Bernhard Dondorf

Bernhard Dondorf (born as Beer Doctor ) (born March 19, 1809 in Frankfurt am Main ; † June 13, 1902 there ) was a lithographer , printer and politician for the Free City of Frankfurt .

family

Bernhard Dondorf was a descendant of the Jewish Buchsbaum family, who had lived in Frankfurt since 1499. Since the ancestors were doctors, the family name Doctor was naturalized. His father Judmann Beer Doctor (1765–1841) married Marianne Doctor in 1798. The couple had three sons: Mayer Doctor, Beer Doctor and Leopold Doctor. Mayer Doctor later had his name changed to Maximilian Donndorf. In September 1826 Beer Doctor also applied to change the name to Bernhard Donndorf. In the same year, the Senate of the Free City of Frankfurt approved the name change. Due to a spelling mistake by the city, an "n" was lost and the official name became Bernhard Dondorf.

On August 13, 1837, Bernhard Dondorf married Jaquette nee Bing (1814-1892). The couple had 8 children:

• Clothilde (1838-1932)
• August (1840–1866)
• Emilie (* 1841)
• Marie (* 1843)
• Carl (1844-1936)
• Ottilie (1846–1928)
• Paul (1848-1904)
• Anna (1850-1927)

Life

Beer Doctor attended the Philanthropin and after graduating from school from 1824 to 1828 did an apprenticeship as a lithographer with Carl Christian Otto Naumann (1794-1865). After completing his apprenticeship, Dondorf visited Berlin, Paris, Dresden, Munich and Vienna and expanded his printing skills there. On April 1, 1833, he took his Israelite citizenship oath in Frankfurt and thereby acquired the right to found his own company in the city.

With a capital of 600 guilders , which he had received from his mother, he set up a printing company and a trade in printing accessories. In 1836 he published a book on lithography and earned a reputation for his printing skills. Important employees of his company were Ferdinand Karl Klimsch and Friedrich Karl Hausmann . In particular, he developed new methods of printing banknotes and securities. In the middle of the 19th century, the number of banknotes rose explosively.

Dondorf & Naumann

In 1850 he and his former teacher founded the company Dondorf & Naumann , which specialized in printing banknotes, securities and postage stamps. In addition to Giesecke & Devrient , it was the leading banknote printer in Germany. The company expanded quickly. It printed the banknotes of the Frankfurter Bank , Württembergische Central Bank , Meininger Bank , Badische Bank and Bavarian Central Bank . She also printed postage stamps for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Thurn-und-Taxis-Post . In 1870 Dondorf & Naumann received the order for the Japanese government to produce 200 million banknotes.

These orders could no longer be implemented at the original location at Saalgasse 27. Additional production facilities in Schneidwallstrasse 5 and in Großer Hirschgraben were therefore acquired.

After the establishment of the Empire in 1871, the importance of the private central banks and with it the order volume of Dondorf & Naumann decreased .

B. Dondorf

In addition to the joint venture with Naumann, Bernhard Dondorf also continued to operate his own company, B. Dondorf . From 1838 playing cards were mainly produced here. Even after Bernhard Dondorf left, this business area was a core product of the company, which his children continued to run until it was later sold to ASS Altenburger .

Politics and social engagement

Dondorf was a Freemason in the lodge for the rising dawn in the Orient in Frankfurt . He was a member of the Frankfurt Museum Society and the Frankfurter Liederkranz from 1828.

Politically, he represented liberal positions and was a member of the Monday wreath , the association of the city's liberals, in the Free City of Frankfurt even before the revolution of 1848/1849 . On October 25, 1848, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly of the Free City of Frankfurt . In 1849 he renounced his mandate.

retirement

Klüberstrasse 20

After living at Eschersheimer Landstrasse 8 during his active career, he moved to Villa Klüberstrasse 20 in Frankfurt at the end of 1870, where he retired in 1872. The house at Klüberstrasse 20 is now a listed building .

In 1875 he submitted the building application for a villa in Königstein im Taunus , which he used as a summer house . In September 1901, the city council decided to make him an honorary citizen of Königstein.

literature

• Jochen Lengemann : MdL Hessen. 1808-1996. Biographical index (= political and parliamentary history of the state of Hesse. Vol. 14 = publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse. Vol. 48, 7). Elwert, Marburg 1996, ISBN 3-7708-1071-6 , p. 111.
• Friedhelm Buchholz: The checkered history of an industrial monument - Alte Druckerei Dondorf (=  Bockenheimer Geschichtsblätter . Volume 2 ). Friends of Bockenheim, Frankfurt am Main 2009.
• Wolfgang Klötzer (Hrsg.): Frankfurter Biographie . Personal history lexicon . First volume. A – L (=  publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission . Volume XIX , no. 1 ). Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-7829-0444-3 , p. 162 .

Web links

• Dondorf, Bernhard. Hessian biography. (As of March 19, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).