Wolfgang H. Trost, 7 May 1947 – 16 February 2024, RIP

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand expresses its deepest condolences to the family and many friends of Wolfgang H. Trost, a longtime club member who died recently in Hong Kong.

His old friend and fellow Myanmar-watcher Edith Mirante writes:

Wolfgang Trost, an esteemed friend of the FCCT, made his final journey in Hong Kong after battling cancer. Wolfgang was an unwavering, committed, quietly generous activist for Myanmar, particularly the Kachin people of the north. A lifelong traveler, he left his native Germany to work in garment export, mainly with a company headquartered in Hong Kong. Roaming the world for business, but especially for adventure, he established home bases with flats or cabins in places as far flung as Kowloon, the Dolomites, Krabi and Sardinia. Over the decades, he supported the educational needs of a family in Peru.

In the 1980s, Wolfgang was one of the few intrepid travelers to Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai/Burma border, as well as the dicey environs of Shan State. Always up for a mountain hike, he organized a 2002 expedition to the far north of Kachin State. A great reader of indigenous histories, he wrote memorably about the isolated Tarong (Drung) people he met in that remote Kachin region. He was for many years a major supporter of organizations aiding internally displaced persons in Kachinland and elsewhere in Myanmar.

Kachin organizations have issued commemorative proclamations and held a prayer service for Wolfgang. A condolence letter from the Kachin Independence Organization included this: “We especially remember how he hosted our late chairman Maran Brang Seng in Hong Kong in 1987 when the Kachin cause was little known, and the KIO was struggling to gain international attention for the suffering in our country. With Wolfgang's empathy, a door to the world was opened and he remained a frequent visitor, dedicated to supporting a better future in a troubled world.”

Tall, striking-looking and partial to olive drab clothing, in his grey-bearded years, Wolfgang inspired cries of “Sean Connery!” in villages around the world. Good-natured and even-tempered -- but when his un-German habit of last-minute airport dashes caused a missed flight, he could curse in several languages. He was an enthusiastic connector of people and ideas during legendary dinners and wine/cheroot sessions. As one of his innumerable friends on multiple continents, San Franciscan Frank Viollis, put it: “I will miss the remarkable experiences and adventures he shared, his passion for what he believed, his personal integrity, and of course his infectious sense of humor. Together we laughed so often over the many years.” Wolfgang will be long remembered with a glass of wine, a story or a mountain vista.

A wake for Wolfgang was held in Hong Kong on 26 February 2024. His many friends in Thailand hope to hold a remembrance in the coming months and will inform FCCT members when the arrangements have been made.

Wolfgang Trost’s article on the Tarong people of Burma, reprinted in memoriam by The Irrawaddy website: https://www.irrawaddy.com/from-the-archive/almost-gone-the-tarong-of-myanmars-far-north.html