Dead German women identified

by Luqman Cloete

THE German mother and her daughter, believed to have committed suicide at the Fish River Canyon early this month, came from a small village called Cronheim in Bavaria.

A German community newspaper, Altmuehlbote, identified the 47-year-old mother as Cornelia P but could not identify the 29-year-old daughter.

The Namibian has however established that the two booked at the Canyon Village Lodge as Cornelia Elisabeth Hirschbeck, the mother and Alisha Josephine Hirschbeck, the daughter.

The two had come to Namibia in December to collect the remains of Navinia Sarah Perry who died in a car accident at Okombahe on 8 December last year. Perry was Cornelia’s daughter and Alisha’s sister.

Perry was a teacher at a school at Otjiwarongo, while Alisha taught at a school in Nuremberg, a city in Bavaria. According to the newspaper, Cornelia was a single parent.

The newspaper, in its story titled ‘Mutter und Tochter aus Gunzenhausen stürzen in den Tod published on 15 January, quoted one of the neighbours saying the family was closely knit and that the mother was not outgoing.

One of the neighbours also said the mother always said that if anything happened to her children, she would not know what to do. (Zu ihr hat die Mutter einmal gesagt: ,Wenn meinen Kindern was zustößt, weiß ich nicht, was dann passiert.)

Some of the residents in the village of about 500 people expressed shock when they heard about the deaths, with the newspaper saying the two were even together in death.

Three candles and some tulips were placed on the family’s doorstep.

Yet another neighbour said she got worried when she lost contact with the pair and had to call a sister in Berlin. She is also quoted saying she later contacted the German embassy in Namibia where she was informed that the two were missing.

One villager said: “Wir sind alle geschockt (We are all shocked).”

“Das ist mehr als tragisch (This is tragic),” another said.
The Hirschbecks booked into the Canyon Village Lodge for five days before they went missing the night before they were supposed to book out. This sent alarm bells to the lodge owner who launched a search for them.

Their bodies were found by a helicopter search party. It is believed the pair left a suicide note written in German among their belongings in their room at the lodge.

A worker at the lodge said the pair had bade them farewell, saying they were going to a ‘nice place’.

The German embassy spokesperson, Ulrich Kinne, could not release the names of the two women, saying it was a consular matter.

“It is the German government’s policy not to give personalised information on consular matters,” said Kinne, adding that they had been in touch with the deceased’s family.

Police spokesperson Kauna Shikwambi on Monday said it is “not up to us (police)” to release the names.

Shikwambi said the German embassy has not yet given the police the green light to release the names of the two deceased women, adding that “it is against their (embassy’s) principle” to release the names.

//Karas police deputy commissioner said on Monday the bodies of the two Germans had been transported to Windhoek on Sunday for post-mortem and DNA tests.

According to Shikwambi, the post-mortem and DNA tests could not have been conducted by Monday if the bodies had only arrived in Windhoek on Sunday.
luqman@namibian.com.na