Paul Lambert Werber (1881 - 1941)
Biography
Paul Lambert Werber was born on 15 July 1881 in Rastatt. He grew up in Freiburg, where he attended school before commencing his military career. In 1902, he was commissioned as an officer in the Reichsmarine (Reich Navy) and subsequently served, among other duties, as the first officer of the S.M.S. Cormoran. In this official function, he was deployed in the brutal quelling of the Sokeh Rebellion on Pohnpei (a part of present-day Federated States of Micronesia) in 1910/1911. He was enlisted in the First World War and became a member of the Freikorps (Free or Volunteer Corps) group “Marinebrigade Erhardt'' after the war ended. In the 1920s, he worked as a salesman. He joined the Nazi Party and worked for various broadcasting stations, eventually becoming director of the Frankfurt am Main state radio station. Paul Lambert Werber died on 25 May 1941.
Paul Lambert Werber donated numerous artefacts from the South Pacific to the then Museum für Natur- und Völkerkunde that he, whilst serving on the S.M.S. Cormoran, had either personally collected – or commissioned the collection of – for the museum.