Hans Paasche (3 April 1881, in Rostock – 21 May 1920, in Waldfrieden, Neumark) was a German politician and

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

. He was the son of the Reichstag vice president Hermann Paasche and Lisi Paasche, and was married to Gabriele (Ellen) Witting. Hans (Johannes) Albert Ferdinand Paasche studied at the Joachimsthalsches Gymnasium in Berlin. He became a sea cadet in 1899. An Imperial Navy officer and combative pacifist, Hans Paasche was also a big game hunter and nature conservationist, explorer of Africa and life

reformer A reformer is someone who works for reform. Reformer may also refer to: *Catalytic reformer, in an oil refinery *Methane reformer, producing hydrogen * Steam reformer *Hydrogen reformer, extracting hydrogen *Methanol reformer, producing hydrogen ...

, alcohol abstainer and vegetarian, author and

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

. His brief but active life was marked by attempts to change the Prussian '' Deutschland-über-alles'' military mindset. His first experience with war was at the German African military campaign in the

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mozam ...

colonies, where he learned first hand the horror and futility of war. In 1905, Paasche became commander in chief in the

Rufiji Rufiji may refer to: * Rufiji Delta, a region in Tanzania * Rufiji District, in the Pwani Region of Tanzania * Rufiji River The Rufiji River lies entirely within Tanzania. It is also the largest and longest river in the country. The river is fo ...

-region, now southern Tanzania. His command was decisive, but he also took pains to reach a swift pacification. Refugees and defeated Africans found medical help and shelter at his headquarters at Mtanza. He was decorated with the Order of the Crown with Swords, but was removed from command because of his independent peace negotiations. His experiences during the uprising and his guilty feelings over his actions changed his life forever. After his return to Germany, in 1908 he married Ellen Witting, daughter of

Richard Witting Richard Witting (born: Witkowski; 19 October 1856, Berlin – 22 December 1923, Berlin) was a Prussian politician and financier. Witting studied law at Göttingen, where he became member of Burschenschaft Hannovera (fraternity), :de:Burschensch ...

, director of the

Nationalbank für Deutschland Nationalbank may refer to: * Danmarks Nationalbank, the central bank of Denmark * Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Austria's central bank See also * National bank (disambiguation) National bank has several meanings in banking. National bank may a ...

and former Lord Mayor of Posen ( Poznań). His honeymoon trip brought him back to Africa, where he undertook a major expedition with his wife Ellen, who became the first European woman to reach the source of the Nile and the first to ascend Kilimanjaro, as well as the recently erupted volcano Nyiragongo. Paasche published his first book: ''Im Morgenlicht'' ("In the Morning Light"), which contained impressions of war and of hunting in Africa, but also valuable ethnographical materials. Paasche's fictional series of letters ''Lukanga Mukara'' offer a look at Germany through the eyes of an educated African and mock the decadence of the early pre-World War I Germany. His satirical parody of German lifestyles and attitudes gained immediate popularity. Hans Paasche became one of the most charismatic public figures of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

, well known for openly advocating his provocative ideas. Still in uniform but not on active duty, he undertook an assault on the many wrongs that he saw in the German society and its military obsessions. This brought him many avid listeners and readers, especially among the young. It also brought him vilification, including that of his own father, and the dangerous attention of military prosecutors. A high treason prosecution was conducted against him by

Abteilung IIIb ''Abteilung III b'' was the domestic counterintelligence branch of the Imperial German Army from 1889 until the end of the First World War. Initially created as a section in the Prussian General Staff in 1889 and named ''Sektion III b'', it was ...

, the intelligence service of the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

led by colonel Walter Nicolai. The trial ended in 1918 with a negotiated admission into a mental health institution. He was released at the end of 1918, and continued his work as a radical journalist. He served a brief term in the Berlin Workers' and Soldiers' Council and tried in vain to organize a national court. Eventually he was forced out by right-wing social democrats. After the sudden death of his wife Ellen at twenty nine, he retreated to his estate at Waldfrieden to take care of his four young children, Jochen, Nils, Helga and Ivan. Nevertheless, he still took part in national and international campaigns for peace, understanding among nations, and a League of Nations. His estate Waldfrieden became a shelter for hunted leftist insurgents. His assassination was ultimately decreed by the ultra-nationalist

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are ...

Organisation Consul. In 1920, at the age of 39, he was shot by a commando of sixty soldiers from District Command III while supposedly trying to escape. The soldiers had mounted the operation under an anonymous call with the pretense of finding a hidden weapons cache, which was never found. Few were prosecuted and none were convicted. In 1985, Helga Paasche removed the tombstone of her father from Waldfrieden to the archives of the German Youth Movement on Ludwigstein Castle, where it is part of a permanent Hans-Paasche-exhibition. His life has been extensively documented by his daughter, Helga Paasche, the author Werner Lange and his grandson Dr. Gottfried Paasche (for many years a professor of sociology at Canada's York University), among others. Hans Paasche's great-granddaughter, Sarah Paasche-Orlow, is a Conservative

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

Bibliography

* ''Im Morgenlicht. Kriegs-, Jagd- und Reise-Erlebnisse in Ostafrika'' 1907 * ''Die Forschungsreise des Afrikaners Lukanga Mukara ins innerste Deutschland'' 1912/1913 * ''Fremdenlegionär Kirsch - Eine abenteuerliche Fahrt von Kamerun in die deutschen Schützengräben in den Kriegsjahren 1914/15'' 1914 * ''Hans Paasche: Militant Pacifist in Imperial Germany'', by Werner Lange, translated by David Koblick 2005 * MAGNUS SCHWANTJE: "Hans Paasche. Sein Leben und Wirken" (= ''Flugschriften des Bundes Neues Vaterland'', Nr. 26/27) Berlin 1921 * OTTO WANDERER (d.i.

