Fritz Mühlenweg was a German painter and author. His most famous book is In geheimer Mission durch die Wüste Gobi (part one in English Big Tiger and Compass Mountain), published in 1950. It was later shortened and translated into English under the title Big Tiger and Christian.

Early life

Fritz Mühlenweg was born in 1898 as a son of a chemist in Konstanz

Konstanz

Konstanz is a university city with approximately 80,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany, bordering Switzerland. The city houses the University of Konstanz.-Location:...

. He was educated as a chemist in Bielefeld

Bielefeld

Bielefeld is an independent city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 323,000, it is also the most populous city in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold...

 and took over the family business after his father died. He left Konstanz in 1926 for Berlin. There, Mühlenweg began to work as an accountant for Deutsche Luft Hansa

Deutsche Luft Hansa

Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G. was a German airline, serving as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and throughout the Third Reich.-1920s:Deutsche Luft Hansa was founded on 6 January 1926 in Berlin...

, a newly formed airline company.

Work with Luft Hansa

In 1927, Luft Hansa contributed to the Sino-Swedish expedition to Central and South Asia, following plans for an airline connection between Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 and Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. With Sven Hedin

Sven Hedin

Sven Anders Hedin KNO1kl RVO was a Swedish geographer, topographer, explorer, photographer, and travel writer, as well as an illustrator of his own works...

 as their guide, the expedition would check out meteorological conditions. Mühlenweg joined to expedition as the financial and materials manager from 1927 to 1928. He returned for a second trip to Central Asia in the winter of 1929-1930. In 1931, Mühlenweg took his last and longest trip to the area, to observe weather conditions with a German meteorologist in the Gobi Desert

Gobi Desert

The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...

.

Career in art

In 1932, Mühlenweg joined the Academy of Fine Arts

Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is an institution of higher education in Vienna, Austria.- History :The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy by the court-painter Peter Strudl, who became the Praefectus Academiae Nostrae. In 1701 he was ennobled as Baron of the Empire...

 in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 and studied painting, but soon dropped out. In Vienna he met his future spouse, Elisabeth Kopriva. In 1934, after their wedding, the couple moved to Allensbach

Allensbach

Allensbach is a municipality in the district of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, which is known for being the home of the Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach, one of the best known polling organizations in Germany....

, where both worked as independent artists. During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Mühlenweg was drafted as a customs officer guarding the Swiss border. The Mühlenwegs had seven children.

He started publishing literary works in 1946. His greatest success, In geheimer Mission durch die Wüste Gobi, was published in 1950 as the two parts Großer-Tiger und Kompaß-Berg and Null Uhr fünf in Urumtschi. The juvenile adventure novel was set in China and Mongolia, and was based on the experiences Mühlenweg collected during his expeditions.

Mühlenweg died in Allensbach in 1961 from the effects of a stroke. His wife survived him less than two days.

Works

• In geheimer Mission durch die Wüste Gobi (heute Großer-Tiger und Christian), Freiburg
  • Teil 1. Großer-Tiger und Kompaß-Berg, 1950
  • Teil 2. Null Uhr fünf in Urumtschi, 1950
• Das Tal ohne Wiederkehr oder Die Reise von Magog nach Gog, Freiburg 1952
• Nuni, Freiburg 1953
• Das kleine Buch vom Bodensee, Konstanz 1954 (zusammen mit Lotte Eckner)
• Kasperl mit der Winduhr, Freiburg 1956
• In jenen Tagen, Freiburg i.Br. 1957
• Der Familienausflug, Freiburg i.Br. 1960
• Das Schloß des Drachenkönigs, Freiburg i.Br. 1961
• Echter und falscher Zauber, Freiburg i. Br. 1963
• Kleine mongolische Heimlichkeiten, Bottinghofen am Bodensee 1992
• Fremde auf dem Pfad der Nachdenklichkeit, Lengwil am Bodensee 1992
• In geheimer Mission durch die Wüste Gobi, Lengwil am Bodensee 1993 (ungekürzte Neuauflage)
• Malerei, Lengwil 1999
• Mongolische Heimlichkeiten, Lengwil 2002
• Drei Mal Mongolei: Dampignak und andere Erzählungen ; Reisetagebücher und Briefe aus der Sven-Hedin-Expedition durch die Innere Mongolei, Hrsg. Ekkehard Faude und Regina Mühlenweg, Lengwil 2006

As editor

• Magdalena Steinerin: Clara und Franciscus von Assisi, Konstanz 1959

Translations

• Dino Buzzati
  Dino Buzzati
  Dino Buzzati-Traverso was an Italian novelist, short story writer, painter and poet, as well as a journalist for Corriere della Sera. His worldwide fame is mostly due to his novel Il deserto dei Tartari, translated into English as The Tartar Steppe.-Life:Buzzati was born at San Pellegrino,...
  
  : Das Königreich der Bären, Freiburg i. Br. 1962
• Louise Fatio: Der glückliche Löwe, Freiburg 1955
• Louise Fatio: Der glückliche Löwe in Afrika, Freiburg 1956
• Louise Fatio: Das glückliche Löwenkind, Freiburg i.Br. 1960
• Louise Fatio: Eine Puppe für Marie, Freiburg i. Br. 1959
• Louise Fatio: Zwei glückliche Löwen, Freiburg 1957
• Janice: Die Ente Angelina, Freiburg i. Br. 1961
• Nicholas Kalashnikoff: Turgen, der Jäger, Freiburg 1957
• Nancy Lord: Ich und mein Hund, Freiburg i. Br. [u.a.] 1959
• Tausendjähriger Bambus, Hamburg 1946 / Neuauflage, Lengwil 1994

Exhibitioncatalogue

• Ausstellungskatalog Das Land des Blauen Himmels – Fritz Mühlenweg in der Mongolei. Libelle Verlag Lengwil am Bodensee 2005. ISBN 3-905707-02-0.