[gelöst] Verstorbenen Inspector

[Stanley Who]

Jahr, aus dem der Begriff stammt: 1910
Region, aus der der Begriff stammt: Hamburg

Hello Everybody,

Verstorbenen Inspector

Firstly I have only a small knowledge of German, I came across this occupation while searching and reading civil records and caught my curiosity. I tried to search sites with German occupation meanings but found no answers.

Is someone able to tell me what the job really entails.

My silly mind has a picture of someone poking with a stick to see if they are really dead. lol Or is it something more like a Coroner.

Kind regards
Jan

[Huber Benedikt]

I think , this expression is out of context.
I suggest somewhat like:
des verstorbenen Inspektors // the deceased inspector´s
Do you have a scan or at least the full sentence where this expression is in.

[Anna Sara Weingart]

Hello Jan
The word "inspector" does not express a special activity, but a rank. Especially in a career in the civil service. An inspector often had an function in the administrative.
Also, there had been inspectors in the postal service and in the railway administration.
Thus, we cannot say, if your man worked in the city hall, at the post office or at the railway station. Or at a police station as "police inspector". Or somewhere else.

But we can say, that an inspector had a rank in a supervising position. He had to control, that his subordinates worked correctly.

The word comes from Latin "inspectare" = to observe, to keep an eye on

[AKocur]

Hi Jan,

I suspect that Huber Benedikt had the right idea, and that "verstorbener" isn't part of the occupation but simply means that the person was already deceased at that time.

Nevertheless, if an occupation with the name of "Verstorbeneninspektor" (no spaces within long German words!) had existed, it would probably indeed mean something similar to coroner. However, the word we use for coroner is "Leichenbeschauer" or "Totenbeschauer." (lit. translates to "one who looks at/examines the corpse/dead").

Greetings,
Antje

[Anna Sara Weingart]

Yes, that's clear.
Jan, in your source, there seems to be a sentence, like: "Anna, widow of the deceased inspector Robert Fischer" = "Anna, Witwe des verstorbenen Inspector Robert Fischer"

A word like "Verstorbenen-Inspector" or "Verstorbeneninspektor" didn't exist in Germany

[Stanley Who]

Hello All,

I tried to find the certificate I had read but can not find it now.

I think it was a death cert., it was a typed entry not hand written so was very clear to read. There was a space between the two words before the name of the informant "Richard Ratzmann" at the start of the entry.

Regards
Jan

[Stanley Who]

Hello everybody,

I have come across the certificate that I was referring too, so here is a copy if you wish to view and comment on.

Regards
Jan

[thoddy]

Hi Jan,


it is how Anna Sara describes in theme #5


it is a sentence:


registered on oral display of the father of the deceased inspector Richard Lüttensee, Hamburg Rossausweg 2


Greetings
Thorsten

[Anna Sara Weingart]

No Thorsten, that's not correct.
Inspector Richard Lüttensee isn't deceased. It's his son, who died.

Translation:
"Entered [or registered] on oral statement of the father of the deceased, inspector Richard Lüttensee, Hamburg Rossausweg 2."

The comma between deceased (Verstorbenen) and inspector is missing in the German sentence. It was a failure the writer made.

Gerd Ernst Richard is the deceased, and his father Richard is the inspector.

[Kasstor]

Richard died July 27, 1955.


Thomas

[PetraNeu]

Anna Sara made the perfect translation

LG Petra

[Anna Sara Weingart]

... The comma between deceased (Verstorbenen) and inspector is missing in the German sentence. It was a failure the writer made. ...

But probably my German ist not perfect. My statement about a missing comma wasn't correct. The writer didn't made a failure, I think.
Or is somebody here, who can say, if there had to be a comma or not, in the German sentence?

[Basil]

Hello,

Anna Sara, i think, there had to be a comma, because profession and name of the father is an insertion. (Beisatz, Einschub, Apposition)

According to the 1920 and 1935 address books of Hamburg, Richard Lüttensee was an official at the State Quays Administration (Kaiverwaltung). In 1935 the Quays Adminstration became part of a company later known as the Hamburger Hafen und Lager Aktiengesellschaft HHLA (Hamburg port and storage company). I can't find the employer of R. Lüttensee in address books later than 1935, but he is still an official (Verwaltungsinspektor, administrative inspector).

Greetings
Basil

[thoddy]

wenn der Standesbeamte das Komma gesetzt hätte, wäre es eindeutiger gewesen. Ich hatte das so interpretiert, dass er nur das -s bei Inspektor vergessen hätte. Dann hätte der Satz eine andere Bedeutung (= der Vater des verstorbenen Inspektors). Aber Basil hat das ja aufgeklärt, da Richard erst 1955 verstorben ist.

Daran sieht man das Schwierige der deutschen Sprache

Gruß
Thorsten

[AKocur]

But probably my German ist not perfect. My statement about a missing comma wasn't correct. The writer didn't made a failure, I think.
Or is somebody here, who can say, if there had to be a comma or not, in the German sentence?

Looking at the rules for comma in the Duden, I'd say this is rule D107, which pretty much says 'you can put a comma, if you want, but you don't need to'. But this is the new grammar rules; not sure how the rule was for this in 1939. If I remember learning the new rules in school correctly (they switched system during my school time), there were a lot of cases where putting a comma became voluntary where it before was mandatory.
I would definitely advocate in favor of putting a comma in this case, as without it, it's a little bit unclear who is meant here (though when looking at the entire document, it's clear who is meant).

LG,
Antje