NL001-005_136

Source: Alfred Wegener, Tagebücher, June 1906 – August 1908. DMA NL 001/005.

[136] 21. Sept [1906] (Freitag) (abends). Totmüde! Den ganzen Tag energische Erdarbeit am Hause, vormittags 4, nachmittags 5 Mann im Ganzen. Gestern sollten wir schon die 2 Mann Hülfe bekommen, aber es wurde nichts, vor allem wohl weil Koch (wider Erwarten) schon Mittwoch abends zurückkehrte. Es war für ihn der letzte Termin, sie konnten (mit Segelboot) gerade noch durch das Jungeis hindurchkommen. Seit gestern abend gehen wir zu Fuß zum Schiff. Das Jungeis im Hafen hält bereits ausgezeichnet. Ich muß nun die 3-Farbenphotographie wieder herausholen. Morgen muß ich die eine letzte Platte belichten, dann kann ich 6 entwickeln und bin klar zu 6 neuen Aufnahmen. Morgen Vormittag will ich sehen, ob ich nicht wieder einen Drachen-

[136] 21 Sept [1906] (Friday) (evening). Dead tired! Energetic digging for the house all day, 4 men in the morning, 5 in the afternoon. We were supposed to have had 2 men to help yesterday, but this did not happen, mainly because Koch returned on Wednesday evening (earlier than expected). He was at the time limit, they could only just make it back (with the sailing boat) through the newly forming ice. We have been able to walk to the ship on foot since yesterday evening. The new ice in the harbor is already holding wonderfully. I must now get out the 3-color photography again. Tomorrow I have to expose one last plate, then I can develop 6 and will be ready to make 6 new images. Tomorrow morning I will see if I can

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The Wegener Diaries: Scientific Expeditions into the Eternal Ice

This virtual exhibition sheds light on Alfred Wegener’s expeditions to Greenland between 1906 and 1931. Its main focus is on the diaries Wegener wrote during his explorations, which offer unique insights into the manifold challenges man and material faced in Greenland’s extreme environments. You may choose to read the diaries in their original state, or browse the expeditions individually and read transcribed and translated excerpts by clicking on the individual chapters.

This version, published in 2020, includes minor updates to the original 2013 virtual exhibition. PDFs of the virtual exhibition, as well as original scans and transcripts of the Wegener Diaries, can be found at the exhibition’s PDF Depot.

Christian Kehrt

About the author

Kehrt, Christian

Christian Kehrt works in the fields of environmental history, military history, and the history of science and technology. He studied history and philosophy in Tübingen and Stony Brook, NY. His PhD “Moderne Krieger. Die Technikerfahrungen deutscher Militärpiloten, 1910–1945” deals with flying experiences of military pilots in the age of the two world wars. It was completed as part of the postgraduate research program “Technology and Society” at the Technical University Darmstadt and received the Werner-Hahlweg-Prize for military history, the Georg-Agricola Prize and the prize for young scholars of the German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics. As a postdoc he worked at the Deutsches Museum in Munich on a project on the origins of nanotechnology. In 2009/10 he was a Carson Fellow at the Rachel Center for Environment and Society. Currently he is pursuing a habilitation project on polar exploration in the period of the Cold War at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg where he holds a position as a research associate.

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The Wegener Diaries: Scientific Expeditions into the Eternal Ice

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