Carl William Klawitter

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Carl William Klawitter (born December 15, 1856 in Danzig ; † January 4, 1929 in Berlin ) was an important shipyard owner, president of the Chamber of Commerce in Danzig and representative of Danzig in the League of Nations.

Life

Carl William was born in Gdansk in 1856 as the son of the master shipbuilder and shipyard owner Julius Wilhelm Klawitter . He belonged to a family that, as merchants and shipbuilders, was firmly connected to the Hanseatic tradition of Danzig and the tradition of German, especially Prussian merchant and war shipping. The first dry dock in Prussia was built and put into operation at the Klawitterwerft, and one of the first Prussian warships, the wheeled corvette "Danzig", also originated there.

In 1875, after attending the Petri School in Danzig, he studied history, economics and new languages ​​in Strasbourg, Leipzig, Berlin and Greifswald. In Leipzig he joined the Leipzig fraternity of Dresden in 1876 . In 1925 he became an honorary member of the Greifswald fraternity Rugia and in 1927 of the Bonn fraternity Frankonia .

In Greifswald, Klawitter obtained the state examination for higher education in 1881. He then completed a French language course in Geneva for a few months and briefly took up an assistant teaching position at the municipal grammar school in Gdansk. 1882 Joined the family business JW Klawitter shipyard, founded by his grandfather in 1827 and managed by his father since 1863 . From 1882 he completed an apprenticeship at the Howaldt shipyard in Kiel and in 1885 took over the management of the family business. Under Klawitter's leadership, the company was transformed into a machine factory and a modern, commercially organized and cost-controlling industrial company. An iron foundry (1886/87), a ship machine factory (1890) and a boiler forge (1890) were built on extensive grounds in Danzig-Strohteich. The company was one of the most important German shipbuilding companies at the turn of the century.

Klawitter became head of the Danzig merchants' association in 1905, vice-president in 1920 and soon afterwards president of the Chamber of Commerce . Politically, he was particularly active against the separation of Danzig from the German Empire and the transformation into the Free City of Danzig through the Treaty of Versailles . In 1920 he was appointed to the Danzig State Council for the DNVP . Klawitter is one of the most important champions of Germanness in the East. His brother and co-owner of the shipyard, Fritz was from 1927 to 1930 for the DNVP a member of the Volkstag, i.e. the Danzig Landtag. In 1925 he became senator of the German Academy in Munich and in 1926 Dr. Ing.hc from the Technical University of Gdansk .

On January 4, 1929, Klawitter died in Berlin after an unsuccessful gallstone operation by Ferdinand Sauerbruch . The burial took place in the cemetery in Gdansk.

Awards

family

Klawitter had eight children, 6 daughters and two sons, Justus (1894–1979) and Horst Ernst Julius (1897–1983), who succeeded him as managing directors of the family business.

Club and association membership

Publications

  • Contribution to Gesch. d. Shipbuilding, the port and shipping of Danzig , commemorative publication on the occasion of his 70th birthday (1869)
  • The future of Gdańsk as a commercial and industrial city (1925)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Klawitter, Carl William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Shipyard owner
DATE OF BIRTH December 15, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Danzig
DATE OF DEATH January 4, 1929
Place of death Danzig