Walter Bing
1891 - 1980

Walter Bernard Bing, also spelled Walther in French sources, was born on April 19, 1891 as the son of the Jewish merchant Eugen Max Bing and his Jewish wife Emma Bing, née Heumann (1862-1939), in Markirch in Alsace, then part of the German Reich. His father Eugen Max Bing, together with Siegmund Hallenstein (deceased in 1892), had been running a weaving mill in the upper part of Markirch under the name "Hallenstein & Bing" since 1879. Whether and how Erwin Bing, born in January 1894 in Markirch, is related to Walter Bing has not yet been clarified.

In 1904, the Bing family moved to Strasbourg, where they are listed for the first time in the Strasbourg address book of 1905 with the address Hohenlohe street 24. After graduating from high school, Walter Bing studied law and economics at the universities of Strasbourg, Munich and Berlin from 1908 to 1913. Walter Bing received his doctorate in law from the University of Strasbourg in 1914 with the thesis "Die fiduziarischen Rechtsgeschäfte im Konkurse des Treuhänders" (Fiduciary legal transactions in the bankruptcy of the trustee). At this time, his parents are listed in the address book of the city of Strasbourg as Kochstaden 12. He himself presumably did not yet have his own household. According to the curriculum vitae in his dissertation, he worked as a trainee lawyer at the Illkirch district court after passing his state law examination in January 1914 until the start of the First World War.

There are two versions about the start of his military service: One is that he was drafted into military service as a soldier in September 1914. On the other hand, he joined the army as a war volunteer. In 1916, Walter Bing served in a Bavarian fighter battalion as a vice sergeant (retired). He was seriously wounded in October 1917. Bing was awarded the Iron Cross I Class only in November 1918.

Dr. Walter Bing and Grete Bloch (who died in Paris in 1954) married in 1918. Her brother Paul J. Bloch--like Walter Bing later on--worked as a journalist, including for the Berliner Börsen-Courier. Their son Ernst, also known as Ernest, Bing was born in July 1919. The family moved several times: First they lived in Frankfurt on the Main at Eysseneck street 41, from 1924 at Liebig street 37, then at Feldberg street 7. Interestingly, according to Frankfurt address books, Prof. Dr. Walter Behrmann lived in the same house from 1927 to 1944. Did the move come about because the two knew each other very well from their Alpine Club section work?

While the Frankfurt address book still listed Walter Bing as living in Feldberg street in 1934, the following year's address book gave his home address as Savigny street 55. His mother Emma Bing lived at Staufen street 31 at the time. Their son Ernst went to Lessing Gymnasium, a school that had the highest proportion of so-called "non-Aryan" pupils in Frankfurt on the Main in 1937 at around 7.5 percent. At the end of 1936, the Bing family was forced to leave Frankfurt on the Main for Strasbourg.

After successfully passing his first state law examination in January 1914, Walter Bing worked as a trainee lawyer at the Illkirch district court, which was part of the Strasbourg district court. After his military service, he lived in Frankfurt on the Main from 1919. Walter Bing initially worked there as a bank secretary for the Allgemeine Elsässische Bankgesellschaft Strasbourg. While he was only listed as Dr. jur. in the 1927 Frankfurt directory at Liebig street 37, the following year's address book already stated "Dr. jur., journalist". This is due to the fact that Walter Bing only worked as a journalist from April 1927. He had found a job as a sports journalist at the prestigious Frankfurter Zeitung. He held a leading position in the Frankfurter Sportpresse association, which was founded at the time, even becoming its chairman in 1929. He was elected second chairman of the nationwide German Sports Press Association. Walter Bing published numerous articles--also in other newspapers, such as the Berliner Börsen-Courier, where his brother-in-law worked, and the well known Hamburger Fremdenblatt.

