Hark Olufs

{{Infobox person

| name = Hark Olufs

| image = Hark Olufs Grabstein.jpg

| caption = Hark Olufs' tombstone in the cemetery of Nebel

| birth_date = 17 or {{Birth date|1708|7|19|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Nebel, Denmark–Norway

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1754|10|13|1708|7|17|df=y}}

| death_place = Amrum, Denmark–Norway

| resting_place = Nebel

| resting_place_coordinates = {{Coord|54.6530|8.3558|type:landmark|display=inline}}

| citizenship = Danish

| occupation = {{flatlist|

Sailor
treasurer
military commander

}}

| known_for = Returning from Algerian slavery as a wealthy man

| notable_works = Autobiography

| module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes

| allegiance = {{flagicon image|Flag of Algiers.jpg}} Regency of Algiers

| serviceyears = {{circa}} 1728–1735

| branch = Life guards, later cavalry

| rank = Agha ed-Deira (Commander in Chief)

| battles = Conquest of Tunis (1735)

}}

Hark Olufs (17 or 19 July 1708 – 13 October 1754) was a North Frisian sailor from Denmark–Norway. He was captured by Algerian pirates and sold into slavery. By successfully working as a slave servant to the Bey of Constantine, he eventually obtained his freedom from captivity.

Life

Hark Olufs was born the son of a nautical captain named Oluf Jensen on either 17 or 19 July in 1708 on the North Frisian island of Amrum, which then belonged to Denmark. In 1721 he became a seaman on the Hoffnung, a ship belonging to his father.

In 1724, on a voyage from Nantes to Hamburg, Olufs’ ship was seized by Algerian pirates and he and his two cousins were taken hostage. Olufs' family could not afford the high price demanded in ransom by the Barbary slave traders for his release. Because the ship had been sailing under Hamburg colours, the family's request for a loan from the slavery fund of the Danish Kingdom was rejected.

Subsequently, Olufs was sold as a slave on Algiers' slave market. From 1724 to 1727/28 he was a slave servant of the Bey of Constantine and advanced in responsibility to become the Bey's treasurer. Between 1728 and 1732 he was made Commander of the Life Guards. In 1732 he became Agha ed-Deira, Commander in Chief of the local cavalry. In 1735, he took part in the conquest of Tunis by the Algerian army during the disposal of Al-Husayn I ibn Ali. As a reward, Olufs was released on 31 October and allowed to return to Amrum.{{harvnb|Rheinheimer|2001}} In 1747 he published an autobiography in Danish, which was translated into German in 1751. Hark Olufs died on 13 October 1754, in Süddorf on Amrum. His headstone is still visible in the graveyard of Nebel.

Legacy

Hark Oluf's life was chronicled in a biographical novel in 2010:

{{cite book|first=Udo |last=Weinbörner |title=Der General des Bay. Das abenteuerliche Leben des Amrumer Schiffsjungen Hark Olufs |publisher=Horlemann |location= Bad Honnef |year=2010| isbn= 978-3-89502-299-9 |language=de}}

References

Sources

{{cite episode|url=http://www3.ndr.de/ndrtv_pages_std/0,3147,OID2000300_REF9730,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317122011/http://www3.ndr.de/ndrtv_pages_std/0,3147,OID2000300_REF9730,00.html |archive-date=17 March 2008 |network=Norddeutscher Rundfunk|title=Ein Amrumer Schicksal im 18. Jahrhundert|series=Die Geschichte Norddeutschlands - Im Zeichen des Kreuzes |airdate=13 March 2007|access-date=24 November 2014 |language=de}}
{{cite book | title = Barbary Captives: An Anthology of Early Modern Slave Memoirs by Europeans in North Africa| year = 2022 | publisher = Columbia University Press | location = | editor-last = | editor-first = | last = Klarer | first = Mario | isbn = 978-0231175258 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BNkuEAAAQBAJ}}
{{cite web|author=Olufs, Hark|publisher=Martin Rheinheimer|url=http://web.sdu.dk/mrh/autdan.htm|title=Harck Olufs,... Besynderlige AVANTURES,... (Autobiography)|language=da|access-date=23 July 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070914110447/http://web.sdu.dk/mrh/autdan.htm|archive-date=14 September 2007}}
{{cite book|first=Martin|last=Rheinheimer|title=Der fremde Sohn. Hark Olufs' Wiederkehr aus der Sklaverei. (The alien Son. Hark Olufs' Return from Slavery.)|publisher=Wachholtz|year=2007|edition=3rd|language=de|isbn=978-3-529-02775-8}}
{{cite web|url=http://www.web.sdu.dk/mrh/background.htm|last=Rheinheimer |first=Martin|title=Hark Olufs and the Barbary States|year=2001|access-date=23 July 2008|publisher=University of Southern Denmark|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130106092839/http://www.web.sdu.dk/mrh/background.htm|archive-date=6 January 2013}}