Rudolf Carl von Slatin
Encyclopedia
Major-General Rudolf Anton Carl Freiherr
von Slatin, Geh. Rat
, GCVO
, KCMG
, CB
(June 7, 1857, Ober-Sankt-Veit, Hietzing
, Vienna
– October 4, 1932, Vienna) was an Anglo
-Austria
n soldier and administrator in the Sudan
.
. Rudolf Carl Slatin was born the fourth child of the merchant Michael Slatin, who had converted from Judaism
to Roman Catholicism, and his second wife, Anna. Their other children were the twins Maria and Anna (born in 1852), Heinrich (1855), Adolf (1861), and Leopoldine (1864). Their father died in 1873, while Rudolf was at the Viennese commercial academy. While there, he heard that a German bookseller in Cairo
was looking for an assistant. Rudolf traveled to Trieste
and thence in five days' time to Alexandria
. He worked in the bookstore until he travelled with the German businessman and consul Rosset to Khartoum
.
From Khartoum, Slatin went through Kordofan to Dar Nuba, exploring the mountains of that region with the German explorer and ornithologist Theodore von Heuglin. He was forced to return to Khartoum when the local Arabs rebelled against the Egyptian government. There Slatin met Dr. Schnitzel, later famous as "Emin Pasha
", and with him intended to visit General Charles George Gordon
at Lado, Gordon at that time being Governor of the Equatorial Provinces. Slatin, however, was obliged to return to Austria without accomplishing his desire, though Emin did go to Lado and at Slatin's request recommended the young traveller to Gordon for employment in the Sudan.
Slatin left Africa in order to serve his conscription
order in the Austrian army.
In 1878, while Slatin was serving as a lieutenant in the crown prince Rudolf
's regiment in the Bosnia
n campaign he received a letter from Gordon inviting him to the Sudan, where Gordon had become the Governor-General. Slatin was now a Lieutenant in the reserves of the Austro-Hungarian Army
. At the close of the campaign, Slatin received permission to go to Africa and he arrived in Khartum in January 1879. After a brief period as financial inspector, Slatin was appointed Mudir (governor) of Dara, the south-western part of Darfur
, a post he held until early in 1881, when he was promoted Governor-General of Darfur and given the rank of bey
.
tribesmen of Southern Darfur rebelled, led by Sheikh Madibbo ibn Ali, a convert to the cause of the religious leader known as the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad
. Slatin gallantly defended his province and though he fought many successful battles, he gradually lost ground. At Om Waragat he lost 8,000 of his men in the first 20 minutes of the battle and was himself wounded three times but he managed to fight his way back to Dara. Believing his troops attributed their failure in battle to the fact that he was a Christian, Slatin publicly adopted Islam
in 1883 and took the Islamic name, Abd al Qadir .
The Mahdists then captured el Obeid, the capital of Kordofan, severing all Slatin's links with Khartoum. When Hicks Pasha's
expedition was annihilated at the Battle of Shaykan in1883, Slatin finally surrendered to his old enemy the Mahdist Emir Madibbo, refusing to make any further sacrifice of life in a hopeless cause. When the Mahdists reached Khartum, an attempt was made to use him to induce the commander Charles George Gordon
, now Governor General of Sudan, to surrender. This failing, Slatin was placed in chains, and on the morning of January 26, 1885, an hour or two after the fall of Khartum, Gordon's head was brought to the camp and shown to the captive. After the sudden death of the Mahdi the same year, Slatin was kept at Omdurman
by his successor, the Khalifa Abdullahi, being treated alternately with savage cruelty and comparative indulgence. During his captivity, he worked as adviser and interpreter for the Khalifa, and was made to serve in his personal retinue of bodyguards .
Raised to the rank of Pasha by the Khedive
, Slatin was appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of the Bath
by Queen Victoria
. In autumn 1895, he was granted an audience with Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria
. Queen Victoria made him an honorary Member (fourth class) of the Royal Victorian Order
in 1896.
