Inauguration mass of the German church, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, 1930

Group portrait of members of the German church of Addis Abeba in front of the three-storied mission house with a surrounding gallery on each story. On the gallery of the second floor from left Hermann Grabe, Hans Borinski, Hermann Bahlburg in a cassock, the Austrian globetrotter Mr. Böhm. Downstairs in front of the house the interpreter Johannes, D.Ges and painter Mr. Winninger, behind them Dr. Schlobbies, D.Ges minister Dr. Prüfer, behind them consul Dr. Melchers, Mr. Gerke, Mr. Büron, Kurt Schumacher and his wife, the wife of Mr. Dostrowski, hehind them Ms. Haertel, Mr. Fischer, Ms. Gerke, Ms. Fischer, Mr. Dabbert, Mr. Nauss, Mr. Stift, Adolf Müller, Dietrich Waßmann sen. The children are Inge Plazikowski and the Schumacher children. Hermann Bahlburg (1892-1962) was the leader of the Galla [Oromo] mission of the Hermannsburg mission in Ethiopia from 1927 until his internment in 1941. He was based mostly in Adis Abeba, where he promoted the founding of a German school and church. He was part of the first caravan to Aira and undertook several journeys to the newly established mission stations in Aira and Bedele. From 1941 to 1948 he was interned by the British occupying forces. Afterwards he returned to Germany, where he continued his work as missionary until he was banned by the leadership of the Hermannsburger Missionsanstalt. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 2007. -- Hermann Grabe (1901-1984) was a ship carpenter and deacon. He was a missionary of the Hermannsburg mission in Ethiopia from 1927 to 1935. -- Adolf Müller (1905-1936) was a mission artisan of the Hermannsburg mission. He started his work as a missionary in Ethiopia in 1927. From 1928 he served in Aira, later in Bedele. He was married to Minna, née Nottorf. In may 1936 he left Bedele with his wife and baby to flee to Adis Abeba. He was killed on the way in an attack on the caravan. -- Dietrich Waßmann (1897-1954) was a missionary of the Hermannsburg mission in Ethiopia from 1927 on. In 1928 he married Martha, née Asmus. He worked at first at the mission station of Aira, where he established a protestant church and built an infirmary together with his sister Martha Waßmann. In 1935 he had to leave Ethiopia. He returned in 1938 and went back to Aira. In 1942 Waßmann went back to Germany. He returned again to Ethiopia in 1951.