Götz Freiherr von Houwald was a German diplomat, historian, and ethnographer. He was born in Posen and died in Bonn. His full name was Maximilian Otto Gustav Albrecht Hubert Wilhelm Götz-Dieter Freiherr von Houwald. Götz-Dieter von Houwald's parents were Albrecht Freiherr von Houwald and Helene Gräfin von Carmer. He completed his secondary education in 1934 at the Paul-Gerhardt-Schule in Lübben. He went on to study law and journalism in Berlin. In 1940 he joined the German air force. In 1944 he was taken prisoner of war in north Africa. An unsuccessful escape attempt led to longer imprisonment. In 1948 he was released. After a short stint as a journalist, he entered the West German diplomatic service. In 1952 he was envoy to Peru and in 1961 to Ireland. Five years later he was appointed ambassador to the Central African Republic. In 1969 he was transferred to Managua as ambassador to Nicaragua. His time in Nicaragua saw his interest in the Sumu Indians begin and develop. After his retirement in 1975, Houwald studied ethnology and Hispanic studies at the Universität Bonn, obtaining a doctorate in 1978.
Selected publications
Los alemanes en Nicaragua. Banco de America, Managua 1975, 2nd edition 1993; in German: Deutsches Leben in Nicaragua. Auswanderer-Schicksale. Nicaragua-Gesellschaft, Bonn 1986,
Nicolás de Valenzuela: Conquista del Lacandón y conquista del Chol. Relación sobre la expedición de 1695 contra los Lacandones e Itzá según el "Manuscrito de Berlin". Colloquium-Verlag, Berlin 1979,
with Francisco Rener: Mayangna yulnina kulna balna = Tradiciones orales de los indios Sumus = Mündliche Überlieferungen der Sumu-Indianer. Seminar für Völkerkunde, Bonn 1984,
Mayangna = Wir. Zur Geschichte der Sumu-Indianer in Mittelamerika. Renner, Hohenschäftlarn bei München 1990, ; in Spanish: Mayangna. Apuntes sobre la historia de los indígenas Sumu en Centroamérica. Fundación Vida, Managua 2003,
Publications about Houwald
Peter Bahl: Houwald, Maximilian Otto Gustav Albrecht Hubert Wilhelm Götz-Dieter Frhr. v. In: Friedrich Beck and Eckart Henning : Brandenburgisches Biographisches Lexikon. Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam 2002,, pp. 187–188
Ich schaue mit Stolz auf Lübben und auf seine Menschen. In: Lausitzer Rundschau. January 3, 2000
Bernd Juds: Der Niederlausitz sehr verbunden. Götz-Dieter von Houwald wurde am Wochenende auf dem Familienfriedhof in Groß Jehser beigesetzt. In: Lausitzer Rundschau. October 8, 2001
Berthold Riese: Götz-Dieter Freiherr von Houwald . In: Indiana. Vol. 17/18, 2000/2001, pp. 409–416.