On the eve of his surrender to the Mahdi at Christmas 1883, he had resolved, if he regained his liberty, to use the knowledge he would acquire while in captivity for the eventual benefit of the country, and after a year's rest he took part, as an officer on the staff of the Egyptian army, in the campaigns of 1897-98 which ended in the capture of Omdurman
.
by Queen Victoria
in 1898 and in 1899 was knighted by Franz Joseph I of Austria
. Also in 1899, he was made a Brigadier-General in the British Army. In 1900 he was appointed Inspector-General of the Sudan, in which capacity his mastery of Arabic
and his profound knowledge of the land and peoples proved invaluable in the work of reconstruction undertaken by the Anglo-Egyptian government in that country. He was a close friend of the Governor General, F. R. Wingate, and was free to define his role as Inspector-General without much interference from his colleagues and superiors. Never before or since did any official hold the title of Inspector-General. He was a frequent guest of Queen Victoria
.
In 1906, he was ennobled by Franz Joseph I of Austria. He was since styled "Freiherr
von Slatin".
In 1907, he was made an honorary major-general in the British army and in 1909 he was created an honorary Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
by King Edward VII of the United Kingdom
.
His rank in the Austro-Hungarian Army always remained Leutnant
d.R.
He wrote his memoirs "Feuer und Schwert in Sudan", which became a bestseller. They were edited by F. R. Wingate, and originally published in English in 1896 entitled "Fire and Sword in the Sudan". They were published in German in 1896 by the Brockhaus Verlag in Leipzig
.
His position as Inspector-General of the Sudan terminated in 1914 due to the commencement of hostilities in World War I
between Great Britain
and Austria-Hungary
.
He then headed the Prisoners-of-War section of the Austrian Red Cross
.
He was awarded with the title Geheimrat
by Franz Joseph I of Austria during World War I.
He was involved in the plans of Charles I of Austria to get a separate peace with Great Britain and France.
On 21 June 1914, Rudolf Carl von Slatin married Baroness Alice von Ramberg. The wedding took place in the Votivkirche
in Vienna. In 1916, their daughter Anne Marie was born.
During the years he served the British Empire, he became acquainted with Robert Baden-Powell
and became his friend.
So it was not surprising that he was asked to serve within the new founded Austrian Scout organisation.
From 1914 to 1918, he was the Honorary Chief Scout of the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund.
He was also a Honorary member of the Royal Geographical Society
.
In 1918, on behalf of the Austrian government led by Renner
, he was instrumental, through his British contacts, in ensuring the supply of food and coal from Czechoslovakia for the beleaguered and starving inhabitants of Vienna. For this he was made an honorary citizen of Vienna.
In 1919, he was a member of the Austrian delegation in St. Germain. and was responsible for the repatriation of Prisoners of War.
In 1919, a Scout group
of the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund in Klosterneuburg
was named Slatin Pascha.
After the early death of his wife in 1922 he moved to the South Tyrol and lived in a villa in Obermais a quarter of Meran.
Every Summer, with his daughter, he would visit his old Sudan comrades in England.
In June 1932, he and his daughter Anne Marie were guests of George V
.
He died on 4 October 1932, during an operation for cancer in Vienna, and was buried on 6 October in the cemetery of Ober St. Veit, a suburb of Vienna. His funeral looked like a state funeral. His grave is still there.
The Spitzvilla in Upper Austria near Traunkirchen is a memorial site for Rudolf Carl von Slatin. He bought it in 1897 and there entertained many grand persons of his epoch.
In 1967 the public-service German television channel ZDF
produced a movie in two parts about Rudolf Carl von Slatin. It was titled Slatin Pascha. At the moment a documentary film about Slatin Pascha, Sudanese history and Sudan today is produced by the Austrian company Fischer Film.
At the Austrian National Jamboree in 1961 a Subcamp was named Slatin Pascha.
An Old Scouts Guild, affiliated with the Pfadfinder-Gilde Österreichs is named Slatin Pascha.
An Old Scout Group, belonging to the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund in Vienna is named Slatin Pascha.
A Scout Group in Vienna, belonging the National Scout Organisation Pfadfinder Österreichs, was also named Slatin Pascha.
In October 2011 a stamp was issued commemorating Slatin Pascha, Emmerich Teuber
and the Viennese Scoutleader Kara Barteis.
Freiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
von Slatin, Geh. Rat
Geheimrat
Geheimrat was the title of the highest advising officials at the Imperial, royal or principal courts of the Holy Roman Empire, who jointly formed the Geheimer Rat reporting to the ruler...