Otto Buchinger Otto Buchinger (February 16, 1878 at Darmstadt – April 16, 1966 at Überlingen) was a German physician, credited with being the first to systematically document the beneficial effects of fasting on a number of diseases. Buchinger studied medi ...

): Paasche-Buch Hamburg 1921 * FRANZISKUS HÄHNEL: Erinnerungen an Hans Paasche. In: ''Junge Menschen'', 3. Jg., Heft 11/12* Juni 1922 * HELMUT DONAT, WILFRIED KNAUER (Ê.): "„Auf der Flucht“ erschossen. Schriften und Beiträge von und über Hans Paasche" (= ''Schriftenreihe Das Andere Deutschland'', Nr. 1) Bremen/Zeven 1981 * REINHOLD LÜTGEMEIER-DAVIN: "Hans Paasche (1881–1920), Lebensreformer, Anti-Preuße, Revolutionär". In: ''Jahrbuch des Archivs der deutschen Jugendbewegung'' Bd. 13, Burg Ludwigstein 1981 * HELGA PAASCHE: "Ein Leben für unsere Zukunft. Hans Paasche zum 65. Todestag". In: ''Jahrbuch des Archivs der deutschen Jugendbewegung Bd. 15, Burg Ludwigstein'' 1984-85 * PETER MORRIS-KEITEL: ''Umwertung aller Werte. Hans Paasches'' * HORST NAUMANN: "Hans Paasche. Pazifist - Revolutionär - Kommunist". In: ''Die Novemberrevolution und die Gründung der KPD. Protokoll der wissenschaftlichen Konferenz …, Teil 1'' Berlin 1989 * HANS PAASCHE (E. HELMUT DONAT, HELGA PAASCHE): "Ändert Euren Sinn! Schriften eines Revolutionärs" (= ''Schriftenreihe Geschichte und Frieden'', Bd. 2) Bremen 1992 * KARL H. SOLBACH: "Hans Paasche - Offizier, Reformer, Revolutionär". In: CORNELIUS NEUTSCH, KARL H. SOLBACH (E.), ''Reise in die Kaiserzeit. Ein deutsches Kaleidoskop'' Leipzig 1994 * ALAN NOTHNAGLE: "Metanoia! Hans Paasche - ein lebensreformerischer Visionär". In: ''Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft'', 45. Jg., Nr. 9 Berlin 1997 * GOTTFRIED PAASCHE, JOAQUIN KUHN (E.): ''The Strange Story of the Shooting of Captain Hans Paasche. The Writings and Actions of a Peace Martyr'' Toronto 2001 * JERZY GIERGIELEWICZ: "Hans Paasche: fascynujaca postac Niemca, w Polsce prawie nie znana". In: ''Wedrowiec Zachodniopomorski'', 10. Jg., Nr. 2 Szczecin 2003 * HANS PAASCHE, P. WERNER LANGE: "Die Legende von der Vertreibung der Kaiserin oder Potsdamer Beiträge zum deutsch-polnischen Jahr". In: ''Schriftzüge. Brandenburgische Blätter für Kunst und Literatur'', 7. Jg., Nr.1 Potsdam 2005 * P. WERNER LANGE: "Die Toten im Maisfeld. Hans Paasches Erkenntnisse aus dem Maji-Maji-Krieg". In: FELICITAS BECKER, JIGAL BEEZ (E.), ''Der Maji-Maji-Krieg in Deutsch-Ostafrika, 1905-1907'' Berlin 2005 * P. WERNER LANGE: "„Und ich zweifelte, ob ich ein Krieger sei …” Der Kolonialoffizier und Pazifist Hans Paasche". In: ULRICH VAN DER HEYDEN, JOACHIM ZELLER (E.), ''Macht und Anteil an der Weltherrschaft. Berlin und der deutsche Kolonialismus'' Münster 2005 * P. WERNER LANGE: "Die Treppe zum Himmel. Zur Eröffnung einer Gedenkstätte für Hans Paasche in der Wojewodschaft Wielkopolska". In: ''Inter Finitimos. Jahrbuch zur deutsch-polnischen Beziehungsgeschichte 3'' Osnabrück 2006 *ANDREAS SCHMID
"Deutschland im Spiegel Ostafrikas. Hans Paasches Lukanga Mukara (1912/13)"
In:
Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften
', 14. Jg., Nr. 2, 2020, 49–66.

References

External links

* * *
Chronology of Hans Paasche’s Life (by Werner Lange)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paasche, Hans 1881 births 1920 deaths People from Rostock People from the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin German politicians German Youth Movement Imperial German Navy personnel of World War I Organisation Consul victims Joachimsthalsches Gymnasium alumni