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When Emperor Franz Joseph declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914 ("To my peoples!"), it was impossible to foresee the suffering that would come in the next few years. After four years of war, the "Neuigkeits-Welt-Blatt" took stock on November 28, 1918: "In total, there are around four million dead, wounded and sick in the teams from sergeants down by the end of May [...]. So around a third of those called up are dead, wounded or sick." The results could hardly be more devastating. No differentiation whatsoever was of any consolation. "Among the fallen officers there were 390 nobles, including 5 princes, 53 counts, 70 barons, 900 knights, 107 nobles from, 263 simple 'von', 2 Counts. 12,736 were commoners."
There were also numerous deaths among the geologists, many of whom were still very young; three should be mentioned: "On June 27th of this year [1915], the young geologist Robert Jäger, lieutenant ret., found his death in a mounted artillery division in the northern theater of war fighting for the fatherland at the age of 25," according to his obituary. A year later, another loss was lamented: "On January 31, 1916, the Viennese geologist Raimund Folgner [born October 16, 1888] died in Russian captivity. With him, the life of a talented young researcher came to a tragic end." For Fritz von Bensch, born on September 29, 1894, whose news was lost "in the eastern theater of war" in the late summer/autumn of 1916, Franz E. Suess (1867 to 1941) found the following words at the beginning of Benesch's last work: "The news about his presumed end was contradictory. He is said to have become a Russian prisoner of war. […] Youthful, cheerful confidence and zest for action, in an excellent manner combined with unerring seriousness, was a basic trait of his nature, which gave rise to the expectation of the most dignified achievements in science." His mentor, Franz E. Suess, concludes wistfully: "A beautiful hope was lost with him."
Said Fritz Ritter von Benesch literally had geology in his blood. His mother, Irma (1872 to 1947), née von Hauer, came from one of the most famous geological dynasties of the 19th century. Irma's father, Rudolf von Hauer (1830 to 1919) worked at the k.k. in 1849, the year it was founded. Geological Reichsanstalt (today: GeoSphere Austria), as a "voluntary worker" and then as an "auxiliary geologist" before he acquired a country estate in Banat, today's Romania. Rudolf's older brother, Irma's uncle Franz (1822 to 1899), was a co-founder of the institution, its director from 1866 and director of the Natural History Museum from 1885 to 1896. His older brother, Irma's uncle Karl (1819 to 1880) was head of the chemical laboratory at the k.k. Geological Reichsanstalt. The youngest of the Hauer brothers, Uncle Julius (1831 to 1910), had a career in Leoben as a professor at the Mining Academy (today: Montanuniversität).
Fritz's father, Paul Ritter von Benesch, born in 1864, was a captain in the k.u.k. Infantry in the 7th Infantry Regiment. He married his wife Irma von Hauer on July 19, 1893. A year later, Fritz was born on September 29th in Graz (Kalchberggasse 6), his younger sister, Alma, was born on August 21st, 1896. Until October 1909, when the father of the family died of appendicitis in Graz, the family's happiness was perfect with a summer vacation in Grado on the upper Adriatic.
Already in high school, the III. founded in 1902. State high school (today: BG/BRG Graz, Oeverseegasse 28), Fritz showed an interest in the natural sciences. His parents knew how to encourage this. For Christmas 1907, the 13-year-old received, in addition to drawing materials and tempera paints, crystal models and a book about the geology of Graz. In 1908 he often visited the "Chemical-Technical-Scientific Laboratory Dr. Ditmar" at Zinzendorfgasse No. 24, which was only a few steps away from his parents' apartment. “Now chemistry and mineralogy are once again your passion,” his mother wrote in her diary. On December 24, 1908, under the Christmas tree was "Tschermak", the leading mineralogy textbook of the time (6th edition). "What you wanted so much," said his mother.
1909 was supposed to be a sad Christmas, father Paul had died on October 15, 1909 from appendicitis that had been operated on too late, Fritz and Alma were half-wise. In June 1910, Irma, now a single mother, moved with the children and her mother-in-law to Glacisstrasse 37. She later also took her old father Rudolf to look after him. How happy she was when Fritz finished high school: "July 8, 1912; passed the high school diploma with distinction!!! God be with you."
In addition to his broad interests, there was also his talent for drawing. His sketchbook contains landscape studies and mountain panoramas that one would more likely attribute to an art student than to a high school student.