, GCVO
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
, KCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
, CB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(June 7, 1857, Ober-Sankt-Veit, Hietzing
Hietzing
Hietzing is the 13th municipal District of Vienna . It is located west of the central districts, west of Meidling...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
– October 4, 1932, Vienna) was an Anglo
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
-Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n soldier and administrator in the Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
.
Early life
Slatin was born in Ober St Veit near ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Rudolf Carl Slatin was born the fourth child of the merchant Michael Slatin, who had converted from Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
to Roman Catholicism, and his second wife, Anna. Their other children were the twins Maria and Anna (born in 1852), Heinrich (1855), Adolf (1861), and Leopoldine (1864). Their father died in 1873, while Rudolf was at the Viennese commercial academy. While there, he heard that a German bookseller in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
was looking for an assistant. Rudolf traveled to Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
and thence in five days' time to Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
. He worked in the bookstore until he travelled with the German businessman and consul Rosset to Khartoum
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...
.
From Khartoum, Slatin went through Kordofan to Dar Nuba, exploring the mountains of that region with the German explorer and ornithologist Theodore von Heuglin. He was forced to return to Khartoum when the local Arabs rebelled against the Egyptian government. There Slatin met Dr. Schnitzel, later famous as "Emin Pasha
Emin Pasha
Mehmed Emin Pasha — he was born Isaak Eduard Schnitzer and baptized Eduard Carl Oscar Theodor Schnitzer — was a physician, naturalist, and governor of the Egyptian province of Equatoria on the upper Nile...
", and with him intended to visit General Charles George Gordon
Charles George Gordon
Major-General Charles George Gordon, CB , known as "Chinese" Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum, was a British army officer and administrator....
at Lado, Gordon at that time being Governor of the Equatorial Provinces. Slatin, however, was obliged to return to Austria without accomplishing his desire, though Emin did go to Lado and at Slatin's request recommended the young traveller to Gordon for employment in the Sudan.
Slatin left Africa in order to serve his conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
order in the Austrian army.
In 1878, while Slatin was serving as a lieutenant in the crown prince Rudolf
Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria
Rudolf , archduke of Austria and crown prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, was the son and heir of Franz Joseph I, emperor of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, and his wife and empress, Elisabeth...
's regiment in the Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
n campaign he received a letter from Gordon inviting him to the Sudan, where Gordon had become the Governor-General. Slatin was now a Lieutenant in the reserves of the Austro-Hungarian Army
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...
. At the close of the campaign, Slatin received permission to go to Africa and he arrived in Khartum in January 1879. After a brief period as financial inspector, Slatin was appointed Mudir (governor) of Dara, the south-western part of Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
, a post he held until early in 1881, when he was promoted Governor-General of Darfur and given the rank of bey
Bey
Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...
.
Surrender of Dara
While administering Dara, Slatin conducted a successful campaign against one of the Darfur princes in revolt, and later, as governor of Darfur. Early in 1882 the RizeigatRizeigat
The Rizeigat, or Rizigat, or Rezeigat are a Muslim and Arabic tribe of the nomadic Bedouin Baggara people in Sudan's Darfur region. The Rizeigat belong to the greater Baggara Arabs fraternity of Darfur and Kordofan and speak Sudanese Arabic...
tribesmen of Southern Darfur rebelled, led by Sheikh Madibbo ibn Ali, a convert to the cause of the religious leader known as the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad
Muhammad Ahmad
Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah was a religious leader of the Samaniyya order in Sudan who, on June 29, 1881, proclaimed himself as the Mahdi or messianic redeemer of the Islamic faith...
. Slatin gallantly defended his province and though he fought many successful battles, he gradually lost ground. At Om Waragat he lost 8,000 of his men in the first 20 minutes of the battle and was himself wounded three times but he managed to fight his way back to Dara. Believing his troops attributed their failure in battle to the fact that he was a Christian, Slatin publicly adopted Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
in 1883 and took the Islamic name, Abd al Qadir .
