This is an odd, odd picture from Chile and I am wondering if anyone can offer any insight into what it is. Hagenbeck is a very unusual Chilean last name, if fact I have never heard it before, while Carlos is a very common Chilean first name. Stranger still is the word Hijos, which is Spanish for "children." Is one of these people Carlos Hagenbeck with two of his children, or are all three of them Carl Hagenbecks children? Any ideas?
Thursday, January 12, 2012
With Due Respect to Carl Hagenbeck's Legacy
This is an odd, odd picture from Chile and I am wondering if anyone can offer any insight into what it is. Hagenbeck is a very unusual Chilean last name, if fact I have never heard it before, while Carlos is a very common Chilean first name. Stranger still is the word Hijos, which is Spanish for "children." Is one of these people Carlos Hagenbeck with two of his children, or are all three of them Carl Hagenbecks children? Any ideas?
Mystery solved!
ReplyDeleteThis picture is of a group of Africans which performed with Carl Hagenbeck Circus. The location is not Chile, it is Argentina, and the year is 1910, the occasion was the centenial celebration of Argentina. Carlos Hagenbeck = Carl Hagenbeck himself. Hijos = these (most probably) are children of the leader of the group. I have seen it before with wrong labeling ( I guess on ebay). I happen to have been researching about this group tracing them all over until I incidentally stumbled into your site.
I hope that this little information helped the situation.
adios
Bo,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the great information. Was the Argentinian group part of Hagenbeck's show, or what was Hagenbeck's connection to them? What is your interest in this particular group?
Wade
The group was not Argentinean; it was an African one from the continent (East African, to be specific). The members were actors recruited from their homeland by C. Hagenbeck for his infamous "völkerschau" shows which toured all over the world. The group was based in the Hagenbeck zoo in Hamburg, Germany, along many other internationally diverse groups recruited for the same purpose. This was part of what is generally refered as "human zoo". In this occasion, Hagenbeck and his circus were invited by the Argentinian authorities to be featured in the country's centennial celebrations held in 1910 as a separate side show entertainment, and that is how this group came to Argentina. A loong history short!
ReplyDeleteMy interest in this and other similar groups started years ago while researching for a writing project about Hagenbeck’s völkerschau (human zoo(s)) in Europe and elsewhere.
Do you, by chance, own the concerned picture?
Bo,
ReplyDeleteThank you again for the insight. Yes, I have the post card, not picture in my collection of "treasure" which my son's refer to as "Pop's junk." Hagenbeck's human zoo has greatly interested me and we have featured it extensively on CircusNoSpin. Type Hagenbeck's human zoo or Hagenbeck’s völkerschau in the search bar at the top left of the page for some example's. There are other example's to be found in the "manure pile/archives" at the right hand side of the blog.
Fuhrer Marco Kristen offered some fine insight on the first "human zoo" post I had done, and actually convinced me my line of thinking on the subject was wrong, which isn't an easy task for anyone. :) I can't seem to locate the link. Marco do you recall the link?
Wade
Greetings Wade,
ReplyDeleteThis is Bo again. Its been long since. I unfortunately lost track of the link to your interesting blog. I hope you still own the Carlos Hagenbeck postcard we discussed before. May I please use it as a reference for the research I told you before. I will make sure to credit you properly as the owner. My email is bodhari.warsame@gmail.com
Regards,
Bo