Ralf Bonwit
1910 - 1988

Ralf Bernhard Bonwit was born in Frankfurt am Main on October 23, 1910, the son of Otto Bonwit (1871-1933), a merchant, and Irma Bonwit, née Bär (1888-1971). According to the Frankfurt address book of 1910, his parents lived at Körnerstraße 12 in Westend. He had three siblings: Erika (1915-1987), who emigrated to Palestine in 1934 and married the physician Dr. Karl Wolff (1900-1984) in 1936, Gerd (1913-2004), who was able to emigrate to Argentina in 1938, and Lisa (1917-2006), who emigrated to England in 1937. The Frankfurt address book from 1912 shows that the family lived at "Auf der Körnerwiese 12", also in the Westend. In 1919, the Bonwit family moved into a detached house at Grüneburgweg 117, which had to be forcibly sold at the beginning of 1936.
Through his marriage in 1909, Otto Bonwit became a partner in the company "Porzellan-Bär" (Stiftstraße 8-10), which had been founded in 1897 by his father-in-law Moses (called Moritz) Bär. After his father-in-law's death in 1925, Otto Bonwit continued to run the business alone. The committed Frankfurt citizen was also active for many years on the board of the Jewish community, as a school board member at the Philantropin, Frankfurt's most important Jewish school, and as a commercial court councillor. He died in his house at Grüneburgweg 117 on July 24, 1933, when the Gestapo carried out a harassing house search. Ralf Bonwit's siblings Gerd, Erika and Lisa witnessed this incident.
After graduating from Frankfurt's Goethegymnasium in 1929, Ralf Bonwit studied history in Heidelberg, Paris and Frankfurt am Main. From 1932, he specialized in the medieval history of France. His academic mentor during this period was the historian and medievalist Ernst Kantorowicz (1895-1963), with whom he originally intended to do his doctorate. In a letter from 1957, Ralf Bonwit wrote: "Ich war bis 1933 Student der Geschichte; mein Lehrer, Professor Dr. Ernst Kantorowicz, hatte eine akademische Laufbahn für mich geplant. Wegen der Rassenverfolgung musste ich meine historischen Studien abbrechen und sattelte in Frankreich und England auf fernöstliche Sprachen um." ("I was a student of history until 1933; my teacher, Professor Dr. Ernst Kantorowicz, had planned an academic career for me. Because of racial persecution, I had to abandon my historical studies and switched to Far Eastern languages in France and England.")

He initially continued his historical studies in Paris. However, it subsequently proved impossible for him to continue his studies there and he turned to languages from the Far East. In London, where he had been living since 1934, he finally passed his exams in Chinese and Japanese. "Eine akademische Laufbahn ist mir versagt geblieben und ich habe von 1934 bis 1940 von Unterstützung leben müssen" ("I was denied an academic career and had to live on support from 1934 to 1940"), he wrote in an application to the compensation authority in Wiesbaden in 1953.

Ralf Bonwit had a lifelong friendship with the art historian and writer Erwin Walter Palm (1910-1988) and his wife, the poet Hilde Domin (1909-2006). Palm, who came from a Jewish merchant family, also grew up in Frankfurt am Main. Individual letters that Ralf Bonwit sent to Erwin Palm between 1962 and 1982 are still preserved in Hilde Domin's estate at the German Literature Archive in Marbach. They contain information about Ralf Bonwit's life in England, at least in fragments. Apparently there was a meeting with Palm in London during the Second World War, which he wrote about in 1962: "Ich wurde kurz nach unserem Treffen in London als gefährliches Element mit 50 andern interniert, kam nach 7 Monaten wieder heraus und war während des Restes der Kriegszeit bei der BBC Fernostabteilung tätig. Seit 1947 bin ich aufs Land versetzt bei einer andern Abteilung. Die Akademikerkarriere ging nicht weiter, weil ich nicht genug Geld hatte, von selbst aus mich zu finanzieren und keine Lust reine Ostphilologie zu treiben." ("I was interned shortly after our meeting in London as a dangerous element with 50 others, got out after 7 months and worked in the BBC Far East department for the rest of the war. In 1947 I was transferred to another department in the country. My academic career didn't continue because I didn't have enough money to finance myself and didn't want to do pure Eastern philology.").