Walter Bing was also active as a book author: for example, he published two books for young people, "Drei Jungens am Seil" (Three boys on a rope) in 1932 and "Bob wird Tennismeister" (Bob becomes tennis champion) in 1933, published by the publisher house Franz Schneider, Leipzig. In the context of the German and Austrian Alpine Club, he contributed to the publications of various sections. We find him, for example, as the author of Bayerländer (Bayerland section). In November 1925, Walter Bing published an obituary for the Jewish mountaineer Otto Margulies, who also had an amputated leg:

"Ein einziges Mal in meinem Leben habe ich Otto Margulies gesehen; ich habe viele Briefe mit ihm gewechselt in der Donaulandsache und in alpinen Fragen überhaupt. Niemals aber ward es mir vergönnt, mit ihm in die Berge zu gehen. Mancher wird fragen, warum ich ihm dann diesen Nachruf schrieb, um dessen Abfassung mich diejenigen baten, die ihm weit näher standen als ich: Weil nur der ganz zu begreifen vermag, was Otto Margulies als Mensch und Alpinist physisch und moralisch geleistet hat, der selbst, wie er von einem harten körperlichen Geschick betroffen, Bergen und Menschen mit den gleichen Anschauungen gegenüberstehend wir er, sein Bergsteigerleben auf völlig veränderter Grundlage von Neuem beginnen musste." (I saw Otto Margulies once in my life; I exchanged many letters with him about the Danube country and alpine issues in general. But I was never granted the opportunity to go into the mountains with him. Some will ask why I wrote this obituary for him, which I was asked to write by those who were much closer to him than I was: because only those can fully comprehend what Otto Margulies achieved physically and morally as a person and alpinist, who, affected as he was by a hard physical fate, facing mountains and people with the same views as he did, had to start his mountaineering life anew on a completely different basis.)

In March 1926, for example, he published an article on mountain and ski films for the news section of the Donauland Alpine Club and the German Alpine Club Berlin. Walter Bing also published in sports magazines and Jewish newspapers. His articles can be found in "Der Bergsteiger" and "Tennis & Golf", for example. In January 1928, he reported on anti-Semitic tendencies in the German and Austrian Alpine Club in the Central-Verein-Zeitung, a Jewish newspaper. Walter Bing also repeatedly spoke on the Südwestdeutscher Rundfunk radio station in Frankfurt on the Main.

Walter Bing was very active and successful as a journalist until the National Socialists came to power in January 1933. As a Jew and Frenchman, he could not become a member of the Nazi Reich Chamber of Culture, founded in 1933, or its sub-organizations such as the Reich Press Chamber or the Reich Chamber of Writers. This meant that he was largely banned from his profession, as he was only allowed to work for Jewish and foreign press organs.

After his forced expulsion from the German Reich, Walter Bing built up a new life as a journalist in France from the end of 1936. During the Second World War, he worked for Swiss newspapers, such as the Automobil-Revue, and continued to do so until his death in 1980. He also became active again as a book author: in 1956, a work on "Wirtschaft und Währung Frankreichs im Spiegel der Jahresberichte der Banque de France" (The French economy and currency as reflected in the annual reports of the Banque de France) was published by the publisher house Knapp, Frankfurt on the Main.

Walter Bing joined the Strasbourg section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club at the age of 19. During his studies in Munich, he also became a member of the Bayerland section in 1912. According to the annual reports of the Bayerland section, he remained a member of this section despite his return to Alsace. After Alsace-Lorraine became part of France after the First World War, Walter Bing and his family moved to Frankfurt on the Main. He became a member of the Frankfurt Section in 1922.

He soon became very active here. He gave his first lectures in Frankfurt on the Main as early as 1923: on March 12 on "Ski mountaineering in the Western and Eastern Alps" and on December 10 on "A traverse of the Totenkirchl". Numerous others followed, for example in March 1925 on his "Memories from the Dolomite Front" and in December 1926 a photographic lecture on "My years of alpine teaching and hiking". The year 1926 marked an important point in Dr. Walter Bing's activities for the Frankfurt on the Main section: at the annual general meeting in March, he was elected as one of the two substitutes for the cash auditors, replacing the deceased Hans Silomon. He held this position for two years, as Paul Gentsch and Georg Seelbach were only newly elected as substitute auditors at the annual general meeting in March 1928. In 1929, to mark the 60th anniversary of the section, Walter Bing "in kurzen Worten den Glückwunsch und die Grüße der Sektion Bayerland-München und ihres Vorsitzenden" (briefly conveyed the congratulations and greetings of the Bayerland-München section and its chairman), then August Ammon (1888-1943), at the official ceremony. This shows his high standing in the Frankfurt and Bayerland sections at the time.

