Hermann Wilhelm Wilberg (1880
– 24 November 1946) was a German
mining engineer
Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...
.
Born in 1880 in Dortmund, Germany, the son of a butcher, Wilberg studied mine engineering.
From 1899 to 1910 he worked for the ''Oberbergamt'' (mining office) in
Halle/Saale
Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anh ...
, Germany.
before moving to Mogadir, Morocco as representative for the Hamburg-Marrokko-Gesellschaft.
In summer 1911 he was sent to
Agadir
Agadir ( ar, أݣادير, ʾagādīr; shi, ⴰⴳⴰⴷⵉⵔ) is a major city in Morocco, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Souss River flows into the ocean, and south ...
on behalf of the
German Foreign Office
, logo = DEgov-AA-Logo en.svg
, logo_width = 260 px
, image = Auswaertiges Amt Berlin Eingang.jpg
, picture_width = 300px
, image_caption = Entrance to the Foreign Office building
, headquarters = Werderscher Mark ...
in order to provide the pretext for the German intervention in Morocco resulting in the
Agadir crisis
The Agadir Crisis, Agadir Incident, or Second Moroccan Crisis was a brief crisis sparked by the deployment of a substantial force of French troops in the interior of Morocco in April 1911 and the deployment of the German gunboat to Agadir, a ...
. Due to delays in his journey he did not make it in time to be "rescued" by a German gunboat, only arriving in Agadir on 4 July 1911, three days after . This resulted in him being dubbed the "Endangered German" in posterity.
In May 1912 he married Margarete von Maur, daughter of Heinrich von Maur, the
Mannesmann
Mannesmann was a German industrial conglomerate. It was originally established as a manufacturer of steel pipes in 1890 under the name "Deutsch-Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG". (Loosely translated: "German-Austrian Mannesmann pip ...
representative in Morocco. Returning to Germany later that year, he worked for the ''Oberbergamt''
Oberhausen
Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gaso