters, but then it goes smoothly. An unknown world opens up to me! Life on Samoa at the beginning of the 20th century, the hostilities between the island’s population, whose pacification was the governor’s most difficult task.
I actually wanted to talk to Paula more about my work in Hawaii, but these few pages that I read almost make me forget about my task. I have already visited several US university libraries in search of source material for my master’s thesis. Paula is the deputy director of the university library at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and, as the daughter of a US officer, grew up in southern Germany after World War II from the age of three to the age of 16. She speaks fluent German, has German friends and feels German very connected. During the first telephone contact before my trip, she asked me to come to Honolulu because there would be good material for my research there. So it happens that a Berliner (me) reads to an American woman from the diary of another Berliner.
No, this diary is not the book that changed my life, but it opened the door to it.
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- Infection
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Paula reports how she came across the life of Wilhelm Solf by chance and because there are points of contact with her own story, she stuck with it. She was impressed by the many facets of this man. Wilhelm Solf (1862-1936) was highly educated, studied Indology and then law and had a strong interest in foreign cultures. He believed he could best implement this preference as an official at the Colonial Office. After brief activities in India and East Africa, in 1900 he was appointed governor of Western Samoa, which had just been taken over by Germans. From 1909 he was a member of the Reichstag. In the turmoil after the First World War and after the Kaiser’s abdication in 1919, he was foreign minister for a short time and then German ambassador to Japan until his retirement in 1928. Then until his death in resistance against the Nazi regime.
Paula had decided to write a biography about this man. She had already researched diligently and had already found a co-author. Solf’s private life center was always Berlin, so it was a good thing that a true Berliner was sitting in front of her and she asked me to help her research Solf’s life in Berlin. She had already infected me with the Solf virus through her stories and I agreed.
As part of the biographical search, Paula made contact with the descendants of the Solf family and received Hanna’s diary from them. She had also been to the Federal Archives in Koblenz and was able to view many source texts there, including a correspondence between Solf and Albert Einstein. She had also traveled to Samoa twice and told me funny stories about the sleepy capital Apia in the 1970s. She just hadn’t made it to Berlin yet.
This had to be made up for! Paula came to Berlin twice alone or with her family. We visited all the branches of the Federal Archives in Berlin and Potsdam, but we didn’t get much out of it. Paula really wanted to see the places where Solf lived and worked in Berlin. Unfortunately, they were all located in the center of Berlin, roughly where the government district is today. So there was nothing left to see, even the street where Solf lived privately no longer exists.
But descendants of Hanna’s family still live in Berlin. We visited an older couple together, Wilhelm Solf’s great-nephew, who had met him as a child. He also had documents that he left to Paula. We also visited places of remembrance of Hanna Solf, whose sad fate during the Nazi era touched me deeply. I absorbed everything I could subsequently learn about Samoa. Gradually Solf and Samoa started to become an important part of my life. But I wanted more information. The hunt has begun!
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- Intensive care unit
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In imperial times the Colonial Office had been a department of the Foreign Office, so there must be something there! At the end of the 1990s, the Foreign Office and with it its archive moved from Bonn to Berlin. It was quite easy to gain access there. For Wilhelm Solf they had two boxes with files, official papers, including interesting statistics, photos and small artifacts from Samoa. So I was able to continue supplying Paula with ammunition.
I began to look for fellow activists or Pacific experts and discovered the Hamburg Samoan Club, which brought together descendants of Germans who had lived and worked in Samoa, as well as a number of Samoans. I became a member straight away. All members there are laypeople with a personal connection to Samoa, but not scientists. I found this when I came across the Pacific Network. Ethnologists, geographers and other scientists are active here, as are laypeople. So of course – become a member immediately.
Both associations hold regular meetings and an annual general meeting, the Hamburg-Samoan Club, which is more of a folkloristic event, which is essentially organized by the Samoans themselves, with music and dance and, above all, a traditional feast – pig in an earth oven! At the annual conferences and general meetings of the Pacific Network, the focus is on specialist lectures, but Pacific folklore is also not neglected. I learned a lot, became aware of relevant literature and was able to get hold of special cards. There is a collaboration with the Austrian South Pacific Society, which brings in its own aspects. My horizons are constantly expanding and the contacts there are invaluable. Some members have become real friends.
