A member of a German society established in honour of a political emigre who took up residence in Dundee is to visit the city this month.
Max Hewer of the Peter Imandt Society, based in Saarbrucken, is coming to attend the Scottish Trades Union Congress conference from April 19 to 21 at the Caird Hall in Dundee.
He intends to visit sites linked to Mr Imandt, including Dundee High, where he taught, Barnhill Cemetery, where he is buried, the McManus Galleries, where his daughter is the subject of an exhibition, and DC Thomson’s Meadowside building to view reports written by Peter’s daughter Franziska Marie Imandt, for many years a correspondent for The Courier.
Peter Imandt was born in Noswendel, near Trier, Prussia in 1823, was a founding member of Germany’s Social Democratic Party and, after joining uprisings in the 1840s, went into exile in Switzerland, then London, settling in Dundee a decade later.
The trip was instigated by the Peter Imandt Society after Mike Arnott, secretary of the Dundee Trades Union Council, got in touch to inform them Mr Imandt’s gravestone was in a state of disrepair.
While The Courier was researching a recent feature about Mr Imandt’s daughter — who was sent by the newspaper on a trip round the world with another female reporter in 1894 — it emerged the two-metre high memorial was to be laid flat because of its dangerous condition.
Ms Imandt is now the subject of an exhibition at the newly refurbished McManus Galleries, which details her exploits during her year-long trip round the world.
The Dundee Trades Union Council set up a Facebook group to gain support for the repair of Mr Imandt’s grave, as there is no recorded family member responsible for it.
It is estimated it will cost £800 to have the stone re-erected and properly secured and the Peter Imandt Society has indicated it is keen to assist with the cost.
Mr Imandt, who was a close friend of Karl Marx, married Anne McKenzie in Dundee in 1859 and the couple went on to have three children. He worked as a languages teacher at Dundee High School for almost 40 years.
He died at his home in Hill Street, Broughty Ferry, in 1897 aged 74. His daughter is buried in the same plot.
Mr Arnott said, “I got in contact with the society about the gravestone and it emerged some members had come over to Dundee in 2004 to visit Mr Imandt’s resting place.
“Mr Hewer then got in touch to say he would be attending the TUC conference and was interested in seeing places related to Mr Imandt’s life in Dundee.”
The society in Saarland is an association for civic education and culture in the region. It holds regular lectures, discussion forums, seminars and excursions on current socio-political and historical themes.