Carl Hahn senior
Carl Hahn (born March 4, 1894 in Gratzen , Bohemia ; † June 5, 1961 in Le Zoute , Belgium) was a German - Austrian automobile manufacturer and entrepreneur .
Life
Carl Hahn was born as the son of the Oberforstrat Carl Hahn (1862–1932) and his wife Anna. Buhl (1871–1923) born. After graduating from high school in Seitenstetten , he did his military service on the side of Austria-Hungary from 1914 to 1918 . After studying agricultural sciences at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Vienna from 1918 to 1921 and the promotion of "Doctor of Agricultural Sciences" in 1921 Hahn received - after a brief employment in the goods department of the Styrian bank in Graz - in April 1922 in Saxony a Employment as personal assistant to the company owner and sales manager at Zschopauer Motorenwerke J. S. Rasmussen . There Jørgen Skafte Rasmussen had just developed the “ Reichsfahrtmodell ” - the first DKW motorcycle. Hahn's duties also included product advertising, and he played a key role in DKW's development into the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer (1928). When Zschopauer Motorenwerke was converted from a general partnership into a stock corporation in 1923, Hahn was appointed to the company's board of directors.
When Zschopauer Motorenwerke got into a crisis in 1930, this also led to different ideas with Rasmussen about the further conception of the company. Besides Richard Bruhn Hahn co-founded the center in 1932 at the instigation of the State Bank of Saxony incurred Auto Union AG , based in Chemnitz (until 1936 Zschopau), over-indebted in the Rasmussen DKW Group rose. In the new Auto Union group, Hahn took over the sales management for the area of two-stroke vehicles (brand DKW) as deputy member of the board. A little later there was a complete falling out with Rasmussen, whom he and Bruhn announced the termination in 1934. From August 1935 he was temporarily chairman of the board of Martin Brinkmann AG Bremen , at that time Germany’s largest tobacco factory, but returned to his previous position at Auto Union in Chemnitz in April 1936. In 1937 he was also appointed to the supervisory board of the Chemnitz mechanical engineering company Gemania , where he also made considerable private investments.
In May 1945 Carl Hahn fled from the advancing Red Army and found refuge with friends in the moated castle Sandizell in Bavaria.
In 1946 he moved to Benrath and worked in the Hoffmann works in Lintorf owned by the vehicle entrepreneur Jakob Oswald Hoffmann (1896–1972).
In 1947 he developed tampons for the German market , which Dr. Carl Hahn KG brought the brand ob 1948 on the market.
The Auto Union AG was in August 1948 for the commercial register has been deleted Chemnitz. Hahn and Bruhn were among the initiators of the creation of a "new" Auto Union in Ingolstadt, Bavaria .
Hahn was a partner, managing director and assistant to the president.
After a heart attack in August 1956, he resigned from all functions on June 30, 1957.
Private
In his first marriage, Carl Hahn married Maria “Mia” Luisa Lina Kusel on September 14, 1925 in Gelenau (born May 30, 1905 in Meerane ; † June 5, 1986 in Wolfsburg ). She was the daughter of the director of the cotton mill AG Gelenau / Erzgeb. Friedrich "Fritz" Wilhelm Arnold Kusel (1871–1936) and his wife Maria Louise born. Sistig (1872-1961).
On July 1, 1926, his son Carl Horst Hahn was born in Chemnitz, who later also became successful and well-known as a manager in the automotive industry. From 1982 to 1993 Hahn jr. Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG .
On August 19, 1933, another son, Wolfgang Günter Hahn, was born in Chemnitz.
The marriage ended in divorce in 1954.
On August 13, 1955 Hahn married Eleonore "Nono" Elisabeth Anna Marie Burggräfin and Countess zu Dohna-Schlobitten (born August 5, 1923, † April 24, 2012) in Badenweiler .
The two daughters Anna-Renata (born August 27, 1956) and Caroline (born May 2, 1958) come from this connection.
Sources and literature
- Falk Drechsel; Heike Krause; Klaus Michael Oßwald: ARWA - the rise and fall of a stocking empire, Neustadt an der Aisch: Schmidt, 2014
- Prof. Dr. Carl Hahn; Prof. Dr. Peter Kirchberg: DKW-Hahn - A manager and entrepreneur in the German automotive industry, Verlag Heimatland Sachsen eK Chemnitz, 2016, ISBN 978-3-910186-93-4
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hahn, Carl senior |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hahn, Carl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-Austrian automobile manufacturer and entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 4, 1894 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Gratzen , Bohemia |
| DATE OF DEATH | 5th June 1961 |
| Place of death | Le Zoute , Belgium |