Reuel Anson Lochore (1903 – 1991) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

public servant, diplomat, scholar, and philologist.

Biography

Lochore was the son of a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

minister and a teacher of the deaf. He studied English, French, Latin, philosophy and psychology at Auckland University College and also taught at a college in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. From his adolescence, Lochore admired the German language and culture. In 1930, Lochore moved to Germany where he became a university student. He studied at the Institute for Foreigners in Berlin and later pursued a PhD in Romance languages and literature at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

. During his time in Germany, Lochore witnessed the rise of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

. During the

Interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

, he sought to promote friendly relations between New Zealand and Germany. He attempted to promote a trade agreement between the two countries but this initiative failed due to vocal trade union opposition in New Zealand and a lack of public interest in trade with Germany. In 1938, Lochore defended a controversial visit to New Zealand by

Felix von Luckner Felix Nikolaus Alexander Georg Graf von Luckner (9 June 1881, Dresden – 13 April 1966, Malmö), sometimes called Count Luckner in English, was a German nobleman, naval officer, author, and sailor who earned the epithet ''Der Seeteufel'' (the ...

, a German commercial raider who had targeted Allied shipping in the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Lochore worked as the director for language services at the Department of Internal Affairs and was given the job of screening immigrants to New Zealand including

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. According to Freya Klier, Lochore's anti-Communism stemmed from an experience of being beaten up by a group of

German Communists German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

in 1930. Owing to his connections to the first National Party Prime Minister

Sidney Holland Sir Sidney George Holland (18 October 1893 – 5 August 1961) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 25th prime minister of New Zealand from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957. He was instrumental in the creation and consolidation o ...

, Lochore worked at various diplomatic postings in Asia including

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. In 1950, he published a book called ''From Europe to New Zealand'', which became a guide for helping the Government to screen non-British migrants. While Lochore favoured importing Scandinavian and Dutch immigrants to supplement British and Irish immigrants, he discouraged Italian, Greek, Yugoslavian, Jewish, and Asian immigration to New Zealand. He was also opposed to settlement by

Eurasian Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

s from the former

Netherlands East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

(modern-day

). In 1959, Lochore was appointed as the first secretary to Charles Bennett, the New Zealand high commissioner to Malaya and one of the first Māori officials at the New Zealand Department of External Affairs. Between 1964 and 1966, Lochore also served as the New Zealand minister to Indonesia. During his time in Indonesia, he witnessed the 30 September coup attempt and the rise of

Suharto Suharto (; ; 8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto ...

's New Order. In 1966, Lochore was appointed as New Zealand's first ambassador to West Germany.Freya Klier, ''Promised New Zealand'', pp.241. In 1980, Lochore alleged during a Parliamentary committee that at least 15

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

agents had operated in several government departments including the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Industry, Defence, Justice and Health.

Biography

References

Further reading