Overseas club

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The logo of the Übersee-Club - a stylized ÜC - is reminiscent of the Hamburg coat of arms .

The Übersee-Club in Hamburg is an association to promote the exchange between business and science. The association was founded in 1922 on the initiative of the banker Max Warburg . In 1934 it was dissolved and in 1948 it was re-established. The club has resided at Neuer Jungfernstieg 19 on the Inner Alster in the listed Amsinck-Palais since 1969 . Today the club is regarded as an influential forum for economic and political issues and as an exclusive gentlemen's club .

history

Weimar Republic and the time of National Socialism

House of the Patriotic Society , seat of the Overseas Club from 1922 to 1934

After the end of the First World War in 1918, the German economy fell to the ground. In particular, overseas trade , which was the focus of Hamburg's economy with the port , shipyards, shipping companies and trading houses until 1914 , had practically come to a standstill due to the sea ​​blockade during the war and the lack of currency after the war. In 1922, the Hamburg banker Max Warburg suggested the founding of the club based on the model of English clubs in order to help rebuild Hamburg's international economic relations. On June 27, 1922, Hamburg merchants and industrialists founded the Übersee-Club in the building of the Patriotic Society . The headquarters were then located there for many years. Right-wing extremists had murdered Walther Rathenau three days earlier ; Warburg's life also seemed to be in danger when appearing in public. At the request of the Hamburg police chief Hugo Campe, Warburg did not take part in the founding meeting. His lecture was read out by higher regional judge Wolfgang Fehling. In the lecture text Warburg pointed out the close connection between world trade and free trade , peace and disarmament. With regard to the Versailles Treaty , he called for “freedom and equality for all peoples” instead of “doing tribute work for abroad”. Not the English motto “right or wrong - my country” is appropriate for Hamburg merchants, but “Nobis bene, nemini male!”, The saying above the Nobistor . ("We are good, nobody is bad!")

Right from the start, the focus was not only on the economic direction but also on the connection with politics and science. Lectures to the club members were given by Friedrich Ebert , Carl Friedrich Goerdeler , John Maynard Keynes , Hjalmar Schacht , Oswald Spengler and Gustav Stresemann , among others . The Übersee-Club had its seat in the house of the Patriotic Society , at the corner of Trostbrücke / Börsenbrücke . After the takeover of the NSDAP the club in 1934 ceased its activities.

Re-establishment after the Second World War

In June 1948, at the same time as the currency reform , the club was re-established with unchanged objectives. Since 1948, all the Federal Presidents and Chancellors of Germany and other important personalities have given lectures in the club, including Jassir Arafat , Charles de Gaulle , Werner Heisenberg , Alfred Herrhausen , François Mitterrand and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger . The annual highlight of the events and lectures is the Übersee-Tag on May 7th in memory of the award of port rights to Hamburg. Today the Übersee-Club is considered to be the most exclusive of the traditional Hamburg clubs alongside the Anglo-German Club .

organization

In autumn 2011, the average age of the approx. 2,300 members, including around 200 women, was 60.2 years. Two guarantors who have been a club member for at least five years are required for membership. In the clubhouse, men are asked to wear jackets and ties and women are asked to wear appropriate clothing.

The club is run by a full-time manager. The last managing directors were:

  • Klaus D. Dettweiler (1992 to 2003)
  • Burghard Freiherr von Cramm (2003-2014)
  • Thomas Klischan (since 2014).

The presidency of the Übersee-Club is honorary and according to the current statutes it can be exercised up to the age of 70. The previous presidents include:

Amsinck Palace

Amsinck Palais 1830
Since 1969 seat of the Übersee-Club (Amsinck-Palais)

The current building of the Übersee-Club was built between 1831 and 1833 as a city palace for Gottlieb Jenisch . He was a member of the Hamburg merchant family Jenisch and the second son of Senator Martin Johann Jenisch . The design in the classical style came from the then still young Altona architect Franz Gustav Joachim Forsmann . The three-story house housed the family's living quarters as well as office rooms for the “Martin Johann Jenisch” company, which, after Gottlieb Jenisch's death in 1875, traded under “Jenisch & Godeffroy”. In 1882 the client's wife, Caroline Jenisch, b. Baron von Lützow. Her eldest daughter, Emilie Jenisch, lived in the house until her death in 1899, but only in winter. In the summer, the single Emilie Jenisch resided in the White House on Elbchaussee, which had also been designed by Forsmann.

After Emilie Jenisch's death, the Hamburg merchant Gustav Amsinck bought the building, from which the current name Amsinck-Palais is derived. Amsinck was based in New York and lived here during his visits to Hamburg. He had the interior redesigned by the architect Martin Haller . After Amsinck's death in 1909, the palace belonged to his widow, who never lived there.

After the end of the First World War, an insurance company bought the building. This company went into the Nordstern insurance , today Axa . Air raids on Hamburg, especially Operation Gomorrah in 1943, also destroyed large parts of the city center. The Amsinck-Palais was spared and was placed under monument protection in 1944 .

From 1969 the club rented the palace, which was restored from 1967 to 1970 with donations from the members. On the first floor there is now a large dining room with gastronomy, a club room and two rooms with a view of the Inner Alster: the Red Salon and the Jenisch room in Empire style.

literature

  • Commerce and culture in the Amsinck-Haus on Neuer Jungfernstieg: the Übersee-Club 1922–1972 . Christians, Hamburg 1972, ISBN 3-7672-0022-8 .
  • Rolf Stödter : "At the gateway to the world". The Übersee-Club - Becoming and Working . Lecture dated December 8, 1987 given to the Overseas Club, OCLC 255615113 .

Web links

Commons : Overseas Club  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Max Warburg: Society for Economic Reconstruction in Germany and Foreign Customers ( Memento from June 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 260 kB) . Lecture for June 27, 1922 on the foundation of the Übersee-Club.
  2. ↑ a b The Club ( memento of April 26, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the Übersee-Club. (Accessed March 2012.)
  3. ↑ Christina Becker: Second home for Hanseatic people . In: Die Welt from November 16, 2008.
  4. ↑ Hellmut Kruse: “Wagen und Winnen”: A Hanseatic Merchant Life in the 20th Century ( Memento of February 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 58 kB) . Lecture to the Übersee-Clubs from March 1st, 2006.
  5. ↑ http://www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/article129439998/Michael-Behrendt-Zwei-Monate-Nordsee-das-reizt-mich.html
  6. ↑ Rita Bake: Emilie (Emily) Auguste Jenisch . In: Hamburg women's biographies database . State Center for Political Education, Hamburg.
  7. ^ Renate Hausschild-Thiessen: Gustav Amsinck . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgisches Biografie-Personenlexikon , 2nd volume. Wallstein Verlag, 2003, p. 29.
  8. ↑ Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Cultural Authority - Monument Protection Office: List of monuments of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, as of April 13, 2010 (Pdf; 915 kB) ( Memento from June 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 915 kB) , as of 7. November 2011. Entry No. 332, p. 139.
  9. ^ The Clubhouse ( Memento from December 10, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the Übersee-Club. (Accessed March 2012.)

Coordinates: 53 ° 33 ′ 23.5 "  N , 9 ° 59 ′ 31.7"  E