The Mahdists then captured el Obeid, the capital of Kordofan, severing all Slatin's links with Khartoum. When Hicks Pasha's
William Hicks
Colonel William Hicks , British soldier, entered the Bombay army in 1849, and served through the Indian mutiny, being mentioned in despatches for good conduct at the action of Sitka Ghaut in 1859....
expedition was annihilated at the Battle of Shaykan in1883, Slatin finally surrendered to his old enemy the Mahdist Emir Madibbo, refusing to make any further sacrifice of life in a hopeless cause. When the Mahdists reached Khartum, an attempt was made to use him to induce the commander Charles George Gordon
Charles George Gordon
Major-General Charles George Gordon, CB , known as "Chinese" Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum, was a British army officer and administrator....
, now Governor General of Sudan, to surrender. This failing, Slatin was placed in chains, and on the morning of January 26, 1885, an hour or two after the fall of Khartum, Gordon's head was brought to the camp and shown to the captive. After the sudden death of the Mahdi the same year, Slatin was kept at Omdurman
Omdurman
Omdurman is the second largest city in Sudan and Khartoum State, lying on the western banks of the River Nile, opposite the capital, Khartoum. Omdurman has a population of 2,395,159 and is the national centre of commerce...
by his successor, the Khalifa Abdullahi, being treated alternately with savage cruelty and comparative indulgence. During his captivity, he worked as adviser and interpreter for the Khalifa, and was made to serve in his personal retinue of bodyguards .
Escape from captivity
At length, after over eleven years captivity, he was able to escape, with the help of Sir Reginald (then Major) Wingate of the Egyptian Intelligence Department and , in a perilous 1000 km. and three week journey across the desert, reaching Aswan, Egypt in March 1895. In a remarkable book, Fire and Sword in the Sudan, written in the same year and issued in English and German in 1896, Slatin gave not only a personal narrative of fighting and serving the dervishes but a comprehensive account of the Sudan under the rule of the Khalifa.Raised to the rank of Pasha by the Khedive
Khedive
The term Khedive is a title largely equivalent to the English word viceroy. It was first used, without official recognition, by Muhammad Ali Pasha , the Wāli of Egypt and Sudan, and vassal of the Ottoman Empire...
, Slatin was appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
by Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
. In autumn 1895, he was granted an audience with Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
. Queen Victoria made him an honorary Member (fourth class) of the Royal Victorian Order
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
in 1896.
On the eve of his surrender to the Mahdi at Christmas 1883, he had resolved, if he regained his liberty, to use the knowledge he would acquire while in captivity for the eventual benefit of the country, and after a year's rest he took part, as an officer on the staff of the Egyptian army, in the campaigns of 1897-98 which ended in the capture of Omdurman
Omdurman
Omdurman is the second largest city in Sudan and Khartoum State, lying on the western banks of the River Nile, opposite the capital, Khartoum. Omdurman has a population of 2,395,159 and is the national centre of commerce...
.
Further service
For his services in these campaigns, he was created an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St GeorgeOrder of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
by Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
in 1898 and in 1899 was knighted by Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
. Also in 1899, he was made a Brigadier-General in the British Army. In 1900 he was appointed Inspector-General of the Sudan, in which capacity his mastery of Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
and his profound knowledge of the land and peoples proved invaluable in the work of reconstruction undertaken by the Anglo-Egyptian government in that country. He was a close friend of the Governor General, F. R. Wingate, and was free to define his role as Inspector-General without much interference from his colleagues and superiors. Never before or since did any official hold the title of Inspector-General. He was a frequent guest of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
.
In 1906, he was ennobled by Franz Joseph I of Austria. He was since styled "Freiherr
Freiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
von Slatin".
In 1907, he was made an honorary major-general in the British army and in 1909 he was created an honorary Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
by King Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
.
His rank in the Austro-Hungarian Army always remained Leutnant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
d.R.
Reservist
A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person is usually a former active-duty member of the armed...
He wrote his memoirs "Feuer und Schwert in Sudan", which became a bestseller. They were edited by F. R. Wingate, and originally published in English in 1896 entitled "Fire and Sword in the Sudan". They were published in German in 1896 by the Brockhaus Verlag in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
.
His position as Inspector-General of the Sudan terminated in 1914 due to the commencement of hostilities in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
between Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
.
He then headed the Prisoners-of-War section of the Austrian Red Cross
Austrian Red Cross
The Austrian Red Cross is the national Red Cross-Organization in Austria and is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement...
