Christian Schmidt (entrepreneur)

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Christian Schmidt, around 1884

Christian Gottlob Schmidt (born August 6, 1844 in Bietigheim ; † February 24, 1884 in Neckarsulm ) was a German entrepreneur and co-founder of Neckarsulmer Strickmaschinenfabrik AG , which in the 1950s was known as NSU Werke AG or NSU for short as the world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer got known.

Life

Christian Schmidt was born on August 6, 1844 in Bietigheim an der Enz as the son of a teacher. He finished his apprenticeship as a locksmith apprentice in Urach in 1860 . On October 17, 1875, he married Luise Katharina Banzhaf, and on August 19, 1876, his only son, Karl August, was born in Riedlingen .

In 1873 Christian Schmidt and Heinrich Stoll took over a mechanical workshop for the production of knitting machines in Riedlingen an der Donau . Due to disputes, Schmidt and Stoll separated in 1876. A few years later, Stoll founded his own company in Reutlingen. Schmidt was looking for a better production location because of the cramped space and insufficient water power on the Danube Canal. On April 1, 1880, he bought the Brunner saw and gypsum mill on the Sulm in Neckarsulm for 18,000 marks. At the end of June 1880 the company moved to Neckarsulm. In 1880 the workforce consisted of seven workers and two civil servants, as the office workers were then called. The Neckarsulm knitting machines were awarded a prize at the Stuttgart exhibition in 1881.

Christian Schmidt died on February 24, 1884 in Neckarsulm. Before that, the next of kin decided, with the consent of the dying person, to found a stock company. This Neckarsulmer Strickmaschinenfabrik AG was founded on April 27, 1884 with starting capital of 50,000 marks. Director became the brother-in-law of Christian Schmidt, Kommerzienrat Gottlob Banzhaf (* 1858, † 1930). The factory later manufactured bicycles and motorcycles under the NSU trademark and in the mid-1950s developed into the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the world in terms of numbers.

souvenir

In Neckarsulm there is the Christian Schmidt School, a commercial district vocational and technical school that reminds of him. Christian-Schmidt-Platz, where the Audi Forum opened in 2005, is located northwest of the old town, at the intersection of Gottlieb-Daimler- , Felix-Wankel- and NSU-Straße .

literature

  • Ms. Herzog: NSU 1873–1923 - On the 50th anniversary of Neckarsulmer Fahrzeugwerke Aktiengesellschaft Neckarsulm . NSU GmbH, Neckarsulm 1923 (facsimile of the original from January 1987)
  • Peter Kirchberg, Thomas Erdmann, Ralph Plagmann: The Wheel of Time - The History of AUDI AG . 3rd edition, status: 8/00. Ed .: AUDI AG Ingolstadt. Delius Klasing publishing house, Bielefeld 2000, ISBN 3-7688-1011-9

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chronicle of the NSU authorized signatory Friedrich Herzog from 1923, based on information from Ralph Plagmann (Audi Tradition / NSU GmbH)
  2. ^ Fr. Herzog: NSU 1873-1923 , NSU GmbH, Neckarsulm 1923, pages 5 ff
personal data
SURNAME Schmidt, Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schmidt, Christian Gottlob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH August 6, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH Bietigheim
DATE OF DEATH February 24, 1884
Place of death Neckarsulm