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Gordian Troeller (1917-2003) ~~~  Gordian Troeller has left us. Another great man that we will miss so much. Moreover a Luxemburg citizen, one of those who contributed to the glory of my "small" country. He died on Saturday March 22 in Hamburg, where he lived, where I am living too, an "exile" like him. What can I say? His unique opus will speak for him, much better than I could ever do it. And the essence of his personality could not be better summarized than by the words his widow placed on top of the funeral ad above, published on March 26 in the Hamburger Abendblatt: "Enjoyment of life, humaneness and the pursuit of justice determined his actions." The parallelism between the two of us does not stop at our common nationality or at the fact that we both settled in Hamburg. A cosmopolitan like me, an individualist like me, an anarchist like me, Gordian Troeller had done me the honour, together with Frau Dr. Ingrid Becker-Ross, to be my guest at a small party I had given on the occasion of my birthday on September 3, 1996, in the homelike setting of my modest apartment. A memorable evening. Imagine a small group, all of them anarchists (all degrees and all variants, but mostly "left-wing"), gathered in a small cluttered room, around a table stocked with good food and beverages, conversing, discussing, but above all glued to the lips of Gordian and his companion, who both had so many interesting and amusing things to tell. With the help of wine (Gordian had brought two bottles of a very great Bordeaux, to which my organic wine in those days or the one brought by others could not compare in the least), the atmosphere, in the middle of the good wishes arriving by phone from Berlin, Paris or Lisbon, was at its peak, when towards 9:40 PM a call came in which had meant a lot to me, but somehow floored a little the rest of this anarchist circle: The one on the line was Dieter Langendörfer, "cop", former chief of the celebrated investigating commission of Hamburg's criminal police that had so brilliantly solved the famous case of the kidnapping of Jan Philipp Reemtsma*), and now chief of security at Volkswagen AG, who congratulated me while at the same time apologizing for being unable to attend. Everyone was wondering at my having this kind of relations. Their curiosity had been aroused, but I nevertheless decided to leave my guests with their appetite... Another anecdote: Gordian was neither an habitué of the Internet, like me, nor even using a PC. I wanted to make him my convert. My vague enthusiasm, much too general, for all that can be done with this machine left him unconvinced. He requested a concrete example. Caught off my guard, I uttered, as a whim or sally: easy access to porn. With a roguish glance in his eyes and with an enthusiasm which may not have been simulated, he wanted me to go ahead. Unfortunately, or rather happily, the "machine" refused that day to connect us to the World Wide Web... Gordian had very well known my father, Georges Butterbach (deceased in 1993), who on his part had been very much friends with Gordian's father, in spite of the difference in age. A great admirer of the person and the work of Gordian, I am disconsolate at not having had the occasion to clear up some more these relations between our two families in due time. I remember only vaguely what my father once told me on the phone, my own memories are vague also. I was too young at the time and not yet really integrated into all that. There must have been a connection with the help Gordian and my father have given to Jews in order to fly from the Nazis. Another link must have been this persecuted Belgian-Luxemburgish newspaper of the after-war period called "l'Indépendant", if my memory does not betray me. Another furthermore Henri Koch-Kent. And then probably more amusing things. I would be totally grateful to any person from Luxemburg who could fully establish all these details for me. And I ardently wish that a few persons from Luxemburg, official ones or not, would find their way to Hamburg on next April 4 to lay Gordian to rest**). Gordian, I will not forget you, we will not forget you, and your work will continue its proud walk for progress! Christian Butterbach March 26, 2003  *) Prof. Dr. phil. Jan Philipp Reemtsma recently gave a lecture in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, at the Théâtre Municipal of the city of Esch-sur-Alzette, on January 7, 2003, on the occasion of the exhibition »Verbrechen der Wehrmacht. Dimensionen des Vernichtungskrieges 1941-1944« [Crimes of the Wehrmacht. Dimensions of the War of Extermination 1941-1944], under the title »Krieg, Recht, Kriegsverbrechen«. [War, Law, War Crimes]~~~[How topical!] **) Since this English translation of my obituary of March 26 in French (and of April 2 in German), due to my own health problems, is published after the day of the funeral ceremony, I can add that it seems that nobody from Luxemburg was there. At least, I did not recognize anyone. If this is correct, then shame on them. Luxemburg will no doubt later boast with Gordian's achievements... Copyright © 1998-2003 Christian Butterbach. All
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