Re: [Paddlewise] The Amazing Voyage of Oskar Speck

Peter Rattenbury wrote:

> We would appreciate help from anyone who may have material relating to
> Oskar; in particular,  his early history.

I checked the "relevant" German websites and books about Oskar but could not find anything about him that has not been mentioned before.

Setting out for a long voyage was most typical in that time. Unemployment was high and the future looked grey so thousands of younger and older paddlers went off to travel (usually via the Danube to get to the "south").

> He paddled a 'Pionier' double kayak, and the detail we have on this
> company is as follows:

> Pionier Faltbootwerft
> H Hoeflmayr & Co
> 13 b Bad Tolz
> Fernsprecher: Bad Tolz Nummer 212 und 232
> Telegram-Anschrift "Pionier"
> Bankverbindungen:Direktion der Diskonto-Gesellschaft Filiale Munchen v.
> Stadtische Sparkasse Bad Tolz
> Postscheckkonto: Munchen 51150

I'd assume these are facts from the 1930's, right?

> We would be interested in hearing from any of our German PaddleWisers
> about this company.  Do they still exist?

Nope, unfortunately not. Pionier went bankrupt in about 1968 when lots of German folding kayak makers disappeared due to the bad market situation for folding boats.
You can see some of the prospects for Pionier boats built in the 1950's and 1960's at http://der.poly.bei.t-online.de/pionier_faltboote.html.

A very interesting description of the Pionier factory in 1932 (?) can be read in "German Summer" (forgot the author) which is not in print anymore (check used book shops on the web).

> He also regularly sent back dispatches to a newspaper, the Berliner Lokal
> Anzeiger.

I'll see what I can dig up here in Berlin. Just remind me now and then as I get older (26 by last Sunday :-)).

Some folks in Germany (including me) are in the process of developing an English-German website about folding kayak related history (or rather canoe/kayak history in general). I'd be most interested in the report you and your friends are writing, Peter.

Cheers,
Marian


--
Marian Gunkel
Berlin, Germany
http://www.mariangunkel.de
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