Ino Kolbe

Ino Kolbe (February 28, 1914 – February 16, 2010), born Ino Voigt, was a German Esperantist and author.

She wrote books, paperback booklets and articles about the planned language Esperanto and proofread the massive Esperanto–German dictionary of Erich-Dieter Krause, a work with 80,000 headwords over nearly 900 pages (1999).[1]

A pioneering Esperanto speaker in the Leipzig area, she lived in Eutritzsch, a suburb of Leipzig, fully dedicated to the worldwide Esperanto cause,[2] and even into her 90s manuscripts still regularly arrived on her desk for proofreading.[3] "Kolbe is now a great-great-grandmother, and the Esperantists of Leipzig still regard her as their cornerstone," wrote Kay Wüster in the Leipziger Volkszeitung. On her 90th birthday, 20 Esperantists from four German provinces, including scientists and former students, came to offer their congratulations. Among the distinguished guests were Krause and Detlev Blanke.[3]

Both she and her brother Holdo Voigt learned Esperanto from birth.

  1. ^ Erich-Dieter Krause, Großes Wörterbuch Esperanto-Deutsch. Buske Helmut Verlag, 1999. 882 pp. ISBN 3-87548-193-3.
  2. ^ "Samideanoj gratulas al Esperanto-prapraavino Archived 2009-01-02 at the Wayback Machine", La Ondo de Esperanto, April 2004.
  3. ^ a b Kay Würker, Bondeziron! - "Gleichgesinnte gratulieren Esperanto-Ururoma"[dead link‍] ("Colleagues congratulate Esperantist great-great-grandmother") in Leipziger Volkszeitung, 1 March 2004. Retrieved 2009-07-25.