Eduard Fischer (entrepreneur)

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Eduard Fischer (born November 26, 1868 in Wiener Neustadt ; † February 4, 1951 in Lichtenwörth ) was a co-founder of the Austrian Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft . His name is inextricably linked with the beginnings of motorization in Austria. Thanks to his talent and vision, a company was created that was one of the earliest automobile factories in the world.

family

In 1866 Eduard and his brother Adam Fischer acquired a nail and machine factory in Wiener Neustadt and set up the production of turbines of various systems, transmissions, hemp rope drives, equipment for mills, wood grinding shops, paper and sugar factories. In addition, plows and other agricultural implements were also manufactured in the factory. When it was fully operational, partly by water power (35 HP) and partly by steam power (60 HP), the factory employed 200 workers and 12 employees. After the death of the Fischer brothers, a relative, Captain Julius Hotter, continued to run the business, but ran into financial difficulties in the 1890s. After his death in 1895, Eduard Fischer, now of age, took over the management of the "Kkpriv. Maschinenfabrik, Eisen- und Metallgießerei Brüder Fischer".

Career at Daimler

The "Iron Team", Schönfeldt, Fischer & Porsche (from left to right)

The connection to the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in Cannstatt was established by Josef Eduard Bierenz . Gottlieb Daimler had had relations with Vienna even before his time in Germany. Bierenz endeavored to find a suitable reality in Austria for the production of Daimler engines and Daimler products. In the spring of 1899 they started talking to Eduard Fischer. In the summer of 1899 the negotiations had progressed so far that a number of interested parties were ready to found an “Austrian Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft” and to start manufacturing immediately in the workshops of the Fischer factory in Wiener Neustadt.

The factory first appeared with its products at the “First Vienna Motor Show 1900”, which was organized by the “Austrian Automobile Club” from May 31 to June 10, 1900. For the exhibited objects, Mr. Bierenz, Fischer & Cie was awarded the Grand Golden Medal. After seven years of experience in the workshops, the Daimler people in Wiener Neustadt decided to go their own way and transform the company into a limited company. The Porsche Fischer era, an era of great success and great diversity, began there along with the factory’s own path. Fischer stood up for the equally young Ferdinand Porsche and gave him the technical management of the company. The word " Austro-Daimler " was born and it did not take long before it became a worldwide term for quality, reliability, performance and groundbreaking modernity. It was shown again and again that Director Fischer was the best interpreter of these creations. The success of “Austro-Daimler” could no longer be stopped.

Eduard Fischer, Ferdinand Porsche and Heinrich Graf Schönfeldt also repeatedly took part in racing events in which these three, known as the “Iron Team”, repeatedly shared the top positions. At the Prinz Heinrich drive in 1910, in which 176 cars took part, Daimler achieved a great success with places 1 to 3. Seventeen special tests were completed on this route, twelve of which were won by Austro Daimler, especially the “kilometer lancée”, the speed test, by Eduard Fischer. Before the First World War , the “ Austrian Automobile Club ” organized an annual Alpine trip, which had already been advertised internationally. At this major event, the “Iron Team” achieved considerable success for Daimler with the top places.

Eduard Fischer was also a co-founder of the "Austrian Automobile Club" and was a member from the day it was founded. He was also a member of the “ Austrian Voluntary Automobile Corps ”. It was also in keeping with the initiative nature of Fischer's director that he turned to aviation at a very early age. He was also one of the co-founders of the " Motor-Luftfahrzeug-Gesellschaft mbH ", which was entered in the commercial register on April 23, 1909.

The company played a leading role in automobile manufacture until the end of the First World War. Fischer repeatedly took part in practice and reliability drives with Daimler vehicles, which were organized in the last years of peace before the World War 1914/1918, and was always one of the top favorites. Fischer did a year and a half military service during World War I and was a member of the factory until he left on June 1, 1920.

Life and career in Nadelburg

Factory owner's villa in
Nadelburg , built in 1882, demolished around 1952 as a result of gross devastation by the Russian occupation forces in 1945.

On November 5, 1910, he married Margarita von Herbeck, the daughter of Wolfgang Ritter von Herbeck, a co-owner of the Nadelburg metal goods factory in Lichtenwörth . In 1911 his son Rudolf Fischer was born. After Fischer's entry in the commercial register, he took over this company on September 17, 1920 as general director of the Nadelburger Werke. This created completely new tasks for Eduard Fischer, which were all the more difficult to cope with as the Nadelburg, like all other industrial plants of the now Republic of Austria, suffered from the aftermath of the lost First World War.

The "kkpriv. Nadelburger brass and metal goods factory" existed from 1747 to 1930. The unusual thing about the Nadelburg was the isolation from the village community of Lichtenwörths. The factory included workers' houses, a church, a school and an inn, surrounded by a brick wall. Famous personalities who struggled for this work were regent Maria Theresia, Count Theodor Batthyany, the families Hainisch, Mohr and Herbeck as well as Eduard Fischer. Despite a major order from the Daimler works for the production of car coolers in the Nadelburg works, the decline in operations as a result of the global economic crisis could no longer be stopped, which ultimately led to the closure of the factory. Parts of the factory were subsequently sold and converted into a stock corporation, to which Director Fischer belonged until January 15, 1935. At the age of 67 he retired after a total of 40 years of industrial activity in a managerial position.

death

The imposing crypt chapel at the Lichtenwörther cemetery of the Hainisch and Fischer families.

In 1945 the splendid factory owner's villa in Nadelburg was so devastated that Director Fischer, as he was always called throughout his life, had to retire with his wife to the “stable building”, where he passed away on February 4th, 1951 after a gentle death . The "stable building" of the Nadelburg is an equally magnificent building which once housed coachmen and grooms as well as chauffeurs. The building, which is now a listed building, was extensively renovated according to the historical model and is now inhabited. Unfortunately, all documents relating to his many years of activity were destroyed as a result of the devastation of the mansion.

Fischer was buried in the family's own late Gothic crypt chapel at the Lichtenwörther cemetery.

literature

  • Robert Bachtrögl - The Nadelburg story from 1747; Published 2011, history book, self-published.
  • Sheets for the history of technology, Springer Verlag, Vienna 1960.
  • History of Austrian automobile construction, Vienna 1958.

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