The Diary of Heinrich Witt

Abstract

A biography of Heinrich Witt authored by Christa Wetzel opens an impressive edition of Witt’s diary, written during the 19th century. Heinrich Witt, born in 1799 in Altona into a protestant merchant family, emigrated in his twenties to Peru where he spent most of his lifetime until his death in 1892. After school, the young Witt started a career as a merchant in Altona and was sent to England by his father in 1823, then left Europe to travel to Peru in 1824. First he acted for a trading company in London which started a new branch in Arequipa, Peru. In 1842 he went into business for himself, firstly dealt with wool and textiles, and focused on financial business from the 1860s onwards. This article was submitted to the European Journal of Life Writing on Janury 14th 2017 and published on April 29th 2017. New page numbers added on May 8th 2017