Daniel Swarovski
Daniel Swarovski (born October 24, 1862 in Georgenthal , Bohemia ; † January 23, 1956 in Wattens , Tyrol ) was an Austrian glass cutter of Bohemian origin and founder of the Swarovski company , which developed into the world market leader for cut crystal glass .
Life
At the “ First Electrical Exhibition ” in Vienna in 1883, Swarovski gained insights with which he developed an electrically powered machine for grinding crystal glass. In 1895 he emigrated to Wattens in Tyrol , because there he found enough energy from the hydropower of the Alps and space for his new type of glass grinding shop in the "Cloth and Loden Factory Rhomberg" on the Wattenbach. In the beginning, the newly founded company was called “A. Kosmann, Daniel Swarovski & Co ”, but was later renamed to Swarovski after a factory expansion.
Daniel Swarovski married the sister of his partner Franz Weis. The three sons Fritz, Alfred and Willi come from this relationship. In cooperation with the Wattener doctor Karl Steiner, Daniel Swarovski, as councilor of Wattens, played a key role in the establishment of a modern drinking water supply for the municipality of Wattens. With the construction of company apartments for employees in Weisstrasse and Swarovskistrasse, the foundation stone was laid for a settlement program that was continued extensively by his grandson Daniel Swarovski II (son of Fritz).
In 1919 Daniel Swarovski founded the abrasives company Tyrolit, also in Wattens, to produce ceramic grinding wheels for crystal production himself. Tyrolit moved from Wattens to Schwaz in 1950, the headquarters of which can still be found there.
As an entrepreneur, Daniel Swarovski was confronted with Austrofascism (1933/34 to 1938), and in this area of tension joined the then illegal NSDAP ( membership number 6.181.200) before joining Nazi Germany .
After no “Aryanization” of Jewish company shares had taken place at the Swarovski company, the Swarovski family only succeeded four years after the death of Daniel Swarovski in 1960 from the heirs of Armand Kosmann's shares in what is still known as “A. Kosmann Glass Milling - D . Swarovski & Co ”managed Plant II in Wattener Oberdorf for sale.
Awards
Daniel Swarovski I was the recipient of the following awards.
- Knight of the Gregorius Order
- Bearer of the Great Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria
- Bearer of the Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Austrian Order of Merit
- Winner of the Golden Ring of Honor of the Tyrolean Chamber of Commerce
- Holder of the Julius Raab Medal
- Honorary member of the Leopold Franzens University Innsbruck
Daniel Swarovski was also an honorary member of numerous associations and an honorary citizen of the municipality (today market town) Wattens since November 2, 1928.
literature
- Konrad Fichtl (Red.): WATTNER BOOK Schlern-Schriften R. Klebelsberg. Wagner-Innsbruck University Press 1958.
- Wolfgang Fürweger: The Swarovskis. Wirtschaftsverlag Ueberreuter, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-8000-7403-7 , p. 12 ff.
- Jesko Dahlmann: Innovative entrepreneurship in the sense of Schumpeter: theory and economic history. Metropolis Verlag, Marburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-7316-1269-8 , p. 386 ff.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ T-Online Portrait, source APA ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ Horst Schreiber : In accordance with the NSDAP - The Swarovski company in the Nazi era. In: horstschreiber.at . Retrieved July 29, 2020.
- ↑ Honoring the industrialist Swarovski. In: Innsbrucker Nachrichten , December 16, 1936, p. 7 (online at ANNO ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Swarovski, Daniel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian glass cutter of Bohemian origin and founder of the Swarovski company |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 24, 1862 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Georgenthal , Bohemia |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 23, 1956 |
| Place of death | Wattens , Tyrol |