Zacharias Lewala
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Zacharias Lewala (fl.1908) is considered to be the one who triggered a diamond noise in the area of Lüderitz with its founding of a rough diamond on the today's northern border of the diamond area of Lüderitz in the then colony of German South West Africa, now Namibia.
Life
Lewala came from southern Africa and was a worker in a diamond mine in Kimberley , where he gained experience in the recognition of rough diamonds. Later he worked under his superior August Stauch at the maintenance of the Lüderitz railway . On April 10, 1908, when he was scouting near the railway station at Grassplatz near Kolmanskop , he discovered several stones in which he suspected diamonds. He dutifully handed it over to Stauch and said: "Look, Mister, moy Klip (beautiful stone)." Stauch sent it to the analysis at Swakopmund and secured a claim in the area. As a result, Stauch earned a fortune.
About Lewala, comparatively little is known, as historiography, and especially tourist literature, are more interested in the German Stauch, whose activity is better documented, and with which European tourists can be more easily identified. Zora del Buono remarks in an article in the German news magazine der Spiegel : "Lewala's name entered history but not much more, the man had nothing of his find, no one paid him for it or showed any kind of gratitude, others made the big business and they made it quick. "
Further reading
- Robert A. Hill (eds.): The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers . Berkeley, University of California Press, 1995. ISBN 0 520-20211-2 , p. 403.
- Harald Stutte / Berliner Zeitung: Ascent and fall of the city Kolmannskuppe . http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/vor-hundert-jahren-entdeckten-die-deutschen-kolonialherren-in-namibias-wueste-diamanten--der-boom-war-nicht-von-dauer-aufstieg -and-fall-of-town-Kolmannskuppe, 10810590,10549940.html
- Martin Eberhardt: Between National Socialism and Apartheid , p. 144.
- Zora del Buono: Luderitz in Namibia. German spirits in southwest . http://www.spiegel.de/reise/fernweh/0,1518,739185-3,00.html
References
- Martin Eberhardt: Between National Socialism and Apartheid. The German population group of Southwest Africa 1915 - 1965 . Berlin / Münster, Lit 2007. ISBN 978-3-8258-0225-7 .
- Olga Levinson: Diamonds in the Desert. The Story of August Stauch and His Times. Windhoek, Kuiseb Verlag 2009. ISBN 978-3-9368-5878-5
Weblinks
- Picture of Zacharias Lewala on the website of Namdeb Holding : http://www.namdeb.com/images/ZachariasLewala.jpg
- Birgit Magiera: April 10, 1908: Zacharias Lewala releases diamond fever , at www.br.de (retrieved June 7, 2016).