After completing high school, studying geology in the winter semester of 1912/13 was inevitable. Franz Heritsch (1882 to 1945) gave the three-hour introductory lecture in geology at the Karl-Franzens University in Graz, which he continued in the summer semester of 1913, including exercises. Josef Ippen (1855 to 1917) read "General Petrography, with special consideration of rock-forming minerals", a topic that was familiar to the young v. Benesch was by no means a stranger. Mama Benesch noted: "After a summer in Grundlsee came your first year of university in Graz. You enrolled in philosophy, mainly geology and studied diligently. You also really struggled with chemistry."
After two geology semesters in Graz, he went to Vienna in the fall of 1913, supported by a scholarship from the Fürst Dietrichstein Foundation worth 300 crowns (approx. 2,068 euros). Here the range of lectures was larger. Franz Eduard Suess was to have an impact on the young Graz student in Vienna. With him he not only takes general geology, but also scientific work (ten hours). The lectures of the young Leopold Kober (1883 to 1970) also conveyed geological knowledge. He learned paleontology from Othenio Abel (1875 to 1946) and Carl Diener (1862 to 1928), both of whom would later make negative headlines for their anti-Semitic agitation. He learned mineralogy from Cornelius Doelter (1850 to 1930), who came from Graz in 1907 and followed a call to Vienna, and from Friedrich Becke (1855 to 1931).
In the second semester, in May 1913, he wrote his first scientific paper. It was published on October 1st (his mother's birthday) 1913, during the negotiations with the k.k. Geological Institute in Vienna. There were family ties to the Geological Reichsanstalt, where Emil Tietze (1845 to 1931) was director. Tietze had Rosa v. Hauer, the daughter of Franz v. Hauer, former director and uncle of his mother, married.
Fritz became a member of the Geological Society and was also on the Fifth Vienna University Trip, which led from Vienna via Trieste to Egypt on the Austrian Lloyd ship "Amphitrite" from April 8th to 28th, 1914. The passenger list included over 300 participants from the university environment. The tour guide was Othenio Abel. Looking back, his mother was happy: "Your year of study in Vienna went well and, thank God, you were healthy. A big change was the university trip to Albania, Corfu, Crete and Egypt. […] You climbed the pyramid, you rode alone through the desert."
These words from her pen on August 16, 1914 mark a turning point. The war that had just begun required soldiers. For Fritz v. For Benesch, whose father was a captain in the infantry, the move was probably less of a duty and more of an honor. He enlisted in the medical service and continued his studies in Vienna. Naturally, his mother was worried: "If I lost you too, that would be terrible." On June 15, 1915, mother and son were at the celebration of Emil Tietze's 70th birthday at the Reich Geological Institute. A few days later we read in her diary: "Graz, June 21, 1915: You have just left us, a real recruit. In civil still with the military cap and flowers (Alpine roses and edelweiss) and a black and red gold ribbon on it. [...] God grant that you return home safely. [...] You completed your 3rd year in Vienna with honor, my good boy." Her words showed her inner conflict. There is pride ("real recruit") as well as her motherly fear ("that you will return home safely"). From an academic point of view, life went on as if military service was nothing more than a change of address: "Bennesch, [sic!] F. v., currently a single volunteer in Windisch-Feistritz (otherwise Vienna I., Franzensring 3, Geological University Institute)"; This is the entry in the membership list of the Geological Society.
For Irma Benesch, Fritz, who went to war as a soldier, always remained “my boy”. The following excerpts from her diary show her pain and suffering. She wasn't alone in this. Millions of mothers and wives who lost their sons or husbands in war felt the same way. Only a few put their feelings on paper.
"January 22nd, 1916. Graz. This morning at 7:30 am I said goodbye to you in front of our house under the shining moonlight. Today you marched with the 19th March Battalion to Gleisdorf to move to the front in 2-3 weeks."
He was still doing well on August 25th. From Volhynia (now Ukraine, Poland) he wrote to his sister on her 20th birthday: "...you wait from meal to meal, then to sleep and for the mail." Those were his last lines that reached Graz. A little later, Fritz v. Benesch buried by a grenade. He survived and was rescued. He was last seen standing with a group of prisoners. His further fate remained uncertain.
His mother found out about it through a field postcard from a comrade. On September 29, 1916, she remembered him: "Today you are 22 years old. Your birthday. Where are you celebrating it, where are you my child? Are you even still alive?" A year later, she was tormented by uncertainty: "August 31, 1917: A year has passed since you were said to have been missing. Is today the anniversary of your death? Where did you find eternal rest? What were your last minutes?"
For them, he, who we do not know when and where he died, remained unforgotten: "January 1, 1925: Where is your poor body? Your soul is always with me and how often do I imagine what could be now if this infernal war monster had not destroyed us so much and made us so namelessly poor." (Thomas Hofmann, Christoph Rothschuh, October 4, 2024)