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2.3 literature bodies about and around zeppelins 17
2.3.1 Biographic Accounts
A first very important category is biographies, most of them about
Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin. As the zeppelin technology has always
been associated closely with its inventor and its development
depended a lot on Zeppelin’s personal finesse, those accounts give
important insights. The by far most important source in this category
that has already been cited abundantly in this piece of writing
is the biography »Graf Zeppelin – Sein Leben nach eigenen Aufzeichnungen
und persönlichen Erinnerungen« by Hugo Eckener [11] that I used
for the short introduction above. As mentioned above, it contains
very detailed accounts of Zeppelin’s life and background as well as
a comprehensive chronology on the zeppelin technology. Eckeners
close personal relation to Zeppelin and his involvement in the zeppelin
companies make his accounts extremely valuable. Nearly all
accounts on Zeppelin are based on this book in one way or another.
Hans Rosenkranz’s book »Graf Zeppelin - Die Geschichte eines abenteuerlichen
Lebens« [43], a second big monograph on Zeppelin’s person in
turn offers relatively little. At times he is coming up with new information,
which rather raises doubt than curiosity as it often draws
different pictures than other authors - especially Eckener. Considering
it was released during the short period of airship glory in the
Weimar Republic - and seven years before Eckener’s work on the subject
- it has to be considered as a glorifying narrative of Zeppelin as
a popular hero that has been outdated by Eckener’s book. The details
Rosenkranz brings up simply seem to be unreliable, especially
in direct comparison to Eckener. Therefore, I rely on Eckener’s book.
Despite some of the authors I cite use it, my personal judgement
led me to mistrust it and therefore not paying further attention to it.
Two more recent pieces close the circle: Clausberg [6] and Italiaander
[25] both dedicated monographs to the life of Zeppelin. Both have a
similar structure – instead of one continuous narrative like Eckener’s
work, they both divide their books into different chapters. This structure
allows for a more comprehensive and detailed approach to different
aspects of Zeppelin’s life easier. Additionally, there is a multitude
of small pieces on Count Zeppelin. Many of those are relatively recent
and of high quality regarding their accomplishments in discovering
and analyzing new material or obtaining untouched sources. Typically
these papers focus on individual aspects of Zeppelin’s life - e.g.
by Barbara Waibel [49], head researcher at the Zeppelin Archives, on
Zeppelin’s desperation after his discharge and the motivation this fact
brought along that was cited above. Several of those shorter pieces are
collected in an anthology on the occasion of an exhibition for the centenary
of LZ-1’s maiden flightMeighörner and Zeppelin-Museum [35].
While all of these accounts largely rely on Eckener’s work, they still
end up with more balanced narratives than Eckener’s very positive