Early Life, Family and Artistic Training Born in Flensburg, Germany, on 21 August 1870, Alexander Eckener entered a family defined by industry and trade. His father, Johann Christoph Eckener, worked as a cigar manufacturer, while his mother, Anna Maria Elisabeth Lange, was the daughter of a shoemaker. He was the youngest of several children, growing up in a household shaped by the practicalities of German commerce. His brother, Hugo E…