In memoriam - Matthias Achenbach

On January 30th, Matthias passed away in his room at Mahalakshmi Home, ending a year-long struggle with cancer metastases in his lungs and brain. He had just celebrated his 74th birthday with close friends attending.

Having completed his studies in physics and pedagogy at Frankfurt’s Main University in Germany, Matthias started out as an electro-mechanic. In his own words: “Very early I developed a fetish for all things technical and I liked to play guitar and double-bass and joined a pop-band and later a jazz-band, where I fell in love with the singer and she became my first wife. Then I became a private and commercial pilot, and started my first own company producing language-laboratories.

“In 1977, when I had just become 30 years of age, I travelled for the first time to India with a German jazz band (the Barrelhouse Jazzband from Frankfurt – they still play!). I very much liked it there and inquired how one could live there. We were playing for the German Cultural Institutes and it happened just then that they needed a new Regional Engineer for South Asia. I immediately applied for the job and by the end 1977 I was posted to New Delhi with the Goethe Institute (Max Mueller Bhavan) for the next five years.”

While stationed in Delhi, Matthias with his (second) wife Marusch got to know about Auroville. Also, at times Aurovilians would stay in their house. The result was that the couple joined Auroville in 1984, and soon Matthias gravitated towards Aurelec, where computers were made. Having worked there for several years, he formed his own ‘Altecs Energy Systems’, which produced solar charge-controllers, PL-lamps and inverters, helping more than 100 houses in Auroville to become totally self-sufficient in solar energy. The unit manufactured its own inverters from 80VA to 5kVA and installed solar-pumps in and around Auroville. He thoroughly trained a large team of young aspiring Tamils. When Altecs had to close because it could no longer meet its loan repayment obligations, he went back to Germany to earn money to repay the loans. After he returned to Auroville, he organized the building of the multi-storey Altecs building in Auroshilpam and the Kailash Youth complex on the Crown Road.

Being the open, good willing and authentic person he was, Matthias helped others till the very end with his knowledge and expertise in electronic and other matters. In the beginning of 2020 his physical problems started, and after a first operation he quietly moved to Mahalakshmi Home, where he was warmly received. Very often surrounded by close friends, who helped him prepare for this challenging phase of his life, he was clear-headed, ready and faithful to go.

Matthias’s remains were buried at the Adventure Burial and Cremation grounds on February 3rd, 2020.