Carl Friedrich Ernst Weisse

Carl Friedrich Ernst Weisse - also written Weisse - (* January 4, 1781 in Berlin ; † December 18, 1836 in Leipzig ) was the founder of the Leipziger Feuer-Versicherungsanstalt Aktiengesellschaft , from which the Alte Leipziger Versicherung AG emerged .

Life

The son of the chamber musician Carl-Wilhelm Weisse and his wife Christiane Wilhelmine Zanger received his commercial training in Berlin and Hamburg, where he got to know the forms of fire insurance common around 1800 . In May 1813 he married the Leipzig singer Henriette Wilhelmineschicht (1793–1831). The marriage with the daughter of the composer, Bach researcher, former director of the Gewandhaus orchestra and since 1810 reigning Thomaskantor Johann Gottfriedschicht (1753-1823) led to contacts with the music-loving Leipzig upper class. The childless married couple Weisses supported penniless artists and were known in Leipzig for their generous hospitality towards composers and musicians. Henriette Weisse -schicht often appeared as a soprano in the Gewandhaus or at private house concerts. White himself, who was a student and friend of the cellist and composer Bernhard Romberg (1767–1841), was also valued as a gifted cello player in Leipzig's musical life.

With commercial dexterity, the man from New Leipzig recognized the lack of a functioning fire insurance company in his adopted home. The state fire insurance institute in Saxony settled occurring damage only slowly and therefore came under increasing criticism. In addition, increased productivity and mobility as a result of the emerging industrial revolution brought many new risks. In parallel to these developments, advances in mathematics and statistics have improved the basis of calculations in the insurance industry. Ernst Wilhelm Arnoldi (1778–1841), who was also trained in Hamburg, founded the fire insurance company in Gotha as early as 1817 , from which in 1820 the fire insurance bank of the German trade , today's Gothaer Versicherungsbank VVaG , emerged. During his tenure from 1815 to 1819, Cologne's Lord Mayor Karl Josef Freiherr von Mylius (1778–1838) also tried to initiate a fire insurance company in Cologne .

On June 1, 1819, Carl Friedrich Ernst Weisse founded the Leipziger Feuer-Versicherungsanstalt Aktiengesellschaft , which mainly insured household effects, houses, factories and machines against possible risks. Numerous representatives of Leipzig's economic life at the time, as well as lawyers, politicians and scientists, supported the company, which was run prudently and successfully by Weisse.

The Leipziger Feuer-Versicherungsanstalt was not limited to customers from Leipzig or Saxony and its customers were not selected from certain social groups, which was not a matter of course around 1820. The company also insured trade fair goods and thus offered its customers short-term insurance protection for the first time. White concept found many imitators and was adopted, for example, by David Hansemann (1790–1864), who founded the Aachen fire insurance company in 1824 .

Carl Friedrich Ernst Weisse, who managed to run his company unscathed by the economic crisis of the 1820s, suffered several business setbacks after the death of his beloved wife († 1831). The great fire in Frankenhausen in 1832 cost the company such a significant sum that its continued existence appeared to be endangered. The financial year ended with a loss of 78,000  thalers , an immeasurable sum at the time. The shareholders mainly accused White of his hesitation in looking for a reinsurer . The disputes over the weighing up of the retention and the reinsurance expenses of the company strained the relationship between the shareholders and Weiße until his untimely death on December 18, 1836.

Significance and aftermath

The Leipziger Feuer-Versicherungsanstalt was one of the companies from which the Alte Leipziger Versicherung AG emerged .

In 1830 Johann Friedrich August Olearius (1789–1861) founded Leipziger Leben , which did pioneering work in the field of life insurance. With his calculations, the astronomer and mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius (1790–1868) created the mathematical foundations that are essentially still used today in life insurance.

Both Leipzig companies merged in 1933 for economic reasons. After 1945, the new company relocated to Oberursel near Frankfurt am Main and has been operating as Alte Leipziger Lebensversicherung aG since 1971 .

literature

• Hanns-Jürgen Weigel: Carl Friedrich Ernst Weisse - Sketches from the life of a company founder . In: The great Leipzig , edited by Vera Hauschild; Insel Verlag Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig, 1st edition 1996, ISBN 3-458-16780-3
• Andreas Stephainski (editor): Time travel - 1200 years of life in Leipzig . Leipziger Verlags- und Druckereigesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, Leipzig 2007, ISBN 978-3-9806625-4-3

Web links

• Chronicle of the "Old Leipzig"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ In Berlin got the White in 1718 under the Prussian king I. Friedrich Wilhelm resulting Urban fire Societät know and in Hamburg he received his training in 1676 founded, the oldest German insurance General Fire Trim Checkout .
2. ↑ White won z. B. the partner of the bank Frege & Co. and senior of the trusted company Christoph Heinrich Ploß (1757–1838) as a partner for his company. He also convinced David Anger from Handelshaus Anger & Co., Wilhelm Gotthelf Ernst Seyfferth (1774–1832) from Handelshaus Vetter & Co. and the later director of the Prussian State Bank Christian Wilhelm Reichenbach from Bankhaus Reichenbach & Co.
3. ^ The first fire damage, which was regulated within six days, occurred in May 1820.
4. ^ Ernst Wilhelm Arnoldis fire insurance bank in Gotha was initially reserved for manufacturers and merchants. So she refused her insurance cover to Leopold von Sachsen-Coburg, who later became King Leopold I of Belgium .