Gorch Fock
Johann Wilhelm Kinau (22 August 1880 – 31 May 1916), better known by his pseudonym Gorch Fock, was a German author. Other pseudonyms he used were Jakob Holst and Giorgio Focco.
Also recorded as Johann Wilhelm Kinau · Jakob Holst · Giorgio Focco · Johann Kinau
Gorch Fock

Ferd. Braune, Atelier Naumann, Inhaber, Hamburg (Aus Gorch Focks Tag- und Nachtbuch S. M. S. Wiesbaden. In: Vaterstädtische Blätter, 1916/17. Nr. 10, 3. Dezember 1916) · Gorch Fock, Sämtliche Werke, Verlag M. Glogau Jun., 1916 · Public domain
- Name
- Gorch Fock
- Birth Name
- Johann Wilhelm Kinau
- Born
- 22 August 1880
- Birthplace
- Finkenwerder, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
- Died
- 31 May 1916
- Place of death
- Wiesbaden, North Sea
- Occupation
- author
- Known for
- Seefahrt ist Not!
- Full name
- Johann Wilhelm Kinau.
- Nationality
- German Empire.
- Fields
- belletristic literature, prose, poetry and drama.
- Languages
- Low German and German.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Johann Wilhelm Kinau (22 August 1880 – 31 May 1916), better known by his pseudonym Gorch Fock, was a German author. Other pseudonyms he used were Jakob Holst and Giorgio Focco.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
Gorch Fock (1880–1916) was a dialect writer, merchant and navy sailor, among other activities, of German nationality. The dialect writer was born Johann Wilhelm Kinau in Finkenwerder and died in Skagerrak. Activity centred on belletristic literature, drama and poetry. Languages used include German and Low German.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
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Authority files
gnd · 1037737350 · wikidata · Q69087
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Gorch Fock • Birth Name — Johann Wilhelm Kinau • Born — 22 August 1880 • Birthplace — Finkenwerder, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire • Died — 31 May 1916 • Place of death — Wiesbaden, North Sea • Other Names — Jakob Holst and Giorgio Focco • Occupation — author • Known for — Seefahrt ist Not!
Life
Life
Kinau was the eldest child of fisherman Heinrich Wilhelm Kinau and his wife, Metta Holst, on the Elbe island of Finkenwerder (now part of Hamburg). In 1895 he was apprenticed to his uncle, the merchant August Kinau in Geestemünde (today part of Bremerhaven), and from 1897 until 1898 he attended a commercial school in Bremerhaven. Later he was employed as an accountant in Meiningen, Bremen, Halle (Saale) and from 1907 at the shipping company Hamburg-Amerika-Linie in Hamburg. He married Rosa Elisabeth Reich in 1908, with whom he had three children. In 1904, Kinau started publishing poetry and stories in his native Low German dialect. In 1913, he published his most popular work, the novel Seefahrt ist Not!, in which he describes the life of the deep sea fishermen of his home island. In the First World War, Kinau was drafted into the German infantry in 1915. He fought in Serbia and Russia and later at Verdun. From 1916 he served in the German Navy, having requested the transfer. He served as a lookout on the light cruiser SMS Wiesbaden and died when the ship was sunk in the Battle of Jutland. His body was found on the Swedish shore on the island Väderöbod midsummer's eve 1916 near Fjällbacka. He was later buried on the island of Stensholmen together with other German and British servicemen. He was recognised by carrying a poem, "Letzter Wunsch", which predicted his demise, in a hermetically sealed box in his pocket: Letzter Wunsch / Sterb ich auf der stolzen See, / gönnt Gorch Fock ein Seemansgrab. / Bringt mich nicht zum Kirchhof hin, / senkt mich tief ins Meer hinab. / Segelmacher näh mich ein. / Steuermann, ein Bibelwort. / Junge, nimm deine Mütze mal ab... / Und dann sinnig über Bord... In 1938, his widow was invited to take part in the first voyage of M/V Wilhelm Gustloff to Madeira. The German Navy named two training windjammers in his honor, the Gorch Fock of the Kriegsmarine and the Gorch Fock of the Deutsche Marine. Gorch-Fock-Wall on the Hamburg Wallring is also named after him.
Burial
Burial
• Illustration — Gorch Fock's grave on Stensholmen, Bohuslän. Gorch Fock is buried on the Stensholmen in Bohuslän the northernmost part of the Swedish west coast. He was buried in the War cemetery on Stensholmen in 1920 by the pastor C. Norborg in Fjällbacka alongside two British and thirteen German sailors found dead in the archipelago and brought to land by local fishermen.
Works
Works
• 1910 Schullengrieper und Tungenkrieper • 1911 Hein Godenwind • 1913 Hamborger Janmaten • 1913 Seefahrt ist Not! • 1914 Fahrensleute • 1914 Cilli Cohrs (play) • 1914 Doggerbank (play) • 1914–15 War poems in Plattdüütsch • 1918 (posthumously) Sterne überm Meer (Diary notes and poems)
Identity
Identity
Gorch Fock is recorded with the occupation dialect writer. Recorded with the occupation navy sailor. Recorded as poet, writer, playwright, navy sailor and merchant.

Älteres Gebäude der Gorch-Fock-Schule
simmmox
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1880
Gorch Fock was born on 22 August 1880.
1916
Gorch Fock died on 31 May 1916.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Finkenwerder.
Birth place
Skagerrak.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 1037737350, Gorch Fock.
Unverified · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q69087: Gorch Fock
Unverified · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1."Fock, Gorch", in Webster's Biographical Dictionary (1960), Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.
- 2.cit. by: Arnold Schölzel: Schrottkahn des Tages: Gorch Fock. In: Junge Welt vom 15. März 2019. S. 8
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
- Gorch Fock. Mythos, Marke, Mensch. Aufsätze zu Leben, Werk und Wirkung des Schriftstellers Johann Kinau (1880–1916), ed. by Rüdiger Schütt. Nordhausen 2010,
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 1037737350, Gorch Fock.Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Partially resolvedauthority record
Unverified
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Gorch Fock was recorded at birth as Johann Wilhelm Kinau. The authorities additionally record the headings Johann Wilhelm Kinau, Jakob Holst, Giorgio Focco and Johann Kinau. His recorded languages were Low German and German.
Identity and origins
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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