Gereon Hortensiengau

Dr. Gereon Waldemar Hortensiengau PhD (sometimes referred to a Gereon Hortensiengau the Younger) (b. August 3, 1948) is a Christian Democratic Politician, Visiting Professor of History at Adelford University, and Vineyard and Winery Owner. He currently serves as the Member to the Provincial Assembly of Berringsland from Jervisland. He is noted for his agitation in favor of the Monarchy.

=Early Life= Gereon Hortensiengau is the eldest son of Waldemar Hortensiengau and Isolde Hortensiengau née von Treuburg. The Hortensiengau Family purports to be one of, if not the oldest German family in Berringsland, tracing its roots back in the country’s history well before the arrival of most of Berringsland’s Germans following the Revolutions of 1848. The family compound in Jervisland has served as the family estate for over two centuries. The family is well known in and closely associated with European High Society. Following persecution of ethnic Germans (specifically his parents) in Berringsland during the First World War, Waldemar Hortensiengau chose to enter the Royal Naval Academy to prove his loyalty to the Empire in 1939. He rose through the ranks eventually retiring as a Vice Admiral from the Berringsland Navy in 1968. In 1945 Waldemar married Isolde von Treuburg, a descendent of the 48’ Germans of Rhenish ancestry. The couple had their first daughter, Alexis in 1946 and Gereon, named for Waldemar’s father, two years later. Waldemar was a member of the Imperial Party but refused to join the National Party following the former’s dissolution.

Gereon grew up in a bilingual household of German and English. The favorite of his doting grandfather, Gereon Hortensiengau the Elder, the young Gereon often spent his summers traveling about Europe and the Americas with his grandparents. At the age of 15 he met Helene von Oldenburg, the granddaughter of the Duke of Oldenburg in pretence. Gereon would eventually marry Helene, following the completion of his Undergraduate Degree in History from the Catholic University of Leuven. Gereon was in Paris in May of 1968 during protests at the Sorbonne, though did not participate in them. Gereon and Helene moved to Vienna in the mid 1970s as Gereon began the pursuit of the Doctorate of Philosophy in History from the University of Vienna. While in the German-speaking Europe, Hortensiengau became affiliated with Dr. Otto von Habsburg, the pretender to the various thrones of the former Habsburg Monarchy, and then President of the International Paneuropean Union.

1978 saw the expulsion of the Hortensiengaus from Berringsland after the National Party gave up pretences of Democracy and the seizure of their property and assets within the country. The exact reasons for this action remain unclear, though the Family itself believes it was largely due to Waldemar Hortensiengau’s refusal to join the National Party following the Imperials’ collapse. The Waldemar and Isolde Hortensiengau eventually sought and were granted political asylum in Austria, settling down in the spa town of Bad Ischl so as to be closer to their young grandchildren, Waldemar (b. May 4, 1976), Ameli (b. October 30, 1979), and later Franz Joseph (b. August 18, 1982). That same year, Gereon Hortensiengau finished his doctoral work, and began to lecture. Both Waldemar and Isolde Hortensiengau would die in exile.

Gereon returned to Berringsland in 2005 at the height of the riots as a Lecturer at the University of Adelford. He and Helene remained in the country being left largely alone by the decaying government. Following the Decembrist Revolt, the Hortensiengau Estate (Hortensienbrunn) in Jervisland was returned to Gereon and the Hortensiengau Family.