IMCA Insights – April 2010
Commemorating Christian Anger (1965-2009)
compiled by Andrzej S. Pilski
Today I received an
email from Harald Stehlik, saying that our good friend Christian Anger
had a very bad car accident on December 14, 2009, and he died.
I am very shocked and sad, because Christian was not only a collector
but a friend. Everybody knows how much fun we had when we were together.
We had also other private contact and were real friends.
At first he told me that he could not come to the Munich show because he
had so many private problems in his mind. Then he called me Thursday
evening when I was in Munich, he decided to come. So he was with us
Friday evening at the Fliegerbräu and stayed in Munich till Sunday
afternoon. He helped me to bring some of my material back into the car
Sunday afternoon.
This was the last time I saw him.
True friendship never ends…
Hanno Strufe

Munich 2009 — the
last meeting
Christian Anger, Hanno Strufe, Dirk Hohmann, and his wife
(Photo courtesy of Hanno Strufe)
I just opened my mail
and the shock was immediate: 51 emails entitled "Christian Anger"! This
could not be some good news...
Christian was, since the first Ensisheim show, our "brightest light",
eternally smiling, a happy-to-live, cool, energetic, joking, teasing,
dancing, charming, funny, "blasting" person ... but also one of the most
elegant, gentle, gracious, courteous guys. When he would show up in
Ensisheim (he was among the first to come, from quite far away), he had
a pack of that "strangely delicious" Austrian beer for us to taste. But
there were also lots of meteorites in his bags, for ambulant trade and
for the consignment room.

Ensisheim 2005 — Main
mass of the new fall from Niger/Nigeria
Maigatari-Danduma
(Photo courtesy of Hanno Strufe)
The superb 48g crusted
Maigatari-Danduma he displayed there for sale as premium immediately
went into my collection, along with the text describing its weird quest
that Christian had personally written. Christian soon became our
Brother-Ensi-Meteorite-Guardian.

Ensisheim 2005,
enthroning ceremony — Christian Anger (top left)
is very happy to be an Ensisheim Meteorite Guardian!
(Photo courtesy of Peter Marmet)
And he truly deserved
this honor, not only through his highly avid passion, competence, and
love of meteorites, but also for his immense kindness, enthusiasm, and
respect for children and young amateurs. And, oh yes, the "Ensisheim
Saturday night fevers" could not have been "what they were" without Christian's
"deep impact."

Ensisheim 2005 —
Party time:
Marc Jost, Zelimir Gabelica, Christian Anger
(Photo courtesy of Peter Marmet)
I also was so lucky to
meet him last November in Munich and we promised each other to have a
"great Ensisheim" again next year. My friend, now that I start realizing
this won't happen, I promise you will never be forgotten. You are our
first brother to have gone "somewhere over there," where you are now, I
am sure, happy and in peace. I am right now planning for your memory
some special treat next June and am sure all the people there will join,
so as to be so close to you again. I will badly miss your "strange
Austrian beverage!"
Zelimir Gabelica

Ensisheim 2005 —
Harald Stehlik, Francesco Moser, Hanno Strufe,
Zelimir Gabelica, Marcin Cimala, Christian Anger on Saturday evening
(Photo courtesy of Hanno Strufe)
This is very, very sad
news. Christian will truly be missed, and my thoughts and prayers are
with his friends and relatives.
I knew Christian for many years, and he used to visit me at my home
prior to the Ensisheim shows to talk about our favorite passion, and to
show off or to trade rocks from space. He was one of the kindest persons
you can imagine, always friendly and joking, with a big heart in the
right place. His passing away leaves a void that can't be filled.
There are a lot of anecdotes that come to my mind when I think of
Christian, too many to tell. One is a story around the large main mass
of HaH 173 which Christian traded from me years ago. The interior of
that L6 was very fresh (W0-1), but the mass had been buried in the
desert and it was totally covered with a tough caliche coating, making
it an ugly duckling. However, Christian could see the swan in it, and in
weeks of meticulous work he manually removed all the caliche—I didn't
recognize the mass when he sent me a picture of it! It really looked
like a fresh fall as Christian had managed to bring out the original
fusion crust which was hidden under the caliche coating.
Christian always had a great passion for his meteorites, and handled
them with utmost care. Whenever he purchased a slice, he manually
polished it so that he could also enjoy it under the microscope. He was
an exemplary curator of his space rocks, second to none. And he was a
great guy, a real buddy. I had the pleasure to serve with him on the
IMCA Board of Directors. It was a pleasure to have him as a fellow
Brother of the Ensisheim Meteorite Brotherhood of Guardians, and - last
but not least—as a friend.
Christian: your great sense of humor and your passion will sorely be
missed. Godspeed!
Norbert Classen
President IMCA Inc.

