Hans Werner Debrunner

Hans Werner Debrunner (1923 –1998) was a Swiss German historian and theologian whose work mainly covered mission history, West Africa and the African diaspora.^[1][2][3] He also carried out academic research on history relating to missiology in northern, eastern and southern Africa. Upon his death in 1998, his private library and archive were donated to the Carl Schlettwein Foundation.^[1] The "independent, self-contained collection" comprises more than 3100 books and single journal issues on his area of specialty, published mostly in the first half to mid-twentieth century.^[1] Furthermore, Debrunner’s academic archives are a compilation of historiography and ethnography, particularly bio-bibliographies of Swiss missionaries and native African pastors and missionaries who worked with the Basel Mission in Africa.^[1][4][5][6] Debrunner also documented history, socio-political and intercultural relations between Africa and Europe.^[7] Hans Debrunner’s accounts explored the life and works of African saints, royalty, aristocrats, noblemen, political envoys, writers, intellectuals, scholars and artists who lived in or visited Europe from the early medieval period through the Enlightenment until the end of the World War I era.^[7][5]