Carl Lehmann (engineer)

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Carl Wilhelm Heinrich Lehmann (born November 28, 1831 in Oldenburg ; † April 21, 1874 there ) was a German shipbuilding engineer , Japan expert and advisor to Japanese regional politicians.

Life and professional development

Carl Lehmann was born in Oldenburg on November 28, 1831, the first son of Adolf Alexander Lehmann and his wife Charlotte Sophie Friederike. In 1840 the family moved into their own house on Peterstrasse (today number 39) in Oldenburg. He grew up in good financial circumstances and the family had an upbringing related to music. Carl played the violin quite well. He attended the general education school and grammar school in Oldenburg and finished school at Easter 1849. In May of the same year he started training as a ship's carpenter at the shipyard in Vegesack (now part of Bremen). From 1851 he attended the renowned shipyard school in Grabow near Stettin. Above all, his theoretical knowledge of shipbuilding was deepened here. Carl Lehmann completed his training in 1853 when he graduated as a shipbuilder.

In the years to come, Carl Lehmann completed his professional knowledge through employment and further training in the US shipyard in Baltimore . After learning these additional skills and gaining international experience, he received an offer for the position of director at a shipyard in Rotterdam. This shipyard was maintained by the trading company A. von Hobok & Zoone for the construction of their own trading ships. After graduating from school at Easter 1860, Carl Lehmann's younger brother Rudolf Lehmann came to the shipyard to acquire practical knowledge in the field of shipbuilding over the course of a year. While still holding the post of shipyard director, Carl Lehmann received a contract offer from the Ostindische Handelsgesellschaft in 1861.

Business and consultancy in Japan

This contract offer for Carl Lehmann contained the order of the Japanese government for three years to accompany the construction of a shipyard according to western standards in Nagasaki . In addition, the instruction of the Japanese staff in the modern art of shipbuilding was planned. At the end of the year he started the long journey by ship and rail, via the USA to Japan and arrived in Nagasaki in April 1862.

The implementation of the set task was made more difficult by constant unrest, uprisings and great difficulties in the ongoing period of political upheaval in Japan. Due to his open-mindedness, but also the interest of certain Japanese circles, Carl Lehmann acted from 1862 temporarily as an advisor to the Shogun of Nagasaki . Here he met his future wife, the Japanese Kiji Otoki, married her and in February 1864 their daughter Louise Charlotte Otoki Lehmann was born. The persistent difficult internal situation in the Nagasaki area meant that his contract was not extended in 1865. Without further ado, he took up employment with a trading company and was now active as a businessman. Through his contacts in political circles, an agreement was reached in 1867 by the feudal princes Wakayama and Aizu from Germany to procure a large number of modern needle guns. In the same year he traveled to Germany with his wife and daughter to carry out this business. His travel companion during these months was also the first Japanese student at a German university Majima Seiji. He began studying medicine in Heidelberg in 1868 and later called himself Komatsu. During the short stay in Heidelberg, the daughter of Carl Lehmann and his wife Kiji Otoki was baptized. On behalf of his Japanese partner, Carl Lehmann ordered the construction of 3 iron coastal ships at a Hamburg shipyard. His brother Rudolf supervised the assembly and the transport preparations in Hamburg. In the meantime, Carl Lehmann traveled back to Nagasaki to create the conditions for assembling the ships he had bought.

At the beginning of 1868, when the new emperor came to power in Japan on January 3rd, the beginning of the Meiji era, a clear change occurred in all areas of social life. The structures and power relations of the old shogunate, which lasted 260 years, were replaced by internal reforms, the creation of improved possibilities for the Japanese economy, trade and the life of the population. An opening of the country to the west was on the agenda. However, the new power structures and the new framework conditions still had to be consolidated. For Carl Lehmann's work in the Kyoto region, the move of the imperial court from Kyoto to Edo in 1869, later Tokyo, was of extremely great importance. Through his business activity and his commitment, a meeting and joint action with the samurai Yamamoto Kakuma (1828 - 1892) came about during this time . Both exchanged their ideas and visions about a future modern Japan. In doing so, they found numerous common views. When Yamamoto Kakuma was appointed as advisor to the governor of Kyoto Masanano Makimura (1834-1896) in the same year , Carl Lehmann was one of the people who came up with ideas and whose suggestions for further steps towards change were heard. He himself now worked in Osaka together with his partner Carl Oskar Hartmann from Hamburg. Both had the company "Lehmann and Hartmann & Co." opened and were active in the field of goods exchange between Germany and Japan. In addition, the organization of knowledge transfer between the two countries also played an important role.

In the meantime, the 3 iron coastal ships ordered in Hamburg had also been completed and packed for transport. Carl's brother Rudolf accompanied the transport to Japan. When the freight arrived there, an intensive collaboration between the two brothers began. Together they organized and supervised the assembly of the coastal ships at the shipyard in Kawagudu. They took care of the commissioning of the ships baptized with the names "Adler" and "Berlin", which then ran between Osaka and Kyoto in regular operation. The training and instruction of the Japanese staff was also in their hands. Due to the existing friendly relations between Carl Lehmann and the governor of Kyoto and his advisory function there, he received further orders for the economic stabilization of the region after the departure of the imperial court.

At the end of 1873 he fell ill with tuberculosis and at the turn of the year traveled to Oldenburg to cure his illness. Here he died of the consequences of his illness on April 21, 1874. He was buried in the Gertrudenfriedhof in Oldenburg, on the grave site of his maternal grandparents.

Appreciation

In 2011, the work of Carl and Rudolf Lehmann in Japan was honored as part of an exhibition entitled "Japan Pioneers from Oldenburg" at the Oldenburg City Archives . At the same time, a memorial plaque was unveiled on the Lehmann family's home at Petersstrasse 39 in Oldenburg.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerd Hoffmann, Rudolf Lehmann (1842-1914) a picture of life in: Archives of the OAG (German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia - in short: East Asian Society)
  2. ↑ Japanese pioneers from Oldenburg in: http://www.das-japanische-gedaechtnis.de/lebensbilder-az/lehmann-carl-1831-1874-lehmann-rudolph-1842-1914-kauffolk-wissenschaftler.html
  3. ^ Werner Moritz and Wolfgang Seifert, Japanese students in Heidelberg, archive and museum of the University of Heidelberg
  4. ↑ Gerd Hoffmann, Rudolf Lehmann (1842-1914) - a picture of life in: Archives of the OAG
  5. ↑ Sabine Schicke, Japan Pioneers from Oldenburg, in: https://www.nwzonline.de/oldenburg/japan-pioniere-aus-oldenburg_a_1,o,630379187.html
personal data
SURNAME Lehmann, Carl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lehmann, Carl Wilhelm Heinrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German shipbuilding engineer, Japan expert and advisor to Japanese regional politicians
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1831
PLACE OF BIRTH Oldenburg
DATE OF DEATH April 21, 1874
Place of death Oldenburg