Albert Schäfer (entrepreneur)

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Albert Schäfer (born January 13, 1881 in Cologne , † January 22, 1971 in Hamburg ) was a German entrepreneur, 1951 to 1954 President of the German Industry and Trade Congress and 1946 to 1954 President of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce .

Professional background

After graduating from high school in Cologne in 1899, Schäfer began a commercial apprenticeship at the Rheinische Gummiwarenfabrik Clouth oHG , which resulted in numerous stays abroad a. a. in the USA, France, Belgium, England, Italy and Russia. In 1907 Schäfer moved to Titan B. Pollak AG in Waltershausen / Thuringia . There he was first authorized signatory in 1908, then a deputy member of the board in 1909 and finally in 1912 he was appointed sole director. After the company was taken over by Continentale Gummiwerke AG , based in Hanover , Schäfer was appointed to the management board there and remained there until the end of 1932. On April 1, 1933, he became chairman of the management board of Phoenix-Gummiwerke AG in Hamburg-Harburg , which is responsible for the second largest German rubber factory. He moved to the company's supervisory board on April 1, 1946, where he was chairman of the supervisory board from 1949 to 1961. When he left, he was given the title of Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

Used in the surrender of Hamburg (1945)

In April 1945, a military hospital was set up in the Harburg Phoenix works, of which Schäfer was the chairman of the board. Since the work was in the range of the British artillery , it was hit by shells repeatedly. On April 29, 1945, Schäfer, together with division doctor Hermann Burchard, son of the former Hamburg mayor Johann Burchard and military interpreter Lieutenant Otto von Laun, decided to negotiate with the British to end the shelling. Alwin Wolz , the combat commander of Hamburg, issued them a pass for the German lines. Using a white flag, they reached British positions despite being shot at. While Burchard and von Laun, as members of the military, only negotiated about the protection of the hospital, Schäfer also expressed the wish to end the fighting. The next day Schäfer was sent back to General Wolz with a letter from the British headquarters in Lüneburg , who on May 2nd agreed to hand over Hamburg to the Allies without a fight.

Entrepreneurial volunteering and politics

Appointed to the advisory board of the Harburg-Wilhelmsburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry as early as 1934, Schäfer joined the Advisory Board of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce after its dissolution by the Greater Hamburg Act in 1937 and was a member of the plenary session from April 28, 1937. From February to October 1946, Schäfer was a member of the Hamburg Citizenship Appointed by the British military government , initially independent, then from June 1946 as a member of the CDU . After Johann Wirtz, who had been appointed President by Mayor Rudolf Petersen with the approval of the British military government, resigned for health reasons, Schäfer was appointed President of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce on December 9, 1946 and remained in this position until February 28, 1956. Schäfer acquired great merits in preventing dismantling , resuming international connections for the Hanseatic city and rebuilding Hamburg's economy. In 1956 the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce appointed him Honorary President for life.

From April 1951 to April 1954 he was also President of the German Industry and Trade Congress , which then made him an honorary member.

Honors

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jörg Köhnemann: Three men saved Hamburg , article in BILD from April 17, 2015
  2. ↑ T. Hirschbiegel: Savior from Hamburg dead , article in the MOPO from June 2, 2000
  3. ↑ Albert Schäfer's personal notes from January 21, 1947
  4. ↑ Oliver Schirg: Hamburg's surrender by night and fog , article in the Hamburger Abendblatt from April 18, 2015
  5. ↑ Matthias Iken: The hours that shaped Hamburg's fate. In: Hamburger Abendblatt , magazine for the weekend, April 25, 2020, pp. 19–21.
  6. ^ Curriculum vitae in Uwe Bahnsen: Hanseatics under the swastika: The Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and the merchants in the Third , Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2015, p. 368f.
  7. ↑ https://www.hk24.de/servicemarken/ueber_uns/downloads-veranstaltung/albert-schaefer-saal/1140070
personal data
SURNAME Shepherd, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur, MdHB
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH 22nd January 1971
Place of death Hamburg