Walter Bing also joined the newly founded "Hochturistische Vereinigung" (High Tourism Association, HTV), which was dedicated entirely to mountaineering. As early as December 1926, he published in the Frankfurt Nachrichten-Blatt under the title: Was wir wollen! Zweck und Ziele der "Hochturistischen Vereinigung" (Purpose and aims of the "Hochturistische Vereinigung"), a programmatic article about this new group in the section. In it, Bing wrote:

"Wir haben alle nur ein Ziel: Deutsche Bergsteiger zu sein, und das heißt uns: In den Bergen die Hand des anderen über die Gegensätze des Alters, der sozialen Stellung, des politischen und religiösen Bekenntnisses hinweg zu suchen und zu finden … Jeder, der im wahren Bergsteigertum das sieht, was wir in ihm sehen: eine Schule der Selbstzucht und Kameradschaft, eine Schule der Prüfung unserer Herzen und unserer Sinne in der Liebe zur Natur und in der Achtung vor der Kreatur, soll uns willkommen sein. Wer in unsere Reihen tritt, der sei sich darüber klar, daß es auch für ihn gilt zu kämpfen, nicht gegen die Gesinnung des Anderen, die wir achten, soweit sie die unsere achtet, wohl aber für uns und unsere bergsteigerischen Belange; in diesem Sinne Berg Heil zur Fahrt!" (We all have only one goal: to be German mountaineers, and that means to us: to seek and find the hand of the other in the mountains, beyond the differences of age, social position, political and religious confession ... Everyone who sees in true mountaineering what we see in it: a school of self-discipline and comradeship, a school of testing our hearts and our senses in the love of nature and in respect for the creature, should be welcome to us. Whoever joins our ranks should be aware that he too must fight, not against the attitude of others, which we respect as far as it respects ours, but for us and our mountaineering interests; in this sense, Berg Heil zur Fahrt!)

At this time, Bing's position guided the actions of the entire Frankfurt section--in other words, regardless of a member's political orientation or religious affiliation, they were all active together for the good of the section and mountaineering.

At least in 1931, Walter Bing was also a member of the HTV's "admissions committee", which decided on the admission of new members. In addition to Bing, this eight-member committee included, for example, Fritz Klüver (at that time also an assessor on the HTV board), Heinrich Elsässer (then treasurer of the HTV), Albert Kopp (then 1st chairman of the HTV), Karl Reis (then 1st tour manager of the HTV) and a Miss Wolf (her given name is so far unknown).

From December 1926, Walter Bing regularly reported on lectures held in the section in the newly founded "Nachrichten-Blatt der Sektion Frankfurt am Main des Deutschen und Österreichischen Alpenvereins" under the heading "Was unsere Vorträge brachte" (What our lectures brought)--for example in March 1927 on "Kletterfahrten in den nördlichen Kalkalpen" (Climbing trips in the northern Limestone Alps). In addition, in later years he repeatedly reviewed mountain books, for example in July 1928 the book by Oskar Erich Meyer: Tat und Traum, which was then in its third edition published by Bergverlag Rudolf Rother Munich, and the book by Hanns Barth: Gröden und seine Berge. A book of memories and gratitude, published by F. Bruckmann A.-G. Munich. His journalistic work for the radio left sporadic traces in the Nachrichten-Blatt of the Frankfurt on the Main section. In issue no. 6 from June 1930, his article entitled "Vom Bergwandern und Bergsteigen" is printed. The editors noted: "Unser eifriges, bewährtes Mitglied hat uns diesen Aufsatz, den es kürzlich im Südwestdeutschen Rundfunk den Radiohörern vortrug, zum Abdruck im 'Nachrichtenblatt' zur Verfügung gestellt, wofür wir ihm herzlich danken." (Our eager, proven member has made this essay, which he recently presented to radio listeners on Southwest German Radio, available to us for publication in the "Nachrichtenblatt", for which we thank him warmly.) Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to find the corresponding audio recording.

