Eugen Dickmann from Secherau

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Eugen von Dickmann, lithograph by August Prinzhofer , 1843.
Blast furnaces in Lölling in the 19th century
Roasting plant in Lölling
Prevalje on a graphic from around 1844

Baron Eugen von Dickmann-Secherau (born December 4, 1793 in Vienna , † July 19, 1863 ) was an Austrian tradesman and industrialist in Carinthia . He was the most important blast furnace owner on the Hüttenberger Erzberg .

origin

The family originally came from the Netherlands and got out of Sankt Veit an der Glan in the 18th century and joined the mining industry. In 1835, Eugen Dickmann took over the management of his mother's property, Johanna Nepomucea Edle von Dickmann, who was very successful. As the only one of three sons who survived the mother, he was endowed with the greatest authority of the other co-heirs.

Entrepreneurial achievements

Dickmann connected the blast furnaces in Lölling with an 8 km long alpine road over the Saualpe - the core of today's Klippitztörl road . In this way he connected the Lavant valley with the Krappfeld and gained better access to the coal deposits there. Every year he acquired over 5,000 yokes from the farms that were not very suitable for cultivation and converted them into timber industry. He gave up the low-income iron processing companies and strengthened the operation of the iron smelter. In 1838 he built a second blast furnace in Lölling and introduced the innovative hot blower air technology from England, which saved a large amount of fuel.

He increased the pig iron production from 1836 to 1845 on average to 100,000 quintals, in 1846 to 174,000 quintals and in 1847 even to 197,000, which countered the emerging shortage of pig iron and met the strong demand. The evaluation committee of the Vienna Industrial Exhibition of 1845 recognized these achievements by awarding them the golden medal. At the beginning of 1844, Dickmann and Rosthorn took half of the stake in the Prevalje coal and iron rolling mill , which produced 30,000 quintals in 1843 and 100,000 quintals in 1847. 1837 brought social changes for his workers at the Löllinger Hütte: they worked longer and workers' apartments were built next to the production facilities. The plant only used lignite, a fuel that until then had been considered impossible or highly dubious.

Eugen von Dickmann was honored by Emperor Ferdinand on April 3, 1847 for his economic merits - through the introduction of a rational timber economy, through saving fuel and the factory, in which he employed almost 300 workers, and exercising a significant influence on the prosperity of the province himself and his legitimate descendants were raised to the baron status of the Austrian imperial state.

Private and offspring

Former residence in Klagenfurt

Two days after signing a marriage contract, Dickmann-Secherau married Maria Josefa Karoline Schluga von Rastenfeld on September 3, 1821 in Klagenfurt Cathedral . In 1832 he bought the palace at Neuer Platz number 14 in Klagenfurt. With this, Dickmann underscored his social status and financial prosperity. It was a representative building in a prominent place and he also repurchased a former family property of his wife Karoline. However, his wife died at the age of 34 in 1834. The children Eugenie, Carolina and Albert Dickmann-Secherau came from this first marriage.

The historicizing corner tower at Althofen Castle is an extension by Dickmann-Secherau

Seven months after the death of his wife Josefa, he married Stephanie Karoline Freiin von Koudelka in Vienna in October 1834, from whom he separated after six years of marriage. In 1845, following private turbulence, he acquired the Althofen estate , and he rebuilt the castle together with his son Albert between 1847 and 1849. In 1847 there was an expensive divorce from Stefanie. On July 19, 1863 Eugen Freiherr Dickmann died of Secherau in 71 years on a lung paralysis on his castle Töscheldorf . In his will, he only set up the two sons Albert and Oskar as universal heirs.

Dickmann's daughter Eugenie married Hermann Daublebsky, 19 years his senior, in Klagenfurt, but died at the age of 32 of cerebral palsy. The son Richard later became a diplomat and married an American at the age of 82.

Equipped with the extensive specialist knowledge they had acquired during their studies, Albert and Oskar dedicated themselves to the family business in accordance with their father's wishes. Oskar died at the age of 38. Albert chose the main location of his mining company to be the center of his life. In Lölling he owned the legacy of his Lattacher ancestors, the "Zechner-" or "Zehendhof" (later known as "Dickmann Castle"). According to Schumpeter, Albert was more of a bon vivant and could not continue his father's entrepreneurial successes.

coat of arms

Knighthood coat of arms
Knighthood coat of arms

A red shield, through the middle of which went a silver crossbar with three blue iron hats, and which had a golden lily at the head and at the feet . The shield was covered by two crowned, inward-facing helmets. The right one with five ostrich feathers, 1, 3, 5 blue, 2 and 4 silver. On the left helmet two eagle wings facing the Saxons, the front gold, the rear red.

Baron coat of arms

A red and blue quartered shield with a silver heart shield. The heart shield contains three blue iron hats (2 and 1 placed). In the upper right and lower left red field a armored arm protrudes, in the former from the right, in the latter from the left margin, holding up a gold star with the thumb and index finger of the bare hand. In the upper left and lower right fields a golden lily. The shield is covered by the crown of barons, on which three crowned helmets rest. A man in armor, turned to the right, with an open helmet and holding up a gold star in his right hand, grows out of the centered, targeted man. The left hand holds a sword with a golden hilt on the left hip. The other two helmets are turned inwards. From the one on the right, 5 ostrich feathers grow, the 1, 3, 5 red and the 2 and 4 gold. From the left helmet grow two eagle wings placed one behind the other, learned with the Saxons on the right, the front one made of gold, the rear one blue. Shield holder: Two inward-facing golden griffins with knocked out red tongues, which stand on a golden arabesque ornament extending below the shield , which grasp the shield with their claws.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Dickmann from Secherau, Eugen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dickmann-Secherau, Eugen von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian trades and industrialists in Carinthia
DATE OF BIRTH December 4, 1793
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH July 19, 1863