Helbig, Karl Martin Alexander b. March 18, 1903; Hildesheim, Hanover (Prussia) d. October 9, 1991; Hamburg
German geographer and explorer of Central America. Karl Helbig came from humble circumstances and had, by the age of twenty, lost both of his parents. After finishing school in 1921 and during his university studies, he had to earn his own living as an occasional worker and coal shoveler.
Even after obtaining his doctorate from the University of Hamburg in 1930 with an urban geographical study on Batavia (Djakarta), he continued to sail the world’s seas as a stoker below decks, interrupted again and again by exploratory sojourns in Indonesia. He attempted to increase his income with numerous scientific publications, popular travelogues (e.g., Tuan Gila, ein verruckter Herr wandert am Aquator [Tuan Gila: A Crazy Man Hikes on the Equator], 1934); and books for young people (e.g., Kurt Imme fahrt nach Indien [Kurt Imme Sails to India], 1933; and Nordkap in Sicht [North Cape in Sight], 1935). In the process he became known as one of the best experts on the islands of Southeast Asia. From 1936 to 1937 he lived in the Dutch East Indies and visited the islands of Java, Bangka, Belitung, Borneo, and Bali. In this time, he crossed the island of Borneo from west to east on a 3,000-km-(1,865 miles) long march. An important consequence of his explorations was his obtaining of his second doctoral degree (Habilitation) in geography from the University of Marburg in 1940 (Die Insel Bangka [The Island of Bangka]). An academic career, however, was not an option for the restless globetrotter and political nonconformist.After World War II, he devoted himself to Central America because of the uncertain political conditions in Indonesia. He had become acquainted with the Caribbean as a young man on several voyages. In 1953 he crossed Honduras on foot, starting from El Salvador. He concentrated on ethnological questions (Antiguales (Al- tertUmer) der Paya-Region und der Paya-In- dianer von Nordost-Honduras [Antiquities of the Paya Region and of the Paya Indians of Northeast Honduras], 1956) and conducted the first land survey of this still largely unexplored region of the Mosquitia Plain (Die Landschaften von Nord- Honduras [The Regions of Northern Honduras], 1959). In 1957 and 1958, he explored, on behalf of the Mexican government, the southern province of Chiapas, where the German Leo Waibel had already made trailblazing explorations at the beginning of the 1930s.
The scientific results appeared, after further stays in Chiapas, in a two-volume work (Chiapas. Ge- ografia de un Estado Mexicano [Chiapas:Geography of a Mexican State], 1976), that was recognized with a state award in 1979. Helbig’s literary works come to over 400 titles; many of his books were translated into other languages. He made no secret of his sympathy for the inhabitants of Central America and their struggle for freedom. His political views permitted his books to appear during the cold war not only in the West but also in the German Democratic Republic (e.g., Von Mexiko bis zur Mosquitia [From Mexico to the Mosquitia], 1958; Indioland am Karibis- chen Meer [Indian Country on the Caribbean Sea], 1961; So sah ich Mexiko... von Monterrey bis Tapachula [As I Saw Mexico: From Monterrey to Tapachula], 1962; Unter Kreolen, Indios und Ladinos [Among Creoles, Indians, and Mestizos], 1966). In 1988 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. He recapitulated his adventurous and, for an academic, extremely unusual life as a stoker and coal shoveler in an autobiography Seefahrt vor den Feuern (Navigation in Front of the Boiler, 1987).
Heinz Peter Brogiato
See also Waibel, Leo Heinrich
References and Further Reading
Rutz, Werner, and Achim Sibeth, eds. Karl Helbig—Wissenschaftler und Schiffsheizer. Sein Lebenswerk aus heutiger Sicht. Ruckblickzum 100. Geburtstag. Hildesheim: Olms, 2004.