Albert Reimann (entrepreneur)

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Albert Reimann (born August 31, 1898 in Durlach ; † May 26, 1984 in Ludwigshafen ) was a German entrepreneur ; During the National Socialist regime he was a prominent supporter of the NSDAP and an association functionary.

Life

Albert Reimann came from the Reimann entrepreneurial family . His father was the chemist and National Socialist Albert Reimann senior. (1868-1954). Reimann was co-owner of the company Joh. A. Benckiser GmbH in Ludwigshafen. He joined the company in 1923, took over management at Benckiser in the mid-1930s and inherited the entire company after his father's death in 1954.

In July 1937 he wrote to the SS boss Heinrich Himmler : "We are a more than a hundred years, pure Aryan family. The owners are absolute followers of racial theory. ”During the Nazi dictatorship, the company expanded threefold, not least because of the high number of forced laborers. In 1943 there were 175. Reimann was known for his brutal treatment of these people. Much later, he told his children that the forced laborers loved the company and shed tears when the war ended and they had to leave. Around 1941, Emilie Landecker, then 19, applied to the company and was hired as a secretary. Reimann fell in love with her and, although she was " half-Jewish ", had a relationship with her. On April 24, 1942, Emilie's father Albert Landecker was abducted by the Nazis, interned in the Izbica ghetto and killed in a concentration camp. In 1951, Emilie Landecker and Albert Reimann had the first of three children.

In the mid-1930s, Albert Reimann senior (1868–1954), Ludwig Reimann's grandson, took over the management of the medium-sized chemical company Johann A. Benckiser GmbH in Ludwigshafen. The lawyer and judge Reimann was president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the Palatinate from 1937 to 1941 , later a member of the advisory board of the Ludwigshafen Chamber of Commerce and an honorary member of the local Ludwigshafen rowing club . He and his son, Albert Reimann junior, were staunch National Socialists. When Hitler came to power in 1933, the then medium-sized company set up as a NS model company . It experienced a great rise because of the high proportion of slave labor . Reimann Jr. was known for his cruelty, especially against female forced laborers, and presented himself as a victim of the Nazis after the Second World War. The processing of National Socialist history took place very late, namely from 2016, with the first publications in 2019, which brought criticism to both the company and the Reimann descendants.

Under Reimann's aegis, the family business developed into a group of companies from 1954. With the change in the product portfolio from industrial chemicals to household and industrial cleaners and the development or purchase of brands such as Calgon , Kukident and Calgonit , he laid the foundation for the Reimann family's wealth. Reimann invented the Calgon water softener . He also launched other brands such as Sagrotan . After 50 years in the family business, Albert Reimann handed over responsibility to his previous deputy Martin Gruber (* 1930) on September 1, 1978, as the majority shareholder, managing director and representative of the fifth generation of the company.

Albert Reimann's first marriage in 1935 was Adelheid Löwis of Menar (1907–2000), the daughter of Karl Reinhold Max von Löwis of Menar and Else von Löwis . The marriage ended in divorce in 1938. Later he was with Paula Reimann, geb. Frey, married. Albert Reimann adopted four of his nine children from his sister Else Dubbers. Albert Reimann's biological five children had the couple carried to term by two surrogate mothers because of Paula Reimann's infertility. Reimann was chairman of the Palatinate Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 1937 to 1941 .

Each of the children was granted the same share of the inheritance in Joh. A. Benckiser in 1984. The four children of the Reimann-Dubbers line, whom Albert Reimann had adopted from his sister, had their shares paid out in 1997 in order to go their own way. The four siblings Renate Reimann-Haas, Wolfgang Reimann, Matthias Reimann-Andersen and Stefan Reimann-Andersen remained involved in Joh. A. Benckiser, JAB Holding Company s.à.rl, based in Luxembourg since 2012. Today the proportion is 90 percent. About 10 percent of the shares in JAB are majority owned by the three JAB senior partners Bart Becht, Peter Harf and Olivier Goudet - each with equal shares.

Honors

literature

  • Kurt Oberdorffer (Ed.): Ludwigshafener Chemiker. Vol. 2: Ludwig Reimann, Heinrich Caro, Carl Grünzweig, Rudolf Knietsch, Albert Reimann senior, Fritz Winkler. With the collaboration of Emil Aeckerle; Paul Feiler; Kurt Schuster; Karl Seiffert; Herbert Wolf. Econ, Düsseldorf 1960.
  • Dr. Albert Reimann 70 years old. In: Chemiker Zeitung - Chemische Apparatur , Volume 92. A. Hüthig, 1968, p. 598.
  • Dr. phil. nat. Albert Reimann. In: Chemical Industry: Journal for the German Chemical Industry , Volume 25, 1973, p. 826.
  • Karl Heinz: Dr. Albert Reimann - an entrepreneur portrait. In: Benckiser-Report , 1973, issue 4, p. 5f.
  • Farewell to a man who has fulfilled his life's work. On the death of Dr. Albert Reimann. In: Benckiser Report 1984, Issue 2, pp. 3-6.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Reimann, Albert. In: Who is who? The German Who's Who , Schmidt Rönhild, 1976, p. 773.
  2. ↑ a b c Christoph Elflein: The enigmatic Reimanns. Germany's richest family has everything but no face. Focus Magazin, No. 42 (2017).
  3. ↑ Synchronized (7-8 / 2018) . In: IHK Pfalz . ( ihk24.de [accessed October 18, 2018]).
  4. ↑ a b In- depth analysis of selected long-term successful entrepreneur families. In: Thomas Zellweger and Nadine Kammerlander: Family Business Groups in Germany. Cross-generational entrepreneurship in large German entrepreneurial dynasties. Center for Family Business, University of St. Gallen, 2014, PDF, p. 22ff.
  5. ↑ Dark story of the Reimann billionaire family revealed . In: manager-magazin.de . March 24, 2019. Accessed June 15, 2020.
  6. ↑ Dr. Albert Reimann - 80 years. In: Hansa , Volume 115, 1978, p. 1328.
  7. ↑ German billionaire clan: Who are the Reimanns?
  8. ↑ FOCUS Online: The entrepreneur clan of the Reimanns: These are Germany's most mysterious billionaires . In: FOCUS Online . ( focus.de [accessed on October 18, 2018]).
  9. ↑ Hot and cold
  10. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels , 2002, p. 257.
  11. ↑ Wolfgang Reimann, Renate Reimann-Haas, Matthias Reimann-Andersen, Stefan Reimann-Andersen. JAB Holding. In: Hans-Jürgen Jakobs : Who Owns the World. The balance of power in global capitalism. Albrecht Knaus Verlag, Munich 2016, p. 254; limited preview in Google Book search
  12. ^ Newspaper vum Lëtzebuerger Vollek - Real Capitalists. Retrieved October 18, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Marx Forum: Albert Reimann
  14. ^ Manager magazine
  15. ↑ FirmenABC: Benckiser ( Memento from January 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ^ ISSUU: Balance sheet 2008
  17. ↑ Reimann Holding Chairman Bart Becht: "Coffee offers a unique opportunity" . ( handelsblatt.com [accessed on March 13, 2018]).
  18. ↑ Tatjana Schneider: The Reimanns from next door. In: Die Zeit , No. 16/2012, April 12, 2012.
  19. ↑ Dr.-Albert-Reimann-Strasse. In: Historical index of streets and places in Ladenburg. Ladenburg City Archives; As of March 14, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Reimann, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH August 31, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Durlach
DATE OF DEATH May 26, 1984
Place of death Ludwigshafen