Lotte Hass, "First Lady of Diving," passes

[DandyDon]

https://www.deeperblue.com/famed-diver-lotte-hass-died/

Women Divers Hall of Fame member Lotte Hass died on Jan. 14 at the age of 86, the Hans Hass Institute announced.
Called by some the “First Lady of Diving,” she was the first underwater model and one of the first female underwater photographers, according to her bio on the Women Divers Hall of Fame website. She began diving in 1949 as the only woman on husband Hans Hass’ crew during the filming of “Adventure In The Red Sea,” during which she learned how to use a Drager closed circuit rebreather.
The first woman to dive with autonomous diving equipment, Hass opened up a formerly male-dominated field to women. In spite of heated opposition, Hass worked as an underwater photo model before becoming the first female professional underwater photographer. During the 1950s, Hans Hass filmed her diving with sharks.
Lotte and Hans were married for more than 62 years until his death in June 2013. Her autobiography, “A Girl On The Ocean Floor,” was adapted into a movie in 2011 in which Yvonne Catterfeld starred as Lotte.
The Hans Hass Institute has asked that donations in Lotte’s memory be made to support SHARKPROJECT, an organization dedicated to stopping the destruction of the oceans and the extinction of sharks. Click here to donate.
An online condolence book has been set up here.

 

[decompression]

Very sad indeed.


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[DandyDon]

Very sad indeed.


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I don't think so. Sounds like she had a great life, great marriage, and went at a late age. I just thought it deserved posting here.

 

[JMBL]

Try reading her book 'A girl on the ocean's floor', I loved it, about the early days of scuba diving.

Bon voyage Madame.

 

[clownfishsydney]

One of the pioneer divers who had a huge influence on diving in Australia.

 

[jake11]

What a pioneer! I am going to have to get her book!!! A life to be celebrated for sure!

 

[drbill]

I agree with Don... she lived a great life. It all has to end sometime.

 

[Mako Mark]

Sharkproject indeed.

A girl after my own heart.

 

[Sam Miller III]

This is certainly not new news but it is appreciated that DannyDon posted the news of Lotte's passing.

My life and my diving career was greatly influenced by Dr. Hass and his dear wife Lotte, both whom I have known and have admired for many years .

In 1948 Dr. Hass's B&W Underwater movie "Under the red sea" was shown locally. My cousin who was a mining engineer identified the rebreathers they were using in the movie as essentially the same as the mine safety appliance rebreathers (aka MSA) used in mines, so he supplied a surplus MSA O2 cylinder and I constructed a home made rebreather using basically WW11 surplus Items. a short time later I made my first extended dive of about 10 breaths at depth of about 3 to 8 feet in a local swimming pool at night where my girl friend was a life guard using my home made rebreather....both exciting and terrifying- I had become a Hass "Swim Diver"

One of the first books I purchased was in Hass's "Dive to adventure" in the early 1950s. Which was the keystone to becoming a lifelong diving bibliophile. during the ensuing years I managed to collect all of Dr. Hass's books published in the US and a number published in German. All published in the US have been inscribed to me by both Dr. Hass and Lotte except "Dive to Adventure" which was written prior to Lotte joining with Dr. Hass so only Dr. Hass inscribed the book .

I was honored to first meet both Dr. Hass and Lotte in 1959 (good gosh! 56 years ago-can it be?) at the third Los Angles Underwater Film Festival where they were honored for their pioneering work in Underwater Photography and exploration. I surprised them by my almost comprehensible inherited German and created a sort of a bond - I asked if they would honor me by autographing the program which they did...possibly the only autographed 1959 LA UW film festival program in the world.

In 1998, (Wow- 17 years ago) they appeared locally at a film festival where we were once again was united and once again they graciously autographed my and my wife's program. I suspect their are a number of those programs that have been autographed floating around the diving world.

I never searched for or obtained "Girl on the Ocean floor," since it was only printed in Germany in German and in England in the English language, never printed in the US. It was almost a classic book with a classic bibliophile value almost as soon as it was printed. I wish those searching for the book good luck and any one who has a copy for sale please PM me.

I am also honored to have a copy of "Hans Hass; Ein Lebben auf Expedition, ein portrat" autographed to me buy both the author Dr. Michael Jung and the subject of the book, Dr. Hans Hass. A very interesting book into the life of Dr.Hass and his wife Lotte--even in German......

Dr. Hass and his partner in life and dive buddy, Lotte are the true pioneers of recreational diving. I was fortunate to have known them, have read their books and have memories with their inscriptions in my books and programs a heirloom for family for generations yet unborn.


SDM

 

[JMBL]

I never searched for or obtained "Girl on the Ocean floor," since it was only printed in Germany in German and in England in the English language, never printed in the US. It was almost a classic book with a classic bibliophile value almost as soon as it was printed. I wish those searching for the book good luck and any one who has a copy for sale please PM me.

I am also honored to have a copy of "Hans Hass; Ein Lebben auf Expedition, ein portrat" autographed to me buy both the author Dr. Michael Jung and the subject of the book, Dr. Hans Hass. A very interesting book into the life of Dr.Hass and his wife Lotte--even in German......

Dr. Hass and his partner in life and dive buddy, Lotte are the true pioneers of recreational diving. I was fortunate to have known them, have read their books and have memories with their inscriptions in my books and programs a heirloom for family for generations yet unborn. SDM

Sam, as you're proficient in German, you really ought to get a copy of "Das Mädchen auf dem Meeresgrund", it has been reprinted in Germany as a paperback, and you can even get a vintage edition (maybe not the original one though) for a handful of pennies. That's how I got my own copy and I enjoyed it very much, although reading German is no picknick for me.

The book is really worth reading, it's mainly about the filming of "Abenteuer im Roten Meer" (aka Diving in the Red Sea), it gives a different angle to her husband's book and film : things where much more complicated... And anyway it's a good book in its own right.

If you want to see the films once again, there's a 4 DVD pack 'Hans Hass klassik Edition' available too (the last 2 films have also an English soundtrack althought rather poor).

Cheers, I must be off, divin early tomorrow morning !