Carl Köttgen

Presidium of the World Power Conference in June 1930 (from left: Carl Köttgen, Mrs. von Miller, Oskar von Miller , Dr. Tissot)

Carl Köttgen (born August 29, 1871 in Barmen (today a district of Wuppertal ), † December 12, 1951 in Düsseldorf ) was a German electrical engineer , industrialist and representative of associations.

Life

Köttgen studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University in Berlin . After completing his studies, he joined Siemens & Halske in Berlin in 1894 and worked in the “Power Transmission Office”. As a result, he rose steadily in the company's hierarchy. As early as 1897 he was department head, in 1898 authorized signatory and in 1905 he became a deputy member of the board of Siemens-Schuckertwerke .

Köttgen was one of the most important designers for the use of electrical engineering in heavy industry at the turn of the century.

In 1907 he became head of the new Siemens factory in Stafford . During this time he has also proven to be a successful manager.

During the First World War Köttgen was interned by the English. In 1919 he was able to return to Berlin. He became head of the central plant administration at Siemens-Schuckertwerke. In 1921 he became its chairman.

As a result of a study trip to the USA in 1925 Köttgen published the book “The Economic America”. In doing so, he set important impulses for the rationalization debate . At Siemens, for example, assembly line work was introduced.

He also played an important role in scientific and economic associations. At times he was chairman of the VDE , VDI and the Reich Board of Trustees for Economic Efficiency . In 1930 he was chairman of the World Power Conference held in Berlin . In the early 1930s until its dissolution, Köttgen was also President of the Association of German Employers' Associations .

In June 1933, together with Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach and others, he called for an Adolf Hitler donation from the German economy . Köttgen was Vice President of the social policy department of the Reichsstand of German Industry .

In the Siemensstadt in Berlin a street is named after him.

literature

Sigfried von Weiher: Köttgen, Carl. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-428-00193-1 , p. 413 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Literature by and about Carl Köttgen in the catalog of the German National Library
biography
Personalities at Siemens
Newspaper article about Carl Köttgen in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

↑ Ernst Kaiser, Michael Knorn: "We lived and slept among the dead". Arms production, forced labor and extermination in the Frankfurt Adler works . Campus-Verlag, Berlin 1998, p. 27, ISBN 3-593-36163-9 .
^ Daniela Kahn: The control of the economy by law in National Socialist Germany. The example of the Reichsgruppe Industrie (studies on European legal history; 212). Klostermann, Frankfurt / M. 2006, p. 164, ISBN 978-3-465-04012-5 (also dissertation, Universität FU Berlin 2003).

personal data
SURNAME	Köttgen, Carl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German electrical engineer, industrialist and representative of associations
DATE OF BIRTH	August 29, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH	Barmen
DATE OF DEATH	December 12, 1951
Place of death	Dusseldorf

[1] Ernst Kaiser, Michael Knorn: "We lived and slept among the dead". Arms production, forced labor and extermination in the Frankfurt Adler works . Campus-Verlag, Berlin 1998, p. 27, ISBN 3-593-36163-9 .

[2] Daniela Kahn: The control of the economy by law in National Socialist Germany. The example of the Reichsgruppe Industrie (studies on European legal history; 212). Klostermann, Frankfurt / M. 2006, p. 164, ISBN 978-3-465-04012-5 (also dissertation, Universität FU Berlin 2003).