Walter Bing also worked on the section's festival committee under Fritz Peter's leadership, which organized the annual winter festival in January. The chairman of the Frankfurt on the Main section, Matthias Friedwagner, wrote about the party in January 1927, which took place in the Frankfurt Zoological Garden under the title "Excursion to the Kaunertal":

"Redakteur Fritz Peters, der auch dieses Mal wieder die Leitung übernommen hatte, und sein Stab von Mitarbeitern (vor allem Dr. Bing, der 'Vater' des Festzuges; Wilhelm Schneider mit Frau, der Schießbudenfachmann; Dr. Büttner, der Leiter der Enzianbude, vorbildlich unterstützt von Frau Dr. Bing; […] haben Anspruch auf den wärmsten Dank, nicht minder Direktor Dr. Priemel, der mehrere Tiere seines Zoo[s] bereitwilligst zur Verfügung gestellt hatte. All die Herren und Damen, denen wir den genußreichen Abend verdanken, hatten auf das eigene Vergnügen verzichtet, um Zeit und Mühewaltung ihren besonderen Aufgaben zu widmen." (Editor Fritz Peters, who was once again in charge, and his staff (especially Dr. Bing, the 'father' of the pageant; Wilhelm Schneider and his wife, the shooting gallery expert; Dr. Büttner, the manager of the Enzianbude, exemplarily supported by Dr. Bing; [...] are entitled to the warmest thanks, not least Director Dr. Priemel, who had willingly made several animals from his zoo available. All the gentlemen and ladies to whom we owe this enjoyable evening had foregone their own pleasure in order to devote time and effort to their special tasks.)

This is the only place known to us that currently proves that Grete Bing was also involved in the Frankfurt section. She is not mentioned in the 1925 list of members and we have not been able to find her among the later new members either. However, individual booklets are missing, so she may have been a member after all. In 1929, the winter festival was held under the title "Rund ums Gepatsch". Once again, Walter Bing's activities were highlighted in the news sheet:

"Den üblichen Höhepunkt des Abends bildete der von Dr. Walter Bing mit ebenso viel Liebe wie Arbeit vorbereitete Festzug, eine Filmexpedition ins Gepatsch. Nachdem der elektrische Tespiskarren mit den wirklichen Filmoperateuren auf dem Gepatschplateau eingetroffen war, konnten die vierzehn einzelnen Gruppen des Zuges in Fern-, Nah- und Nächstaufnahmen gekurbelt werden. Wir müssen es uns leider hier versagen, auf die Gruppen näher einzugehen. Die Begeisterung jedoch, mit der alle Bilder aufgenommen wurden, mag den Obleuten und Mitwirkenden der Gruppen zugleich als Ausdruck des Dankes für ihre Arbeit dienen." (The usual highlight of the evening was the procession, a film expedition into the Gepatsch, prepared with as much love as work by Dr. Walter Bing. After the electric Tespis cart with the real film operators had arrived on the Gepatsch plateau, the fourteen individual groups of the procession could be cranked into long-distance, close-up and close-up shots. Unfortunately, we must refrain from going into detail about the groups here. However, the enthusiasm with which all the pictures were taken may also serve as an expression of thanks to the group leaders and participants for their work.)

