Amélie de Berckheim

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Amélie de Berckheim , later married Amélie de Dietrich (* July 15, 1776 in Ribeauvillé ; † December 24, 1855 in Strasbourg ) was the first female Alsatian industrialist and successful manager of the family ironworks in Jaegerthal , the forerunner of the industrial works de Dietrich .

parents house

Her father was Philippe Frédéric von Berckheim, Herr von Schoppenwihr (1732–1812). Her father's ancestors came from the Egenolf (Egenolph) III family. von Berckheim (1552–1629) and his wife Margaretha von Lichtenfels, whose three sons split into three tribes. He belonged to the 1st tribe, the so-called older (evangelical) line of Jebsheim . Her mother was Marie Octavie Louise von Glaubitz (1750-1721). They had numerous children.

  • Louise Sophie Octavie de Berckheim (1771–1852) married Frederic von Stein zu Nordheim
  • Henriette Sophie de Berckheim (1772–1863) married Augustin-Charles Périer, a student at the École polytechnique in Paris with a doctorate in 1790, Deputy of Isère (1830–1837), Peer of France (1832) and Knight of the Legion of Honor (1833). He came from an upper-class merchant family. The couple's descendants or relatives became presidents of the Bank of France, interior ministers and even presidents of the French Republic.
  • Sigismond Frédéric de Berckheim (1775–1819) Imperial French General; married to Elisabeth Bartholdi
  • Amélie de Berckheim (1776–1866)
  • Friederike, called Fanny de Berckheim (1779–1802) died early at the age of 23. She was engaged to Alexander Louis Baron de Landsberg, of her grandmother's family.
  • Christian Friedrich de Berckheim (1781–1832)
  • Gustav de Berckheim (1784–1812), Imperial French Rittmeister

Ladies of Berckheim

In their youth, the four sisters formed a historically known literary circle as so-called "Ladies of Berckheim" (les demoiselles de Berckheim), including the works of the teacher and poet Gottlieb Konrad Pfeffel (1736–1809). Antiquarian records are still available today.

Brother Christian Friedrich de Berckheim

One brother was Christian Friedrich de Berckheim (1781-1832). He moved to Mannheim . There he married Auguste von Stumm (born May 25, 1796 Mannheim † December 1, 1876 Weinheim ). Her mother was Friederike Auguste Schmalz (September 15, 1765– February 17, 1854), the sole heir of the Mannheim trading and banking house of the same name. This had the status of a house bank in the Electoral Palatinate. His father-in-law was Christian Philipp Stumm (* May 30, 1760; † April 30, 1826), who founded the iron and steel industry in Saarland with his brothers. Thanks to his mother's initiative and money, his son became master of the Weinheim castle and founder of the so-called exotic forest , based on the zeitgeist of the time, but also in connection with the grandparents' park of Schoppenwihr in Ostheim / Alsace.

Ruins of an iron hammer in the Jaegerthal of the de Dietrich family
Ruins of an iron hammer in the Jaegerthal of the de Dietrich family

resume

At 20 she married Jean Albert Frédéric de Dietrich (1773-1806) the son of the first elected mayor of Strasbourg Baron Philipp-Frédéric de Dietrich (1748-1793) and Sybille Louise Ochs (1755-1806). As Jean Dietrich II., The baron's grandfather had bought steel works and forges in Jaegerthal / Alsace in 1684 and expanded their businesses extensively.

In 1792, her father-in-law is said to have commissioned the composer, poet and officer Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle to write a war song for the French Army on the Rhine, from which the “ Marseillaise ” emerged. Despite all the merits in the turbulent revolutionary era, the mayor was guillotined in Paris in 1793.

As a young man, the son and husband took over the management of the extensive business areas of Eisenhütte de Dietrich. The couple had several children:

  • Amélie de Dietrich (1799–1854) married to Guillaume de Turckheim (1785–1831), whose mother Elisabeth called Lili Schönemann , Goethe's fiancée .
  • Albert de Dietrich (1802–1888) Eisenhüttenmann, married in 1828 to Octavie von Stein (1801–1839) and in 1840 in second marriage to Adélaïde von Stein (1814–1858)
  • Jacques Sigismond Eugène de Dietrich (1803–1868) Eisenhüttenmann, married to Virginie Mathis (1810–1867)

In 1806 her husband Jean Albert Frédéric de Dietrich died early and surprisingly at the age of 33.

Intelligently and energetically, she took over the management of the family's forges in the Jaegerthal as a widow . She was the key administrator and founded the company "De Dietrich Witwe und Son" in 1827. In 1844 she added other factories to the family's industrial legacy, such as the one in Mertzwiller . The family business became "Dietrich et Cie".

Château De Dietrich in Reichshoffen

She died in 1855 at the age of 79 and was the first woman Amelia to head six factories in Alsace. Her sons Albert de Dietrich and Jacques Sigismond Eugène de Dietrich continued to run the company, which today is a public limited company and has around 5000 employees. The current company headquarters is the Château De Dietrich in Reichshoffen . This castle was bought for the company headquarters after the war and rebuilt at considerable expense.

Honors

The French city of Strasbourg honored her by naming the street: "Rue de Amélie de Berckheim".

Web links

literature

  • Correspondance des demoiselles de Berckheim et de leurs amis, précédée d'un extrait du Journal de Mlle Octavie de Berckheim I.II. Author: Octavie von Berckheim; Henriette von Berckheim; Ph Godet, Publisher: Neuchâtel: Delachaux et Niestlé; Paris! Monnerat P, 1889.
  • Becke-Klüchtzner, Edmund von der Stamm-Tafeln of the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Baden: a newly edited nobility book, Baden-Baden, 1886, Barons von Berckheim
personal data
SURNAME Berckheim, Amélie de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dietrich, Amélie de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION first female Alsatian industrialist and manager
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1776
PLACE OF BIRTH Ribeauvillé
DATE OF DEATH December 24, 1855
Place of death Strasbourg