Eduard Haber Johann Karl Emil Eduard Haber ( 1 October 1866 – 14 January 1947 ) was a German civil servant and diplomat , who served as the last Governor of German New Guinea . Early life . Haber was born on 1 October 1866 in Mechernich , Germany . After 1884 in Brilon , Eduard Haber studying the Bergfach from 1885 to 1888 at the universities of Freiburg , Aachen and Bonn . After finishing his studies in 1888 , Haber was first the Bergreferendar , and from 1893 an assessor at the Oberbergamt Bonn . After a tour in 1889 , which led him to Mexico and Peru , he became a teacher at the Bergakademie Berlin ( " Prussian Mining Academy " ) . In 1896 he traveled on behalf of the Deutsche Bank to Australia and the United States . After his return , Haber was S hut ( Silesia ) , appointed to the Deputy Inspector of the hut in 1900 at the lodge Office and in the same year in the Imperial colonial service of Foreign Ministry . In 1901 his use as mountain official at the governorate was Dar es Salaam in German East Africa . In 1903 , Haber , who previously had been appointed in the year to the Governing Council , was appointed as the first speakers of the province and promoted to the Privy Council in 1906 . In 1907 , Haber became lecturer Council in the Imperial Colonial Office to Berlin and received his appointment to the secret Oberregierungsrat in 1910 . In 1913 , Haber was appointed as the Deputy - Governor of German New Guinea ( DNG ) . Due to being granted leave for illness , Governor Albert Hahl departed for Germany on 22 January 1914 and Haber was appointed provisional Governor in Rabaul . World War I . Haber learned of the outbreak of World War I while in Morobe . Returning to Rabaul on 14 August , he organized an armed resistance force of about 50 settlers and 250 locals , but was defeated by an overwhelming Australian force at the Siege of Toma . After surrendering on 17 September , Haber made an oath of neutrality . Together with 11 other German prisoners of war , he was brought to Sydney on the captured steamer SMS " Komet " and interned on 29 October in a camp at Holsworthy , New South Wales . On 15 January 1915 , together with his secretary , he was deported to San Francisco aboard the SS " Sonoma " , from where he finally was able to return to Germany . In Berlin , he continued as the Acting - Governor of German New Guinea and was officially appointed Governor on 14 December 1917 , as Hahl was declared unfit by Wilhelm Solf , the Imperial Colonial Secretary . This appointment resulting in Haber becoming Governor of German New Guinea . Both Emperor Wilhelm II and Erich Ludendorff believed that the continuation of a Governorship during the war was a hasty and badly conceived decision , as the Pacific colony would play no further role for Germany . Life after the war . At peace talks to the C Mandates of the League of Nations , Haber was appointed as the second member of the German delegation in May 1919 . He later resigned due to the hopelessness of his work in negotiations and took over the Coal Management Institute in Mecklenburg . In 1920 , Haber was appointed President of the Imperial Pay Board . After leaving the Imperial service in 1923 , he assumed a teaching position at the Bergakademie Clausthal and received an Honorary Professorship in 1924 , remaining there until 1927 . Between 1928 and 1945 , Haber taught at the University of Tübingen as mandated lecturer for international colonial science and the resource sector . Although never receiving a doctorate , he was often titled " Dr " . His request to be granted an honorary doctorate was rejected and he had to be satisfied with a conferred honorary citizenship in 1936 . He died on 14 January 1947 at Tübingen . After his death the city honoured him with the naming of a street .