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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