| Hans Hass | |
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| Born | January 23, 1919
Vienna, Austria |
| Occupation | Diver, Presenter |
Hans Hass (born January 23, 1919) is a diving pioneer and mainly known for his documentaries about sharks, the energon theory, and his commitment, later in life, to the protection of the environment. He was born in Vienna, Austria.
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His Matura trip of 1937 to the Riviera, which included underwater hunting and photography, had a formative effect on him. After making expeditions to the Caribbean Sea and writing his first professional articles, in 1940 Hass switched from reading law to zoology studies and graduated in 1943. In his early diving he used rebreathers which he had made for him by the German diving gear makers Dräger: he had these sets made with the breathing bag on his back, as he did not like the bag-on-chest "frogman look".
Don Stewart, one of the first scuba operators on the Caribbean island of Bonaire, blames Hass for single-handedly hunting the Goliath grouper to local extinction.[1]
During the Second World War Hass, then in his 20's, was conscripted in the Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht. Due to his diving skills he was assigned to the so-called "Fighters of the Sea" battalion: the first frogmen of the German "Wehrmacht" as they used to call themselves. Founded in 1943 as an element of the military secret service they were one of the "Kriegsmarine's" most important nuclei of the so called "Kleinkampfverband" in 1944. Its main mission was to explore the opponent's port facilities, to eliminate the enemy's vessels and to destroy bridges and floodgates in inland waters.
The origin, equipment and training of this legendary special unit as well as its incorporation into the command structure of the "Wehrmacht" are until today only fragmentarily documented in scientific investigations. The main reason is that corresponding records were almost completely destroyed. Furthermore many of the still living veterans such as Hans Hass himself feel themselves bound by their oath of secrecy they swore at that time.[2]
In 1945 his research vessel got lost when the Russians captured Königsberg, so he addressed himself to anthropology and evolution. In 1947 his movie Menschen unter Haien (Men Among Sharks) had its world premiere in Zurich, and his most popular book with same title was released in 1948. As a consequence, he got contracts with Herzog-Film (Munich) and Sascha-Film (Vienna). He also performed his first "Xarifa" expeditions. The new research ship, named Xarifa, mostly had to be self-financed through photo safaris in the Red Sea and by the BBC.
After expeditions in East Africa and South Asia his first TV series were developed in 1959, in 1961 for the first time about creatures outside the water. This was followed by behaviour research and the energon theory from 1963 to 1966 as the basis of the following works. Combined with management strategies, in 1969 Hass published about commonalities with the evolution. In the 1970s he addressed environmental and commercial themes and was appointed to a professorship by the University of Vienna.
In 1983 he started longtime studies and a huge amount of tutorials about predatory instincts in profession. Hass consolidated marine biology, behaviour research and management theories under one umbrella. From his point of view his energon theory cannot be disproved. In 1989 he addressed himself to environmental themes.
Hans Hass has been married to his second wife, Lotte Baierl, since 1950. His son, also called Hans, was born in 1946.
   | Homepage of Hans Hass - Website von Prof. Dr. Hans Hass |
| | Hans-Hass-Institut für Submarine Forschung und Tauchtechnik - WWW.HIST-NET.DE |
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