Eduard Lingel

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Eduard Lingel around 1900
The factory site on Arnstädter Strasse around 1900

Georg Michael Eduard Lingel (born April 17, 1849 in Königsberg in Franconia , † February 27, 1922 in Hamburg ) was a German shoe manufacturer .

Life

He grew up as the son of the cloth master Elias Lingel and his wife Elenore in Königsberg. His father died when he was just under nine years old. His mother Eleonore then married the businessman Christoph Friedrich Dreßler. After completing primary school in Königsberg, the Dreßler-Lingel family moved to Schweinfurt in 1864 , where Eduard Lingel became an apprentice in a textile company in Barmen . He learned three foreign languages ​​and acquired legal knowledge. At the age of 23 he decided to become an entrepreneur and went to Erfurt because the shoemaking trade had already developed there in several companies in the first decade after 1800, mainly by outsourcing the work to home workers .

In the house "Zum Krummen Hecht" at Fischersand 9 in Erfurt's old town, he founded his first company in 1872 in four small production rooms with 5 workers. The machine equipment at the start was also modest: a double punch and a sewing machine. Around 50 home workers were also involved in the manufacturing process, 36 pairs of boots were made every day at that time. In 1874 Eduard Lingel bought the house at Herrmannsplatz 5 and expanded his workshop operations and had 300 workers permanently employed.

The turn from manual work to mechanical shoe manufacture began in 1877/1878. Lingel based himself on the American model and sent a delegation of experts to the USA , who were supposed to look at the most modern production techniques there in order to implement them later in Thuringia. Lingel's shoes were not only sold throughout the German Empire , but also exported to Sweden , Holland , North and South America .

In 1886 he converted the previous sole proprietorship into a general partnership and employed 600 workers to manufacture all types of shoes. High lace-up boots were particularly successful. In 1887 a fire destroyed the entire production facilities. They were quickly rebuilt in an enlarged form, so that afterwards production could take place on 50,000 square meters.

In 1898 he converted the OHG into a stock corporation , which gave it the opportunity to expand further. During the First World War , production was limited to military boots and the repair of used ones. The abolition of the forced economy after the end of the war in September 1919 promoted production considerably. The world reputation of Lingel products has been restored thanks to new models.

Eduard Lingel married twice and had a son from his second marriage. His descendants still live in Erfurt. At the beginning of the First World War he withdrew from the management, but still went on business trips as a privateer and remained chairman of the supervisory board of the Lingel Group until his death on February 27, 1922 . He last lived in Hamburg as a widower.

Aftermath

Lingel shares

When he died in 1922, the company with 2,200 employees produced two million pairs of shoes a year and was one of the most important shoe factories in Germany.

During the Second World War , the Lingel company turned back into an armaments company and supplied, among other things, heated aviator boots.

The company coped with the difficult war conditions without major damage. Shortly thereafter, shoe production could start again. However, there was a lack of raw materials and technology. 1200 machines fell victim to the dismantling , followed by transport to the Soviet Union.

In 1948 the Lingel factory became public property . The VEB Schuhfabrik Thuringia was created together with the Hess factory . After further mergers a few years later, the company was named VEB Schuhfabrik Paul Schäfer in 1952 , named after a former employee of the company. Paul Schäfer became a KPD politician and was executed in Moscow in 1938.

In the 1970s, the modernization of the outdated building fabric began. Computer-aided production began a decade later. Quality and offer have improved over the years. This became known beyond the East German borders. The West German manufacturer Salamander received goods from the Erfurt company.

former factory Magdeburger Allee 59

At the end of the 1980s, the Paul Schäfer shoe factory comprised twelve plants with 28 territorially separated production sites. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the company was re-established as Lingel GmbH, but could not adapt to the changed situation. With the liquidation of the company in 1992, the attempt to build on the old reputation of the name Lingel failed.

The historic factory buildings on Arnstädter Strasse were completely demolished in 2000. The former factory at Magdeburger Allee 59 was partially demolished in 2009; the building from the 1920s that ran along the street initially remained a ruin without a roof and was demolished in 2011. In 2019, the entire former company premises will be vacant fallow land.

Erfurt, Herrmannsplatz 5 and 6, Eduard Lingel founded a production facility here in 1874

Honors

  • Eduard-Lingel-Strasse in his hometown Königsberg in Bavaria was named after him.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lingel, Eduard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lingel, Georg Michael Eduard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH April 17, 1849
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigsberg in Franconia
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1922
Place of death Hamburg