A German Diplomat From Honolulu to Bolivia 1954
German Diplomat Honolulu Bolivia
In my collection of over 700 vintage passports, numerous untold stories await discovery. Today, we look into the diplomatic passport belonging to the Head of the economics department at the German Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia.
The diplomatic travel document is an early issue of the young Federal Republic of Germany, issued in Bonn on 10 August 1954 and valid for five years until 1959. The document has a low passport number G0563. The passport number indicates how many travel documents are issued in that specific year. German Diplomat Honolulu Bolivia
Who was Clarence Alexander Glade? German Diplomat Honolulu Bolivia
Glade was born on Nov 21st, 1892 in Honolulu (Hawaii/USA). His father was a consul and charge d’affairs during the German Empire for Austria-Hungary and company owner of Hackfeld & Co., Bremen and Honolulu.
Glade visited the humanistic college in Berlin, made a merchant education and worked internationally in Argentina, Chile, France and England. Then traveled to the Dutch-Indies, Japan and China.
World War I German Diplomat Honolulu Bolivia
During WWI, he was a volunteer and left the army in the rank of a Lieutenant. In 1919, he founded his company, Glade & Co. in Hamburg and Mexico, where he also lived from 1920-1925.
He did longer journeys to Cuba, Middle and South America. From 1926 on, he was the director of a chemical company in Lisbon until 1933. The consul at the German consulate in Lisbon hired him as an advisor for customs topics.
From 1933 on, Glade was marketing manager for several notable companies. Here, he traveled again extensively, visiting Madeira, Azores, Cape Verde, Portuguese West and South Africa, Cuba, Mexico, South and Middle America.
World War II
In 1940, he became deputy managing director for and visited the Generalgouvernement (Poland), Romania and France.
After the war, he worked with a few companies, mostly in Spain, until 1950 when he became a manager in a Hamburg company.
Glade spoke Spanish, Portuguese, English and French – besides German. In his CV from 1952 made in Hamburg, he states that he was never a member of the NSDAP and was since 1933 in Lisbon frequently boycotted. German Diplomat Honolulu Bolivia
Foreign Service
In the summer of 1949, he had already submitted an application for a position in the Foreign Service while in Barcelona. His appointment as the Head of the Economic Department at the La Paz legation was confirmed through a contract dated December 10, 1952.
Initially, he commenced his duties at the Foreign Office on January 2, 1953, undergoing a brief induction. The official transition to his post in La Paz took place on March 27, 1953. Unfortunately, his employment concluded on November 16, 1957, as his request for an extension beyond the age limit could not be accommodated.
As I did not find any information on Glade, I contacted the Political Archive of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and I got his curriculum vitae from the personnel file of Clarence Alexander Glade (P 14/48657). Many thanks to the archive for their always great support.
The Passport German Diplomat Honolulu Bolivia
I also hold the diplomatic passport of his wife Lisbeth. She was 30 years younger than him. Clarence Alexander Glade died in 1988 at age 96.
A diplomatic passport and a GESTAPO kidnapping
Tom Topol | Passport Historian & Author
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