13.6.3 Dahlem Berlin, 01 May 1915
Soon after the first gas attack—somewhere between 24 and 29 April—Haber
was recalled to Berlin,
46 and appeared before the Kaiser who, ignoring all
military protocol, promoted him from a sergeant in the reserves to a full
captain (Hauptmann), a rank aimed at providing Haber and his ‘gas troops’
with some credibility, and one which he retained for the remainder of the
war. Almost 27 years had passed since he had first applied for a commission
in the Prussian military (Chap. 2), but finally, the German Jew turned
Christian, became an officer and he immediately discarded his sergeant’s ‘pest
controller’s outfit’ and proudly donned his captain’s uniform. Haber’s time in
Berlin however was short—he had already received orders to travel to the
eastern front to organise gas attacks there too—but he found time, probably
suitably attired in his new uniform—to hold a reception at his villa in
Dahlem on the evening of 01 May 1915. Late that night, under an almost full
moon and with Haber sedated and asleep under the influence of his daily
allowance of sleeping pills, Clara took her husband’s pistol out into the
garden, fired a test shot, then turned the weapon on herself. In a final act
symbolizing the complete loss of love in her life, she placed a single shot
through her heart.
To this day the real reason(s) for Clara Haber’s suicide remain unclear.
Those friends moved to account for Fritz Haber’s life soon after his death
mention her demise only briefly or not at all. J. E. Coates
5 for example,
whose recollections have frequently been referred to in this work, avoids the
incident completely mentioning only that Habers first wife ‘died in 1915’;
Richard Willstäter’s memory too ‘skirts’ around the event recalling only that
when Haber returned home for a short visit, it was the day ‘… on which his
wife died …’. Little evidence has emerged over the intervening years from
those who have written in detail of Haber’s life and Haber himself remained
silent, offering no explanation, justification or even a defense against those
who suggested his behavior drove her to such despair, for at the time and
being ‘at the front’, death was commonplace in Haber’s life. But there seems
little doubt that Clara’s decision was driven by a heady emotional cocktail of
events and that the difficulties between the couple at the time were not minor,
but fundamental.
Contemporary accounts however suggest that Clara suffered a persistent,
gnawing frustration at foregoing her own career, having to settle for the role
of a professor’s wife, a mother, housekeeper and cook, roles which she often
could not discharge to her own high standards as Fritz’ chaotic lifestyle
13 Haber and the Chemist’s War 1914–18
261
Soon after the first gas attack—somewhere between 24 and 29 April—Haber
was recalled to Berlin,
46 and appeared before the Kaiser who, ignoring all
military protocol, promoted him from a sergeant in the reserves to a full
captain (Hauptmann), a rank aimed at providing Haber and his ‘gas troops’
with some credibility, and one which he retained for the remainder of the
war. Almost 27 years had passed since he had first applied for a commission
in the Prussian military (Chap. 2), but finally, the German Jew turned
Christian, became an officer and he immediately discarded his sergeant’s ‘pest
controller’s outfit’ and proudly donned his captain’s uniform. Haber’s time in
Berlin however was short—he had already received orders to travel to the
eastern front to organise gas attacks there too—but he found time, probably
suitably attired in his new uniform—to hold a reception at his villa in
Dahlem on the evening of 01 May 1915. Late that night, under an almost full
moon and with Haber sedated and asleep under the influence of his daily
allowance of sleeping pills, Clara took her husband’s pistol out into the
garden, fired a test shot, then turned the weapon on herself. In a final act
symbolizing the complete loss of love in her life, she placed a single shot
through her heart.
To this day the real reason(s) for Clara Haber’s suicide remain unclear.
Those friends moved to account for Fritz Haber’s life soon after his death
mention her demise only briefly or not at all. J. E. Coates
5 for example,
whose recollections have frequently been referred to in this work, avoids the
incident completely mentioning only that Habers first wife ‘died in 1915’;
Richard Willstäter’s memory too ‘skirts’ around the event recalling only that
when Haber returned home for a short visit, it was the day ‘… on which his
wife died …’. Little evidence has emerged over the intervening years from
those who have written in detail of Haber’s life and Haber himself remained
silent, offering no explanation, justification or even a defense against those
who suggested his behavior drove her to such despair, for at the time and
being ‘at the front’, death was commonplace in Haber’s life. But there seems
little doubt that Clara’s decision was driven by a heady emotional cocktail of
events and that the difficulties between the couple at the time were not minor,
but fundamental.
Contemporary accounts however suggest that Clara suffered a persistent,
gnawing frustration at foregoing her own career, having to settle for the role
of a professor’s wife, a mother, housekeeper and cook, roles which she often
could not discharge to her own high standards as Fritz’ chaotic lifestyle
13 Haber and the Chemist’s War 1914–18
261