Lotte Hass

Lotte Hass (b. Vienna, 6 November 1928, d. Vienna, 14 January 2015) was a pioneering Austrian diver, underwater photographer and model. She was nicknamed The First Lady of Diving. She was the first woman to dive in the Red Sea, the first woman to dive with autonomous diving equipment and the first underwater model. She was also the first person to take “in-water footage” of whale sharks and manta rays. She was married to Hans Hass, the Austrian biologist and fellow diving pioneer. In 1970, Hass published her autobiography, Das Mädchen auf dem Meeresgrund: Die Geschichte der Tauchpioniere Lotte und Hans Hass. It was translated into English by Robin Sawyers as A Girl on the Ocean Floor in 1972, with a Polish version in 1976 and an Italian version in 2019.

In 2001 it was turned into a film starring Yvonne Catterfeld and Benjamin Sadler, winning Best TV Cinematography award at the Austrian Romy TV awards. The book was also referenced in Juli Zeh’s 2012 novel Nullzeit (Compression).