Rüdiger Nehberg
Encyclopedia
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activist, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and survival expert who introduced survival training
Survival skills
Survival skills are techniques a person may use in a dangerous situation to save themselves or others...
to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. He is the founder and chairman of the anti-FGC
Female genital cutting
Female genital mutilation , also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is defined by the World Health Organization as "all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons."FGM...
organization TARGET, and chairman of the organizations Friends of Peoples Close to Nature
Friends of Peoples Close to Nature
Friends of Peoples Close to Nature is a non-governmental human rights organization that works in the field of indigenous rights. The organization is dedicated to the survival of tribal peoples, in particular hunter-gatherers...
(German section - Freunde der Naturvölker) and Rettet den Regenwald (Save the Rainforest). He currently lives in Rausdorf
Rausdorf
Rausdorf is a municipality in the district of Stormarn, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany....
near Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Nehberg describes himself as having "No astrological sign, no church, no hair, and no clip in the ear (the latter means: he is a maverick)".
Career
He was born in BielefeldBielefeld
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...
, where he had his first adventure at the age of four. To the distress of his parents, little Rüdiger disappeared without notice and was found only two days later by the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
.
After school, Nehberg initially became a pastry chef
Pastry chef
A pastry chef or pâtissier is a station chef in a professional kitchen, skilled in the making of pastries, desserts, breads and other baked goods...
by trade, but increasingly turned his attention to outdoor survival. In 1972, together with two friends, he became one of the first to travel the length of the Blue Nile
Blue Nile
The Blue Nile is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. With the White Nile, the river is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile...
in a home-made boat.
Since 1980, he has been involved in defending the interests of the Yanomami Amerindian tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
. With his enterprise, "The Tree" (crossing the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
on a fir-tree
Fir
Firs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...
in 2000), he contributed to the provision of a protected reservation for the Yanomami. In 1981 – followed by a camera team – he crisscrossed Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
without any special equipment and relying for his sustenance solely on what he was able to find in nature. In 1987, Nehberg crossed the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
in a pedal boat
Pedalo
A paddle boat or "pedalo" is a form of waterborne transport, primarily for recreational use, powered through the use of pedals....
.
He was also one of the first to discredit the fraudulent "Tatunca Nara
Tatunca Nara
Tatunca Nara, born Hans Guenther Hauck , is German-Brazilian jungle guide and self-styled Indian chieftain, best-known as the sole source for stories of the lost city of Akakor.-Akakor:...
" story, which had gained publicity in the German and Brazilian media. A German worker named Hans Guenther Hauck left his home near Nuremberg in 1967, moved into the Brazilian jungle, and proclaimed himself the leader of the secret Ugha-Mongulala tribe, which had lived hidden in the secret jungle city of Akakor
Akakor
Akakor is the name of a supposed ancient underground city, located somewhere between Brazil, Bolivia and Peru.It was described by German journalist Karl Brugger, based on interviews with a self-proclaimed Brazilian Indian chieftain Tatunca Nara in his book The Chronicle of Akakor...
for 15,000 years. Neither the city nor the tribe ever existed. Nevertheless, many filmmakers and adventure-loving men and women believed Nara, and three people even died during Tatunca-led jungle excursions. The circumstances that led to their deaths have never been fully revealed. In Nehberg's book "Der selbstgemachte Häuptling" (The self-made chieftain), the whole story of this mysterious man and his deeds can be read.
In September 2000, he founded the human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
organization TARGET to prevent the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). For his commitment to endangered peoples, Nehberg was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz
Bundesverdienstkreuz
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany is the only general state decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has existed since 7 September 1951, and between 3,000 and 5,200 awards are given every year across all classes...
("Federal Cross for Merit"). In November 2006, TARGET organized and financed a conference under the patronage of the Eygyptian Great Mufti
Mufti
A mufti is a Sunni Islamic scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic law . In religious administrative terms, a mufti is roughly equivalent to a deacon to a Sunni population...
Ali Gomaa
Ali Gomaa
Sheikh Ali Goma'a is the Grand Mufti of Egypt through Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah succeeding Ahmad El-Tayeb. He has been called "one of the most widely respected jurists in the Sunni Muslim world," and described as "a highly promoted champion of moderate Islam," gender equality, and an "object of...
at Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University
Al-Azhar University is an educational institute in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 970~972 as a madrasa, it is the chief centre of Arabic literature and Islamic learning in the world. It is the oldest degree-granting university in Egypt. In 1961 non-religious subjects were added to its curriculum.It is...
of Cairo. As a result of the conference, leading authorities of Islamic law denounced genital mutilation.
Works
- Survival-Lexikon ISBN 3-492-23055-5
- Drei Mann, ein Boot, zum Rudolfsee, ISBN 3-492-22714-7
- Abenteuer am Blauen Nil, ISBN 3-492-23251-5
- Mit dem Baum über den Atlantik, ISBN 3-492-23607-3
- Die Kunst zu Überleben, Survival, ISBN 3-492-22622-1
- Medizin Survival, ISBN 3-492-22717-1
- Survival-Abenteuer vor der Haustür, ISBN 3-492-22715-5
- Überleben ums Verrecken, ISBN 3-89029-219-4
- Echt verrückt!, ISBN 3-89029-264-X
- Die Yanomami-Indianer, ISBN 3-492-23922-6
- Abenteuer Urwald, ISBN 3-89029-286-0
- Abenteuergeschichten, ISBN 3-453-01855-9
- Rüdiger Nehberg - Die Autobiographie, ISBN 3-89029-297-6