Leutnant a.D. Hans-Erich von Tzschirner-Tzschirne in turkish services?

[Holger Kotthaus]

Leutnant a.D. Hans-Erich von Tzschirner-Tzschirne in turkish services?

 

This name appears several times in German documents from 1914 to 1918.

As governor of Aqaba, intelligence officer, Turkish police lieutenant and member of the Afghanistan-expedition???

Does anyone know of reputable and verifiable information?

 

Regards Holger

[michaeldr]

If you can find them, in 1920 he published a couple of books covering his war time service:-

1] Streifzüge um den Persischen Golf, Berlin, Borngräber, 
2] In die Wüste. Meine Erlebnisse als Gouverneur von Akaba, Berlin, Borngräber

 

[michaeldr]

This footnote appears in GERMANY' S COVERT WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST Espionage, Propaganda and Diplomacy in World War I by Curt Prüfer, Edited and Translated by Kevin Morrow. Published in 2018 by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd. 
“Hans-Erich Tzschirner was originally assigned to the Afghan Expedition, but was transferred to ‘Aqaba after squabbling with teammates. Oberhaus, Aufstande, p. 245.”
There are half a dozen refs to him in the text of the book

[Glenn J]

Holger,

I am afraid I cannot add anything of substance to his wartime activities but here are his brief pre-war Prussian army details:

18.10.01: Promoted to Fähnrich in Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 17

18.10.02: Commissioned as a Leutnant in Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 17

04.08.04: Left active service.

His name is just plain Tzschirner in the Prussian army list.

Regards

Glenn

[stevenbecker]

Mate,

I have him recorded as the basic on him

Tzschirner-Tzschirne Hans-Erich von    Capt / Hptm    Governor of Akaba 1914 - Iran'a geden askeri heyet üyesi 6.Orduda (Member of the military delegation to Iran 6th Army) Mesopotamia (Intell officer) to Staff officer to von Sanders 10-16     1915-17    (1882 at Demmin died 1951) was an explorer and writer wrote "My experiences as governor of Akaba" "Streifzüge um den Persischen Golf" Tzschirner gives a very flowery description of Hilgendorff's appearance - Mesopotamia shown in book by von Sanders
 

[Glenn J]

I believe the “von” affectation was just a post-war pen-name. His brother Georg (Rittmeister and member of the military mission) is still shown as Tzschirner in 1925.

Regards

Glenn

[GreyC]

Hi Glenn,

this might be true, but please remember that until 1918 there was the possibility of personal nobility. So he might have been promoted to a low form of nobility by the Kaiser or of one of the kings for achievements during his career, e.g. as govenor.

GreyC

[stevenbecker]

Glenn,

Interesting I was not aware of a brother there?

Any details on him?

[Glenn J]

9 hours ago, GreyC said:

but please remember that until 1918 there was the possibility of personal nobility.

Morning Grey,

that is of course the case. However as a Prussian citizen, such an elevation to noble rank would have to have been published in the "Deutscher Reichs-Anzeiger und Königlich Preußischer Staats-Anzeiger" and the "Militär-Wochenblatt". It was not. Please see also the family tree at Geneanet; no mention whatsoever of nobility.

Tzschirner

Regards

Glenn

[Glenn J]

9 hours ago, stevenbecker said:

Interesting I was not aware of a brother there?

Steve,

Rittmeister (27.1.15) Traugott George Adolf Tzschirner, born 17 June 1885 in Demmin. Commissioned into Dragoner-Regiment Nr. 1 on 10.6.04 and spent his pre-war career with this regiment, 1915 to 1917 with the German military mission in Iran and 6th army. Charakter as a Major a.D. with seniority of 9.4.20 granted on 12 June 1920. An Oberstleutnant z.V. in 1940. Died 16 May 1973 at Itzehoe.

Regards

Glenn

[Holger Kotthaus]

Thanks to everyone for the further background information. Regarding the nobility title, his name appears in the official “Historical German Nobility Sources 1300 to 1950” as Tzschirner-Tzschirne, Hans-Erich v. (mentioned in 1950) Also with that strange double surname. http://www.adelskartei.de/165.htm

Unfortunately, I can no longer find the online version of his book: “My experiences as governor of Aqaba”. I think that as a lieutenant in half a police company with 60 gendarmes in Aqaba, he was given the title of governor is pure exaggeration.

Are there any references for this?

Regards Holger

 

[michaeldr]

In his book's text, Prüfer refers to this man as Tzschirner (not in double-barrelled format) 
With the break-up of the Afghan mission he was first taken on as Zeki's adjutant, then when Zeki was replaced and removed from Syria, Tzschirner was ordered to Aqaba on 27th Nov 1914. At this stage he is referred to as a Captain. He actually departed from Damascus [for Aqaba] on 9th Dec 1914.

[Glenn J]

An interesting screenshot from the Deutsches Geschlechtbuch, Band 150 , 1969, "Brandenburgisches Geschlechtbuch".

Particularly salient are:

"Nannte sich seit 1918" = called himself and 

"wurde angeblich von Kaiser Karl von Österreich geadelt" = was supposedly (allegedly) ennobled by Kaiser Karl.

Regards

Glenn

[Holger Kotthaus]

Again; - Thank you for all your details.

 

Tzschirner's military rank was lieutenant, which automatically gave him the Ottoman rank of captain.

His civil title or position, if any, was perhaps that of Kaimakam, Wali or Mudir, but never that of Governor.

 

“On 10 January 1906, Bramly reported that he had established himself at the foot of the Naqb el Aqaba,

in Marashash at the mouth of the Wadi el Arabi near to a well at the head of the Gulf, had met with the

Turkish Kaimakam (head of district) at Aqaba.“

Source: "The Taba Crisis of 1906 in: Case concerning the location of boundary markers in Taba

between Egypt and Israel. https://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_xx/1-118.pdf

 

However, I could only find very contradictory information about the administrative status of Aqaba in 1914.

Regards Holger

 

 

Edited 19 March by Holger Kotthaus