Ensisheim 2006 —
Christian Anger joking at the annual Dinner Party
(Photo courtesy of Peter Marmet)
"My name is Christian
Anger. I live in Austria on the historical soil of the biggest ancient
Roman legion camp called "Carnuntu." On this area are two villages now.
One of them is my hometown Bad Deutsch-Altenburg on the most eastern
foothills of the eastern Alps called "Hundsheimer Mountains." It's about
50 km east of Vienna riverdown the river Danube, near the border to
Slovakia.
My job is construction engineer for road constructions and pavements.
My most famous interests are amateur astronomy, meteorite collecting
(and a bit hunting and trading and selling), as well as impact
structures and meteorite craters of our planet Earth. The roots of my
interest in meteorites and related matters are in amateur astronomy and
collecting some minerals when I was a boy. Twenty five years ago I got a
small book about stars and planets. I took some old binoculars and
looked, as recommended in this book, up to the clear skies. I will never
forget this moment. It affected my whole life. I also collected minerals
at this time. We have an ancient quarry here in my hometown. There are
some caverns, where I climbed into to pick up calcites.
My special interest in astronomy is the exploration of our solar system.
I tried to get all the information the space probes sent back to Earth.
But at this time there were not many books and magazines available in
Austria. In 1993 I got my first internet account. Then I was able to get
all this information and images from the planets and their moons of our
solar system. I loved this strange and extraordinary landscapes and
especially the impact craters. This was the point when my interest in
astronomy went into the science of meteorite craters and impact
structures, especially of our planet Earth. Then I wanted to hold the
things, which caused such craters, in my own hand. Amateur astronomy and
mineral collecting cumulated in my love to meteorites.
My first meteorite was a Sikhote-Alin 49 g Individual. A very
interesting one. It is 3/4 an ablated Individual and 1/4 a shrapnel. It
is broken open on one side and you see a spiral shape like a thread in
the interior. From this moment on, I was completely fascinated about
meteorites and this love is still growing. The most beautiful experience
in this passion was my first own finding of a meteorite: an individual
from a fresh fall - Moravka.
My goal in collecting meteorites is to have at least one specimen of
every type (and subtype) of meteorites. I am type-collector. I also
collect tektites, all types of impact materials, and I have a small
collection of meteorwrongs for comparison purposes."
Christian Anger
(About me)

Ensisheim 2006 —
Christian Anger, Anne Black, and Dave Schultz
In the background: Mike Farmer, Hans Koser and friend
(Photo courtesy of Peter Marmet)
I'm so
sorry reading the sad news. We knew each other since last century and I
was often talking with him at Gifhorn/Munich/Ensisheim shows.
One day, when I was in my home in Poland Erich Haiderer and Christian
gave me a call to get some advice for Morasko-irons hunting. Instead of
going to Morasko, I recommended to go to the fresh fall area near
Moravka in the Czech Republic. They followed my advice and after 6 days
hunting, Christian found a great individual of around 130 g under a
tree! I was so happy about his discovery and excitement to find his
first meteorite! Later in Gifhorn he gave me a small piece of it as a
gift.
Rest in peace, Christian, and keep an eye to hazardous asteroids.
Thomas Kurtz Ries-crater / Germany
Compiled by Andrzej S. Pilski, edited by Larry & Nancy Lebofsky
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