Carl Benscheidt

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View of the Fagus factory in Alfeld (Leine) 1911/1912, photo by Edmund Lill

Carl August Benscheidt (born January 17, 1858 in Othmaringhausen in Westphalia , † August 31, 1947 in Alfeld (Leine) ) was a German shoe last manufacturer, entrepreneur and founder of the Fagus factory in Alfeld (Leine). The factory was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on June 25, 2011 .

Life

Carl August Benscheidt, who came from a Westphalian farming family, was the son of the farmer Ludwig Benscheidt (1833–1912) and his wife Dorothea, née. Klever (1827-1896). Although he was the eldest of eleven siblings, his father did not choose him to be the heir to the court due to his weak constitution. Carl Benscheidt attended secondary school in Barmen and then the technical center in Mittweida . There the contact to a naturopath improved his health and aroused Benscheidt's interest in naturopathic treatments . He had to stop his studies for financial reasons. He went as an employee to Veldes near Laibach in the naturopathic institution of the Swiss alternative medicine doctor and “sun doctor” Arnold Rikli , where he made the decision to become a naturopathic doctor. The lack of a high school diploma and lack of money dashed his plan. In Veldes he became aware of the deficiencies in contemporary footwear and the resulting foot problems. This was due to the two-balling of the shoe last used , ie symmetrical shoes were made that were worked over the same last for the right foot as for the left. Such shoes had to be swapped between left and right every day in order to wear them out evenly. Benscheidt published several newspaper articles on the subject of foot health, which were subsequently combined into a brochure. In this document, which was welcomed by doctors, he called for the production of shoes using single-crowned lasts, based on the Swiss model.

Activity in Hanover

Benscheidt founded a molding shop at Artilleriestraße 4 in Hanover . The new types of lasts were rejected by the shoemakers , so that Benscheidt also opened his own shoemaker's shop, which employed up to 12 journeymen . This "first modern shoe workshop in Northern Germany " developed into a successful company that became known beyond the borders of Hanover.

Activity in Alfeld

The Carl Behrens shoe last factory had existed in Alfeld (Leine) since 1858 . After lengthy negotiations, Benscheidt signed the owner of the company as technical operator in 1887. There he successfully implemented his reform ideas, so that a new factory was finally necessary. Benscheidt was entrusted with the overall management of the company and accepted as a silent partner. After the death of the owner Carl Behrens, there were disagreements with a partner in the company in the following years, whereupon Benscheidt left the company in 1910.

In 1911 he founded his own company, Fagus G. mb H. Alfeld , later renamed Fagus-Werk Carl Benscheidt , in Alfeld on the other side of the railway across from the factory C. Behrens, shoe lasts and punching knife factory, which had meanwhile become world- famous . Most of the construction costs were financed through the agency of the Englishman Fred Cox through the United Shoe Machinery Corporation in Boston . During the planning, Benscheidt was able to fall back on his extensive experience with operational organization and production. In the young architect Walter Gropius , a brother-in-law of the then Alfeld district administrator, he found an ideal partner for the construction of an innovative, modern plant. The foundation stone was laid on May 29, 1911. The factory building, which was completed in 1918 with the assistance of the architect Adolf Meyer , was listed in 1945 as a "groundbreaking concept of modern industrial architecture".

Benscheidt was very committed to the welfare of his employees. To create living space for the workers, he and other Alfeld entrepreneurs founded the non-profit construction association Alfeld on November 26, 1899 , of which he was chairman for many years. The Buchenbrink colony was established beyond the city limits , followed by the more spacious Am Rodenkamp settlement . Benscheidt was also active in local politics and from 1903 to 1924, with one interruption, was a member of the Citizens' Board, the forerunner of today's city council.

family

Carl Benscheidt married Emma, ​​daughter of the businessman Wilhelm Hartmann and Therese, born in Hanover in 1884. Tölke. The couple had five sons and one daughter. The family lived in the Benscheidtsche Villa in Alfeld, the interior of which had been designed by Walter Gropius. Carl Benscheidt died in Alfeld in 1947 at the age of 89. His son Karl Benscheidt (1888–1975) followed him in the company management.

Honors

On August 31, 1936, Benscheidt was made an honorary citizen of the city of Alfeld. In Alfeld, Benscheidtstrasse (since 1928) and the Carl-Benscheidt-Realschule bear his name.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Albert Trapp:  Benscheidt, Carl August. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 54 f. ( Digitized version ).
  2. ^ Albert Trapp:  Benscheidt, Carl August. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 54 f. ( Digitized version ).
  3. ^ Wilhelm Barner: Carl Benscheidt D. Ä. 1858–1947 , in: Niedersächsische Lebensbilder , ed. by Otto Heinrich May on behalf of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen , Hildesheim: Lax, Bd. 3, 1957, p. 14.
  4. ^ Wilhelm Barner: Carl Benscheidt D. Ä. 1858–1947 , in: Niedersächsische Lebensbilder , ed. by Otto Heinrich May on behalf of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen , Hildesheim: Lax, Bd. 3, 1957, p. 15.
  5. ↑ Arne Herbote: Carl Benscheidt determines Alfeld's change . In: Alfelder Zeitung , January 17, 2008
  6. ^ Georg Dehio : Handbook of German Art Monuments, Bremen / Lower Saxony, Deutscher Kunstverlag , 1977, p. 68.
  7. ^ Wilhelm Barner: Carl Benscheidt D. Ä. 1858–1947 , in: Niedersächsische Lebensbilder , ed. by Otto Heinrich May on behalf of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen , Hildesheim: Lax, Bd. 3, 1957, p. 16.
  8. ↑ Arne Herbote: Carl Benscheidt determines Alfeld's change . In: Alfelder Zeitung , January 17, 2008
  9. ↑ Arne Herbote: Carl Benscheidt determines Alfeld's change , article in the Alfelder Zeitung , January 17, 2008
personal data
SURNAME Benscheidt, Carl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Benscheidt, Carl August (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Othmaringhausen
DATE OF DEATH August 31, 1947
Place of death Alfeld (leash)