Wilhelm Merz
Louis William Merz (* 1. March 1849 in Aalen , † 9 July 1922 in Heidelberg ) was a German engineer , cement - a pioneer and social reformer .
Life
Origin and youth
Ludwig Wilhelm Merz was born in Aalen as the eldest son of the Merz family. His parents were the married couple Anton (1813–1873) and Sybille Elisabeth Merz, née Arnold (1807–1869), who ran the Ebert haulage company. His siblings Margarethe Pauline (1847) and Julius Albert (1857) died just a few weeks after their birth. There were four other siblings from the mother's first marriage. He spent his childhood in Aalen and grew up in the house where he was born at Schillerstraße 8.
Vocational training and studies
After Wilhelm had attended the secondary school in Aalen, he went to the upper secondary school in Stuttgart and obtained the Matura there. Presumably he lived with relatives during this time. He then began practical training in the Zum Bruderhaus machine factory in Reutlingen and in the main railway workshop in Aalen. The then head of the Reutlingen machine factory was Gottlieb Daimler . From the winter semester 1866/67 he studied at the Polytechnic in Stuttgart , but dropped out after six semesters to volunteer with the Württemberg field artillery in the Franco-German War . From this he returned with distinction. After the end of the war, he spent four years with the mechanical engineering company in Karlsruhe . Here he met his old superior Gottlieb Daimler again, who, together with Wilhelm Maybach , directed the company's fortunes. In 1875 Merz returned to the Polytechnic in Stuttgart, where after two more semesters, he completed his studies that had been interrupted by the war. In Cannstatt he is said to have had a joint workshop with Robert Bosch and Maybach for a time. After completing his scientific training, he took on a position as an engineer at the gas and water works of the city of Cologne . In the Rhine metropolis too, paths crossed with Daimler and Maybach, who were employed on the opposite side of the Rhine in the Deutz gas engine factory .
Marriage to Emma Zeller
The wedding with Emma Zeller (born April 3, 1853 in Brooklyn , USA ; † May 4, 1943 in Mannheim ) took place on May 29, 1877 in Stuttgart and was celebrated on a large scale. She came from a respected family, her father Eduard Maximilian Zeller had to flee to the USA during the 1848 revolution, but later returned to Stuttgart as a lawyer and councilor. Emma gave birth to three children, Antonie (born May 2, 1878 in Cologne-Ehrenfeld; † May 18, 1948 in Heidelberg), Hermann Eduard (September 20, 1880 in Cologne-Ehrenfeld; † May 13, 1934 in Heidelberg) and Hedwig (November 2, 1881 in Mannheim; † March 26, 1953 in Heidelberg).
Activity in the cement industry
On January 12, 1881, Wilhelm Merz took over the technical management of the Mannheim Portland cement factory in Mannheim and replaced the previous managing director Georg Zwiffelhoffer. Under his leadership, the cement factory in Mannheim should soon experience a new heyday. In June 1901, the Mannheim factory merged with the Portland-Cement-Werke Heidelberg, vorm. Schifferdecker & Sons. Production increasingly shifted from Mannheim to Heidelberg and in 1902 the Mannheim plant was finally shut down. The merger of the two companies also brought about a change in his working conditions for Ludwig Wilhelm Merz. After working in Mannheim for many years, he has now moved his focus to Heidelberg. In the Portland-Cement-Werke Heidelberg and Mannheim AG , he remained director. After the Heidelberg plant burned down to the ground in 1895, the factory in Leimen near the quarries was rebuilt. The conversion to rotary kilns in 1902 brought about a complete rebuilding of the new plant. Here, too, Merz was significantly involved. Merz also worked as director of the Portland cement factory in Offenbach am Main. He had a special relationship with the cement factory in Weisenau and made various foundations for workers' welfare purposes, from which the “Wilhelm Merz Foundation” emerged. He also became chairman of the supervisory board of the Portland cement works in Diedersheim-Neckarelz in May 1904. He also worked as a member of the supervisory board of the Association of Southern German Lime Works in Bruchsal and as Chairman of the Southern German Cement Export Association in Heidelberg. Merz was not only involved in the cement industry, he showed great interest in all socio-political and economic developments, so that he was a member of several non-profit as well as commercial enterprises. Among other things, he was active in the Baden Society for Steam Boiler Monitoring, in the Badisches Heimatdank (war disabled welfare) in Karlsruhe, in the foundry AG Flink in Mannheim and in the North Sea Sanatorium GmbH Dr. Gmelin in Wyck on the North Frisian island of Föhr.
Worked for the quarry professional association
In addition to his activities in the context of economic issues, he also held numerous honorary posts in the social policy area. In 1885 he took on a deputy position on the board of Section II in the quarry trade association and was appointed to represent a member of parliament. Here he was particularly committed to occupational safety and health protection. Four years later he was elected to the section board and finally took over the management of section II in 1898. In addition, he became a member of the cooperative board in the same year. On June 27, 1918, he was elected to the board of the Steinbruchs-Berufsgenossenschaft, to which he had been deputy chairman since 1905. Ludwig Wilhelm Merz was an active member here for 20 years of his life. Because of his socio-political merits, he received the 2nd class of the Order of the Zähringer Lion in 1910 and the Badischer Merit Cross for War Aid for his merits during the First World War.
Granting honorary citizenship
Despite his numerous life stations in Württemberg, Baden and the Rhineland and the high demands of his job as well as the social commitment that went beyond that, he always remained loyal to his hometown Aalen. Whenever possible he tried to spend a few days off here. He enthusiastically and with great interest was involved in various local foundations, including schools, such as the Parkschule (today's Schubart-Gymnasium ) and other charitable purposes. He also campaigned for the establishment of the meeting room in the town hall. Thus, on March 4, 1912, the city of Aalen granted him honorary citizenship on the occasion of the inauguration of the park school "in recognition of his great services to industry, his loyal attachment to his old homeland and his often demonstrated generosity and charity."
swell
The index to the register book of the University of Stuttgart from 1879 shows that Wilhelm Merz was registered there in the academic year 1866/67.
- Cramer, Dietmar: The history of HeidelbergCement. The path of the southern German company to an international group, ed. from HeidelbergCement AG, Heidelberg 2013, p. 12f.
- Portland-Cement-Werke Heidelberg and Mannheim, (commemorative publication for the 50th anniversary of the Mannheim Portland cement factory), Heidelberg 1910, p. 17f.
- Riepert (Ed.): Die Deutsche Zementindustrie, Berlin 1927, pp. 960–961
- Minutes of the Supervisory Board of the Portland Cement Plant Diedesheim-Neckarelz, February 9, 1898-19. June 1933, HC archive HV 1356/1
- Journal for the quarry trade association, No. 2., February 15, 1919
- Letter from the Mayor of Aalen to Merz dated March 4, 1912
- Minutes of the municipal council of the city of Aalen from September 21, 1922.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Merz, Wilhelm |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Merz, Ludwig Wilhelm (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German engineer, cement pioneer and social reformer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 1, 1849 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bask |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 9, 1922 |
| Place of death | Heidelberg |