History of the First German to Gain Korean Citizenship
As I was browsing through the Stars & Stripes archives I found this interesting nugget that the first German to gain Korean citizenship, Fritz Hohmann did so in 1967 in Yeosu of all places:
December 2, 1967 edition of the Stars & Stripes
I wonder if Mr. Hohmann decided to stay in Korea or not over the long term? Considering that he received citizenship and changed his name to Yongbu Homan it seems he was committed to living his life out in South Korea. I hope everything worked out for the best for him.
Interesting. Out of curiosity I did a bit research on him and found that he died in 1982. He was the principle of an Institute in Naju where young Koreans were trained to work in Germany. During his time as principle he allegedly sexually abused many of his students. He applied for Korean citizenship just when further investigations into the case started (1967). The Korean government subsequently turned a blind eye on the case and approved his application. Germany and Korea have kept quite about this since then. On top of that he received the ‘Verdienstkreuz – Cross of the Order of Merit?’ for his service for Germany and Korea, which was given to him personally by the Korean president back then!
I knew Professor Hans Prufer. He was a German man who came to Korea in 1954 to help build hospitals, and eventually became a German language professor at a university in Seoul. He didn’t leave for almost 50 years, and only returned to Germany when he became really ill; and died shortly thereafter. He never became a Korean citizen though. He married a Korean lady and they raised four kids. One of the boys went to school in the US and eventually joined the US Army, and through him, I got to know the family in Seoul. The father was a really interesting person and I spent many hours chatting with him about his early years in Korea.
Guitard, thanks for trying to raise the standard of posts here. I apologize for may lack of same.
@guitard and setnaffa: Appologies that my post didn’t meet your quality standards in terms of content and English writing. I find your posts on this blog so much more educated! Anyways…
@msm1606: Thanks for the update on Hohmann. I guess back then the Korean government did not want the black eye of allowing this guy to sexually abuse children to become public knowledge, if he in fact did it. It makes you wonder if true if this was something he continued to do until his death?