Walter Bing once again joined the festival committee for the following winter festival. This time he helped organize a traditional costume parade. In November 1929, the news bulletin stated: "Damen und Herren, die über echte Trachtenkostüme aus Oberösterreich, Steiermark, Kärnten, Tirol, Vorarlberg und Oberbayern verfügen, werden gebeten, ihre Adresse der Geschäftsstelle oder Herrn Dr. Bing (Maingau 75307) mitzuteilen." (Ladies and gentlemen who have genuine traditional costumes from Upper Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Upper Bavaria are asked to send their addresses to the office or to Dr. Bing (Maingau 75307).) The motto of the winter festival in January 1930 was "Winter trip to the Kaunertal!". The traditional costume parade organized by Walter Bing was described in the Nachrichten-Blatt as follows:

"Um zehn Uhr abends kam der Festzug in den Saal; Dr. Walter Bing hatte diesmal einen Trachtenzug in Originalkostümen der verschiedenen bayerischen und tiroler Gebirgsgegenden ausgearbeitet. Mit hellem Jubel wurden die einzelnen Gruppen von der dicht gedrängten Zuschauermenge aufgenommen, besonders die an der Spitze marschierende Gruppe Südtirol mit einem leibhaftigen Andreas Hofer (Herrn Grünig), an der Spitze; auch unser Innsbrucker Verbindungsmann, Ingenieur Krzyzanowsky, war in diese Gruppe eingeteilt. Zum Schluß des Umzugs stellten sich die Zugteilnehmer im Halbkreis vor der Bühne auf und brachten der Sektion Frankfurt, die auf der Bühne durch unseren verehrten ersten Vorsitzenden, sowie durch Mitglieder der Hochturistischen Vereinigung und der Jugendgruppe 'in voller Wichs' repräsentiert wurde, ihre Huldigung zu ihrem sechzigsten Bestehen dar." (At ten o'clock in the evening the procession entered the hall; this time Dr. Walter Bing had prepared a traditional costume procession in original costumes from the various Bavarian and Tyrolean mountain regions. The individual groups were greeted with loud cheers from the packed crowd, especially the South Tyrolean group marching at the front with a real-life Andreas Hofer (Mr. Grünig) at the head; our Innsbruck liaison officer, engineer Krzyzanowsky, was also part of this group. At the end of the procession, the participants lined up in a semicircle in front of the stage and paid homage to the Frankfurt section, which was represented on stage by our esteemed first chairman, as well as by members of the Hochturistische Vereinigung and the youth group 'in voller Wichs', on the occasion of its sixtieth anniversary.)

In the early 1930s, Walter Bing made various motions at the annual general meetings to support young mountaineers in particular, most of whom did not have sufficient funds for trips to the Alps due to the global economic crisis. In March 1930, he submitted an application for increased funding for "high-tourism purposes". The Board of Directors then agreed to grant subsidies in excess of the amount provided for in the budget on a case-by-case basis. In the following year, Walter Bing requested "die Bereitstellung eines größeren Betrages zur Unterstützung von ernsten alpinen Unternehmungen durch junge aufstrebende Hochturisten" (the provision of a larger sum to support serious alpine undertakings by young aspiring mountaineers). However, the Executive Board had already taken this into account in the budget for 1931. Accordingly, the report on the 61st Annual General Meeting in March 1931 states:

"Die Versammlung bewilligte nach dem Vorschlag des Ausschusses die Bereitstellung von RM 300.- für die Hochturistische Vereinigung zur Bestreitung ihrer Ausgaben für Kletterkurse und als Beihilfe für alpine Übungen nach eigenem Ermessen und unter eigener Verantwortung. RM 700 wurden bewilligt zur Errichtung eines Sondergrundstocks für alpine Unternehmungen. Der Ausschuß wird aus diesem Grundstock auf Antrag jungen bewährten Bergsteigern einzeln oder in Gruppen Geldbeihilfen zur Verfügung stellen für wirklich erstklassige alpine Pläne, für die Durchführung von Erstbesteigungen und für die Beteiligung an außereuropäischen Unternehmungen. Die Entscheidung über die Anträge liegt beim Ausschuß. Was von dem Geld in einem Jahr nicht verbraucht wird, bleibt dem gleichen Zweck erhalten und kann zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt verausgabt werden." (Following the committee's proposal, the meeting approved the provision of RM 300 for the Hochturistische Vereinigung to cover its expenses for climbing courses and as aid for alpine exercises at its own discretion and under its own responsibility. RM 700 was approved for the establishment of a special fund for alpine undertakings. On application, the committee will use this fund to provide financial aid to young, proven mountaineers, either individually or in groups, for truly first-class alpine plans, for the realization of first ascents and for participation in non-European undertakings. The decision on the applications lies with the committee. Any money that is not used in one year remains for the same purpose and can be spent at a later date.)

