Rolf Magener; German Who Escaped British During WWII

Rolf Magener, 89, a German manager who chronicled his escape from a World War II British detention camp in India. Born in Odessa, Russia, Magener studied business economics at Exeter, where he became fluent in English, and at Frankfurt. On graduation in 1935, he was hired by the Berlin branch of the I.G. Farben chemical company and in 1938 was transferred to Bombay, India. After World War II began in 1939, Magener was arrested and interned in a camp at the foot of the Himalayas by the British. He escaped in 1944, fleeing for months through the jungles of India and Burma before reaching Tokyo. His 1955 book on his flight, “Prisoner’s Bluff,” won international acclaim. After the war, Magener returned to Germany and worked for Deutschen Commerz GmbH in Frankfurt and later BASF in Ludwigshafen, where he became sales director in 1958 and finance director in 1962. The BASF company credited his economic, linguistic, negotiating and international business expertise for much of its worldwide success. Magener retired in 1974. On May 5 and announced Monday in Heidelburg, Germany, of heart problems.