.
He was awarded with the title Geheimrat
Geheimrat
Geheimrat was the title of the highest advising officials at the Imperial, royal or principal courts of the Holy Roman Empire, who jointly formed the Geheimer Rat reporting to the ruler...
by Franz Joseph I of Austria during World War I.
He was involved in the plans of Charles I of Austria to get a separate peace with Great Britain and France.
Later life
He received absolution from the Pope for his conversion to Islam, which he had reversed.On 21 June 1914, Rudolf Carl von Slatin married Baroness Alice von Ramberg. The wedding took place in the Votivkirche
Votivkirche
The Votive Church in Vienna, Austria, is one of the most important neo-Gothic religious architectural sites in the world.- Origin :Located on Ringstraße in the Alsergrund district near the University of Vienna, the origin of the church derives from a knife-attack on Emperor Franz Joseph by...
in Vienna. In 1916, their daughter Anne Marie was born.
During the years he served the British Empire, he became acquainted with Robert Baden-Powell
Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Bt, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB , also known as B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and founder of the Scout Movement....
and became his friend.
So it was not surprising that he was asked to serve within the new founded Austrian Scout organisation.
From 1914 to 1918, he was the Honorary Chief Scout of the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund.
He was also a Honorary member of the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
.
In 1918, on behalf of the Austrian government led by Renner
Karl Renner
Karl Renner was an Austrian politician. He was born in Untertannowitz in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and died in Vienna...
, he was instrumental, through his British contacts, in ensuring the supply of food and coal from Czechoslovakia for the beleaguered and starving inhabitants of Vienna. For this he was made an honorary citizen of Vienna.
In 1919, he was a member of the Austrian delegation in St. Germain. and was responsible for the repatriation of Prisoners of War.
In 1919, a Scout group
Scout Group
The Scout Group is the local organisation for Scouting in most countries where it is active. It combines together the different sections into a single body. Scout Groups can consist of any number of sections in the different Age Groups in Scouting and Guiding...
of the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund in Klosterneuburg
Klosterneuburg
Klosterneuburg is an attractive small town in Lower Austria, Austria with a population of 24,442.It is located on the Danube, immediately north of Vienna, from which it is separated by the Kahlenberg and Leopoldsberg hills...
was named Slatin Pascha.
After the early death of his wife in 1922 he moved to the South Tyrol and lived in a villa in Obermais a quarter of Meran.
Every Summer, with his daughter, he would visit his old Sudan comrades in England.
In June 1932, he and his daughter Anne Marie were guests of George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
.
He died on 4 October 1932, during an operation for cancer in Vienna, and was buried on 6 October in the cemetery of Ober St. Veit, a suburb of Vienna. His funeral looked like a state funeral. His grave is still there.
Memory and legacy
In 1936, a drinking fountain was erected in Khartum in his memory , but the bronze portrait plaque and dedication were removed in 1956 by the Sudanese government, after Sudan became independent.The Spitzvilla in Upper Austria near Traunkirchen is a memorial site for Rudolf Carl von Slatin. He bought it in 1897 and there entertained many grand persons of his epoch.
In 1967 the public-service German television channel ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
produced a movie in two parts about Rudolf Carl von Slatin. It was titled Slatin Pascha. At the moment a documentary film about Slatin Pascha, Sudanese history and Sudan today is produced by the Austrian company Fischer Film.
At the Austrian National Jamboree in 1961 a Subcamp was named Slatin Pascha.
An Old Scouts Guild, affiliated with the Pfadfinder-Gilde Österreichs is named Slatin Pascha.
An Old Scout Group, belonging to the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund in Vienna is named Slatin Pascha.
A Scout Group in Vienna, belonging the National Scout Organisation Pfadfinder Österreichs, was also named Slatin Pascha.
In October 2011 a stamp was issued commemorating Slatin Pascha, Emmerich Teuber
Emmerich Teuber
Emmerich Teuber began the first Scouting group in Vienna, Austria in 1912.Teuber later served on the International Committee of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from its creation in 1922 until 1929.Teuber died as a result of the sufferings he had endured in a concentration...
and the Viennese Scoutleader Kara Barteis.