More on Frida Hahn.

[David Costa]

I believe Günter Wagner disappeared by the early 1940s, as well; does  
anyone know what eventually became of him?

I've spoken with some Yuchis working with his materials, and they seem  
to have no idea what happened to him either.

Dave Costa

> Sometime back there was discussion of the German scholar, Frida  
> Hahn, who had been a student of Franz Boas and who had produced a  
> draft dissertation on Ponca grammar, a copy of which was found by  
> John Koontz in the APS library filed under Gordon Marsh (the Ioway- 
> Otoe scholar).  I had concluded that, since she returned to Germany  
> during the 1930s and was Jewish, it was possible that she had not  
> survived the war.  This discussion was picked up by a German  
> scholar, Juergen Langenkaemper, who is researching Franz Boas and  
> his students.  He writes me that Frida Hahn did indeed survive the  
> war and ultimately married a man she had met in New York.  She  
> apparently died in 1984 but her daughter is still alive.  I hope  
> that Mr. Langenkaemper will provide us with additional information  
> on Frida Hahn as it becomes available.  It is good to know that the  
> story of Ms. Hahn had a happy ending.
>
> Bob
>
> ---------
>
> Here is Langenkaemper's message to me:
>
> "When I was working about Franz Boas´ in the
> early 1930s I had to stop at a certain point because nothing could  
> be said
> about Frida Hahn. Except your little discussion in April/May 2008  
> there
> was really nothing. I followed some very speculative positions some of
> yours had had and finally arrived at the point that it was clear  
> that she
> had survived the war. Finally I found her daughter, and it is  
> absolutely
> sure that Katrin Husemann as she called herself later according to her
> second name and to the man she had married - she had met him in New  
> York -
> was exactly Frida Hahn. She had told her daughter that she had studied
> with Boas and that she had been with the Ponca Indians. Photos the
> daughter had sent to me last week, proof this. I´ll try to convince  
> her
> that we must look if her mother who died in 1985, had left her old  
> Ponca
> material at her house near Hamburg. I hope so. I don´t know whether  
> the
> Ponca nation might be interested. But if there is anybody left who  
> might
> remember the days when Frida Hahn was in Oklahoma, we must act quite
> quickly. These persons might be 90 years old.
>
> It´s very sad to hear that Tom Leonard died last year. I think it  
> was him
> who told me that his mother (who had adopted him, if I remember  
> well) had
> worked for Frida as a school girl. Frida had told about this in a  
> letter
> to Boas in summer 1933.
>
> I would be very anxious to get in contact with the Ponca nation, if  
> they
> are interested. If you and Kathleen Shea could help that would be  
> great.
>
> Next week, I´ll be in Canada to talk about Boas and his German  
> contacts in
> the 1930s, including Frida Hahn and Günter Wagner (Yuchi and  
> Comanche) at
> a conference, organized by Regna Darnell. The problem of the code  
> talkers
> and Germans who came to the US to study American Indian languages  
> might be
> very interesting. Have you heard of others except Hahn and Wagner  
> who had
> done this with the help of Boas. Could there have been anyone else  
> than
> Boas, Kroeber and Lowie to guide students?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Jürgen Langenkämper"