Major-General Rudolf Anton Carl Freiherr von Slatin,
Early life
Rudolf Carl Slatin was born in Ober Sankt Veit near Vienna, the fourth child of the merchant Michael Slatin, who had converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism, Their other children were the twins Maria and Anna (born in 1852), Heinrich (1855), Adolf (1861), and Leopoldine (1864).
From Khartoum, Slatin went through Kordofan he received a letter from Gordon inviting him to Sudan, where Gordon had become the Governor-General. in a perilous 1000 km and three-week journey across the desert, reaching Aswan, Egypt in March 1895. His book became an important inspiration for the German author Karl May and his trilogy "Im Lande des Mahdi". He also published another book entitled "Elf Jahre in der Gefangenschaft des Mahdi". In autumn 1895, he was granted an audience with Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.
On the eve of his surrender to the Mahdi at Christmas 1883, he had resolved, if he regained his liberty, to use the knowledge he would acquire while in captivity for the eventual benefit of the country, and after a year's rest he took part, as an officer on the staff of the Egyptian army, in the campaigns of 1897–98 which ended in the capture of Omdurman. and in 1899 was knighted by Franz Joseph I of Austria. and in 1909 he was created an honorary Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order by King Edward VII of the United Kingdom.
His rank in the Austro-Hungarian Army always remained Leutnant d.R.
He then headed the prisoners-of-war section of the Austrian Red Cross.
He was involved in the plans of Charles I of Austria to get a separate peace with Great Britain and France.
Later life
He received absolution from the Pope for his conversion to Islam, which he had reversed. So it was not surprising that he was asked to serve within the new founded Austrian Scout organisation. From 1914 to 1918, he was the Honorary Chief Scout of the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund. In January 1929, a letter of Rudolf Carl von Slatin is published under the title Ehrenbundesfeldmeister (National Chief Scout) in the Austrian Scout Magazine "Unser Weg".
He was also an honorary member of the Royal Geographical Society.
In 1918, on behalf of the Austrian government led by Renner, he was instrumental, through his British contacts, in ensuring the supply of food and coal from Czechoslovakia for the beleaguered and starving inhabitants of Vienna.
In 1919, he was a member of the Austrian delegation in St. Germain.
In 1919, a Scout group of the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund in Klosterneuburg was named Slatin Pascha.
In November 1918, after the war, Slatin moved to Switzerland.
Every summer, with his daughter, he would visit his old Sudan comrades in England. and was buried on 6 October in the cemetery of Ober St. Veit, a suburb of Vienna.
The Spitzvilla in Upper Austria near Traunkirchen is a memorial site for Rudolf Carl von Slatin. He bought it in 1897 and there entertained many grand persons of his epoch.
In 1967 the public-service German television channel ZDF produced a movie in two parts about Rudolf Carl von Slatin. A documentary film about Slatin Pascha, Sudanese history and Sudan today was produced by Thomas Macho for the Austrian company Fischer Film in 2011.
The film, entitled Slatin Pasha: On Her Majesty's Service () started in the Austrian Cinemas on 1 June 2012.
At the Austrian National Jamboree in 1961 a Subcamp was named Slatin Pascha.
An Old Scout Group, belonging to the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund in Vienna is named Slatin Pascha.
A Scout Group in Vienna, belonging the National Scout Organisation Pfadfinder Österreichs, was also named Slatin Pascha.
In October 2011 a stamp was issued commemorating Slatin Pascha, Emmerich Teuber and the Viennese Scoutleader Kara Barteis.
His captivity and escape inspired the comics creators Mino Milani and Sergio Toppi for a comic story with the title "L'Uomo del Nilo" (The man of the Nile) in a series with the title "Un uomo un'avventura" (A man, an adventure) by Sergio Bonelli Editore
References
Further reading
- Gordon Brook-Shepherd, Between Two Flags: The Life of Baron Sir Rudolph von Slatin Pasha, G.C.V.O., K.C.M.G., C.B. (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1972)