Ralf Bonwit was still considering an academic career in 1965: "Ich habe mir seit einiger Zeit überlegt, ob ich eigentlich nicht versuchen sollte, auf die akademische Bahn zurückzukehren – allerdings nicht mehr mittelalterliche Geschichte – aus der ich völlig herausgekommen bin – sondern moderne ostasiatische Entwicklungen. Wie Du wohl weisst, kann ich gut Chinesisch und Japanisch sprechen – besser als lesen! – und habe seit 20 Jahren Ausschau nach diesen Ländern gehalten." ("I've been thinking for some time whether I should actually try to get back on the academic track - but not medieval history - which I've completely gotten out of - but modern East Asian developments. As you probably know, I can speak Chinese and Japanese well - better than reading! - and have been on the lookout for these countries for 20 years.").

The following year he reported to Palm: "In der Zwischenzeit hat sich meine akademische Lage etwas verbessert. Ich gehe einmal in der Woche zum fernöstlichen Seminar im St. Anthony"s College – der Nachkriegsstiftung für internationale Forschung – und man hat mich zum Mitglied des Senior Common Rooms gewählt (Das ist so halbwegs ein Dr. h.c.). Das alles macht die tägliche Arbeit viel erträglicher." ("In the meantime, my academic situation has improved somewhat. I go to the Far Eastern seminar once a week at St. Anthony's College - the post-war foundation for international research - and I've been elected a member of the Senior Common Room (that's halfway to a Dr. h.c.). It all makes the day-to-day work much more bearable.").

In 1948, he married the Swede Ingrid Gustafsson (1911-1996). Their daughter Anne Birgitta was born on October 16, 1950. Ralf Bonwit died on March 9, 1988 in Martigny (Canton Valais/Switzerland).

Ralf Bonwit joined the Frankfurt Alpine Club in 1930. The guarantors were his father Otto and Dr. Walter Bing. His father Otto Bonwit joined the Frankfurt section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club in 1913, but was no longer listed in the 1925 directory of section members. As he is not listed among the new members since October 1926, he must have rejoined the section between March 1925 and October 1926, although it is not clear at present when he left the section; perhaps after the First World War? Otto Bonwit did not leave the Frankfurt Section before his death in July 1933. Rather, his death was commemorated at the annual general meeting on May 28, 1934. Accordingly, he is also listed by name as a deceased former member on the first page of the June 1934 newsletter!

Nothing is known about Ralf Bonwit's alpine or internal club activities during his time in Frankfurt. Whether he was expelled from the Alpine Club or gave up his membership before emigrating to England in 1934 is also unknown. After the amendment to the statutes passed at the beginning of 1934, so-called "non-Aryans" were no longer allowed to remain in the Frankfurt section unless they had been "front-line fighters" in the First World War or had already been a member of the section before 1914. Neither of these was the case for Ralf Bonwit.
However, Ralf Bonwit remained connected to the Alps even after his emigration to England. From at least 1953, he was a member of the "Association of British members of the Swiss Alpine Club (ABMSAC)", founded in 1909, an association of British members of the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC), which still maintains very close links with the SAC today. The construction of the first Britannia hut above Saas-Fee in 1912 was initiated by this association.

The 1953 annual report of the "ABMSAC" contains a short article by Ralf Bonwits with advice on how mountaineers can spend their vacations in Swiss mountain huts as cheaply as possible. The following year, he wrote a short essay on the subject of "Weather and tour planning". In the 1964 annual report, he wrote a short report on his spring skiing trips in the Valais Alps. He climbed the Allalinhorn, Fluchthorn, Alphubel and Castor. The following year, he also spent his vacation in the Saas Fee area, but only for 10 days. Despite adverse snow conditions, he climbed the Allalinhorn and Strahlhorn again. He praised the direct connection between Visp and Saas-Fee by post bus, which had been introduced shortly before.