However, Walter Bing's additional request to make the chairman of the Hochturistische Vereinigung a permanent member of the section committee was rejected. A motion put forward by Walter Bing at the annual general meeting in March 1932 aimed to increase the influence of "der außerhalb der Leitung stehenden Mitglieder – und besonders der Jüngeren – auf die Gestaltung der Vortragsabende" (the members outside the leadership--and especially the younger ones--on the organization of the lecture evenings), but he withdrew his motion after the committee informed him that this would require an amendment to the statutes. This motion put an end to Walter Bing's active influence on the direction of the Frankfurt section, as this opportunity was taken away from him when decidedly National Socialist members took over the management in 1933. From this time onwards, Walter Bing no longer appeared as a regular contributor to the Frankfurt on the Main section's Nachrichten-Blatt. However, in issue no. 2 from February 1934 there is still a discussion of lecture evenings signed with W.B., his usual abbreviation. This was probably his last printed contribution.

However, Walter Bing had previously recommended several new members: In February 1930, together with the eminent mountaineer Dr. Julius Kugy from Trieste (Italy), he recommended the inclusion of Dottore Andreae de Pollitzer-Pollenghi, also from Trieste. Dr. Pollitzer-Pollenghi was a mountaineer, photographer and topographer who had been to the Caucasus, Iceland and the Atlas Mountains, among other places. He came from a well-known Jewish family in Trieste. In July 1930, Bing, together with Fritz Peters, recommended the new admission of Erich (also Erik) Graf Wickenburg, editor, and his wife. Count Wickenburg is only recorded in the Frankfurt address books for the years 1931 to 1933 with the address Neue Mainzer street 39. He came from the Salzburg region and was an editor at the influential Frankfurter Zeitung. In November 1930, together with Otto Bonwit, he recommended the new student Ralf Bernhardt Bonwit. Otto Bonwit, a businessman from Hanover, was then headmaster of the Philantropin, Frankfurt's most famous Jewish school. He died in July 1933. His son Ralf Bernhard Bonwit, born in Frankfurt in October 1910, survived the persecution and died in March 1988. In February 1931, Bing and Fritz Peters recommended the new admission of Lotti Weihermann, a doctor in London. And in June 1932, Walter Bing, together with Arthur Kutz, recommended the admission of Dr. Arthur Baer, a general practitioner, his son Alfred Baer, then a student, and his wife Franziska Baer.

Dr. Walter Bing was expelled from the Bayerland section in May 1933 after more than twenty years of membership and his objection to this was rejected. It is currently unclear whether he was also expelled from the Frankfurt on the Main section at the same time. A voluntary resignation from the Frankfurt section is unlikely because Bing resisted his expulsion from the Bayerland section. However, Walter Bing was not honored for 25 years of membership in the Alpine Club at the annual general meeting in 1935. He must therefore have been expelled as a Jew beforehand--although he was a "Frontkämpfer" (frontline fighter) and therefore could have stayed in the section.

Dr. Walter Bing was arrested by the Frankfurt Gestapo on April 1, 1933 as an "opponent" of the National Socialist system. Thanks to the intervention of the French consul--Bing had been a French citizen since 1920--he was released. However, as a Jew and a Frenchman, he was no longer able to write for German newspapers, so his income was greatly reduced. In November 1936, he left Frankfurt on the Main together with his first wife, as his residence permit was not renewed. A short-term visit visa requested from the German consulate in July 1938 to visit his 75-year-old mother, who was seriously ill, was turned down by the German authorities. Dr. Bing lived in Strasbourg until September 1939, after the outbreak of the Second World War first in Paris and then in the Auvergne region. From 1945 he lived in Paris again. His wife Grete Bing died in the French capital in 1954, he himself in January 1980.