Post War life
Post war picture
On 12 May 1921, Luckner became a Freemason of the Lodge Zur goldenen Kugel (Große Landesloge von Deutschland) in Hamburg. He wrote a book of his adventures which became a best-seller in Germany, and an American book about him spread his fame widely. An entertaining speaker, he was widely admired for his seamanship and for having fought his war with minimal loss of life, and many cities in the United States made him an honorary citizen. In 1937 and 1938 he and his wife undertook a round-the-world voyage in his yacht Seeteufel, being welcomed in New Zealand and Australia, though some viewed him as an apologist for the Nazi regime.
During the Second World War Hitler tried to use him for propaganda purposes, though as a Mason he was not in one of the Nazi's favoured groups of people. Luckner refused to renounce his membership of the Masons or the various honorary citizenships granted in the US, and consequently he suffered by having his bank account frozen. In 1943 he saved the life of a Jewish woman, Rose Janson, whom he provided with a passport he found on a bombsite, and who subsequently managed to escape to the US via a neutral country. At the end of the war, the mayor of Halle where he was living asked him to negotiate the town's surrender to the approaching American forces, which he did, though he did not return to the town after hearing that the Nazis had condemned him to death.
Luckner was extremely strong and was noted for his ability to bend coins between his thumb, index and middle finger of his right hand and to tear up telephone directories (the thickest being that of New York) with his bare hands. On the occasion of his visit to Australia in 1938, the Sydney Labour Daily published a cartoon showing Kaiser Wilhelm tearing up the Belgian Neutrality Pact, Adolf Hitler tearing up another agreement, and Luckner tearing up a directory, with the caption "They All Have The Habit".
After the Second World War, Luckner moved to Sweden, where he lived in Malmö with his Swedish second wife Ingeborg Engeström, until his death in Malmö at the age of 84 in 1966. He is buried in Main Cemetery Ohlsdorf , Hamburg.
Count von Luckner wrote the introduction for Alfred Niezychowski's book The Cruise of the Kronprinz Wilhelm, 1928, published by Doubleday & Company, about the auxiliary cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm (Note: though she had the same name, this was a different ship than the Kronprinz Wilhelm that Count von Luckner was on during the Battle of Jutland)
Between 1973 and 1975 a French-German Co-Production company produced a 39-episode adventure series entitled "Graf Luckner" for the German ARD television network, featuring Luckner as the hero. The French alternate title was "Les Aventures du Capitaine Luckner".
On 29 March 2004 the society "Felix Graf von Luckner Gesellschaft e. V." (The Felix Graf von Luckner Society) was founded in Halle, with the objective of commemorating Luckner's life and work, especially his role in safeguarding the city of Halle during April 1945. The Society also created a memorial for Luckner in Halle, and wished to restore Luckners' yacht, Seeteufel, which is currently in a poor condition in Russia.
Link to the Society
http://luckner-society.com/
This is the final instalment I hope you have enjoyed this series articles on this fascinating individual.
Regards
Sean