My new information flowed immediately to Honolulu and the project made very good progress. A German publisher was found. On July 2, 2005, the publication of the work “The Lost Man: Wilhelm Solf in German History” was celebrated with great celebration in Starnberg. Paula came with her entire family, including the descendants of the Solf family, as well as Paula’s childhood friends from the Allgäu and a representative of the publishing house. A happy round at the conclusion of a major undertaking.
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- Long Pacific
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Was that it? Absolutely not! Working on this book changed my life forever. I was no longer working and my family responsibilities became fewer – now I was able to ‘get involved’ even more intensively.
Through my membership in the above-mentioned associations, I became acquainted with more and more knowledgeable people who are dedicated to various aspects of the South Pacific. There are specialists for almost every archipelago and every field. Many of them have lived there for a long time and are always happy to provide information when I have a question. Others still live there and answer questions via email. Two of them have become close friends, including the granddaughter of the second German governor of Samoa, Erich Schultz-Ewert, Wilhelm Solf’s successor until 1914. She has valuable historical documents that her grandfather saved to Germany from 1914 onwards, despite his captivity in New Zealand could.
The geographical area I explored continued to expand. Not only Samoa, but the Polynesian culture as a whole came into my focus, although my primary interest remained Samoa. But I hadn’t been there yet.
But in 2010 the time had come. In preparation for a big trip to the South Pacific, which would also take me to Fiji and New Zealand – following another stay in Hawaii – I visited the tourism exchange in Berlin. That’s where I met Ron! He was responsible for Samoa’s stand at this fair. When I explained to him that I was looking for places where Wilhelm Solf had lived and worked, he was thrilled. “Finally someone who is not just interested in the beach and South Sea romance, but in our history!”
Ron, born in East Prussia, grew up in the Rhineland, soccer player, sailor, got stuck in the Pacific, national soccer coach in Tonga and now a factotum of the Samoan government for everything in Samoa, kept his word. My stay in Samoa was completely planned by him, including a meeting with the Prime Minister immediately upon arrival. The second governor’s granddaughter had given me valuable documents from her possessions for the National Archives of Samoa, which I was able to present to him. Then an interview with the local newspaper, who also asked for a report on my motivation for visiting Samoa. Meeting with the Minister of Education, with a well-known women’s rights activist and a visit to the National Library. Of course, I also got to see all the locations where Solf had lived and worked. Many of these discussions took place in German, because there are still a lot of people with German roots living in Samoa and also holding important positions; several ministers in 2010 were of German origin. They were hectic days.
In 2012, Samoa celebrated its fiftieth anniversary of independence. For this occasion, the Hamburg Samoan Club organized a group trip to Samoa. So it happened that after two years I was back in Samoa and met Ron again and other acquaintances from my first trip. The Hamburg Samoan Club is highly regarded in Samoa because it actively provided aid after a natural disaster on the main island in 2009. Our small group had priority access to several festive events. During this stay I noticed the very melodious and melodic Samoan language. Ron also told me a lot about it and his impressions of other Polynesian languages.
My curiosity was piqued. It would be nice if I could speak Samoan during another stay there. I obtained material about Samoan and other Polynesian languages. I discovered that these languages work very differently than European or Arabic languages, making them really difficult to learn. I gained fundamental insights into Polynesian culture, because language reveals the essence of a people.
I found a publisher that publishes and distributes Polynesian language textbooks. When comparing several of these languages and their phoneme inventory, it was obvious that over the course of the settlement history of the South Pacific, the consonants became fewer and fewer as each individual language developed. Originally – at the beginning of settlement around 5000 years ago there were at least 27 consonants, Hawaii – the last archipelago to be settled by Polynesians – still has 7! But why? In my subsequent research I found many statistics about the occurrence of consonants in individual languages, but no explanation for their gradual disappearance.
A new challenge! That needs to be investigated. Apparently no one has done this yet. So get to it, Helga! So Samoa, Polynesia, its wonderful culture and its languages will probably accompany me for the rest of my life.
Peter J. Hempenstall and Paula Tanaka Mochida: The Lost Man: Wilhelm Solf in German History. – Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005 – 279 pages with numerous illustrations (sources and research on the South Seas; Series B: Research; Volume 2)
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