Erich Mittelsten Scheid

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Enno Erich Mittelsten Scheid (born June 30, 1907 in Barmen ; † April 29, 1993 in Wuppertal ) was a German entrepreneur.

Life

Family tree graphic

Erich Mittelsten Scheid was the son of August Mittelsten Scheid (born April 25, 1871 in Barmen, † February 25, 1955 in Wipperfürth ) and his wife Mathilde Mittelsten Scheid, nee. Vorwerk, (born June 18, 1876 in Barmen, Mühlenweg 23, † February 16, 1949, marriage July 6, 1899). From 1926 to 1927 Erich completed an eighteen-month internship in all departments of Vorwerk & Co and began his mechanical engineering studies at the Technical University of Munich in 1927 , which he completed with a dissertation at RWTH Aachen in 1932 with summa cum laude , and then another eleven months in the United States to study Modern Management.

Vorwerk company

Carl August Mittelsten Scheid managed the Vorwerk company in Wuppertal under sole responsibility until 1936. At that time, the company primarily manufactured carpets , upholstery fabrics and the Kobold handheld vacuum cleaner . In 1932 and 1934, he was relieved by two of his sons, Werner and Erich.

Due to the Second World War , Vorwerk also had to switch production to armaments. Dr.-Ing. Erich Mittelsten Scheid took over the development of armaments production at Vorwerk. Racks for periscopes , gears for searchlights and guns , parts for rockets , grenades , covers for bombs and a part for a control unit of the flak were built. Because of the importance of the latter device, at the instigation of the armaments authorities, the Vorwerk machine factory was opened for alternative production in Wuppertaler Strasse 21 in the “Nord” ghetto of Litzmannstadt , today's Łódź in Poland . The city was out of reach of the Allied planes and provided more safety for production.

In the air raids on Wuppertal in 1943, the houses of the Mittelsten Scheid family, the Vorwerk main factory and administration in Barmen, the textile building, data processing and half of the top floor of the Greifer carpet weaving mill were destroyed, whereupon sales activities had to be discontinued. The war-important production was spared. August then handed over the active management of the company to his two sons. After the attacks, Erich lived in the Ibach family's in-laws. From April 1, 1945, no more armaments were accepted, and the Kobold vacuum cleaner and textile production started up again with remaining stocks from 1939.

Werner Mittelsten Scheid died on September 16, 1953, and Carl August Mittelsten Scheid died on February 25, 1955. Since then, Erich has been alone in managing the company, whose management team has been pushing for expansion. Erich succeeded in expanding all departments by 1972. In 1969, he handed over management to Jörg Mittelsten Scheid , his brother Werner's son.

In 2006, the family company achieved a business volume of 2.343 billion euros in over 60 countries with the manufacture and sale of Vorwerk household appliances, Jafra cosmetics, Lux electrical appliances in Asia as well as with HECTAS building services, akf financial services and the traditional carpet business . 533,000 people work for Vorwerk worldwide.

On September 28, 1972, Erich Mittelsten Scheid was a member of the founding group of the Society of Friends of the Bergische University , founded in 1973, and chaired it from June 5, 1973 to December 31, 1979.

In 1973, together with his wife Charlotte, he was the founder of the ERTOMIS Foundation based in Wuppertal for the integration of foreign, disabled and criminal residents into family, social and working life through scholarships .

Erich Mittelsten Scheid was also a member of the Monopoly Commission of the Technical Academy in Wuppertal .

He was also a curator at the University of Witten / Herdecke .

Controversy

In 1998, the Action Reconciliation Service was accused that Vorwerk & Co., under the direction of Erich Mittelsten Scheid, had manufactured military equipment with the help of Jewish slave labor both in Wuppertal and in Lodz during the war years .

In a letter to the employees on November 9, 1998, Jörg Mittelsten Scheid stated that, as far as we know at that date, Vorwerk & Co. never employed Jewish forced laborers during the war. The production facility in Lodz was clearly outside the ghetto at the time, and only Polish citizens were employed there as Eastern workers , who were also paid according to the rules in force at the time.

Honors

Erich Mittelsten Scheid was awarded the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1968 .

In 1969 he received the ring of honor of the city of Wuppertal .

Erich Mittelsten Scheid was made an honorary citizen of the Bergische Universität on May 11, 1977 .

On May 11, 1987, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia .

Since June 30, 1987, he has also been awarded the University Medal of the University of Cologne .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Erich Mittelsten Scheid: Memories of my grandfather Carl Vorwerk and my parents Mathilde geb. Vorwerk and August Mittelsten Scheid . Albrecht-Blank.de, accessed May 2008
  2. ↑ District President visited the company Vorwerk & Co. KG in Wuppertal  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. District government Düsseldorf, accessed May 2008@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bezreg-duesseldorf.nrw.de  
  3. ↑ Vorwerk - family , Vorwerk.com, access May 2008
  4. ↑ August Mittelsten Scheid ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Barmen 2008, accessed May 2008  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.barmen-200-jahre.de
  5. ^ Society of Friends of the Bergische Universität ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Accessed May 2008  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gfbu.uni-wuppertal.de
  6. ↑ START - Scholarship program for talented and committed immigrant children and young people in Wuppertal, March 31, 2004 Charitable Hertie Foundation
  7. ↑ Speech by Horst Jordan, May 2006  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) Reformierter-Gemeindestift.de, accessed May 2008@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.reformierter-gemeindestift.de  
  8. ↑ Hertie Foundation , Presseportal.de, accessed May 2008
  9. ↑ University of Witten / Herdecke ( Memento of the original from June 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Accessed May 2008  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / wga.dmz.uni-wh.de
  10. ↑ Get the money! Compensation for forced laborers now! December 1998 Time fuse - information sheet of the Automen Zentrum Wuppertal, accessed May 2008
  11. ^ Letter to the staff, Dr. Jörg Mitt Scheid, November 9, 1998 In: time fuse - factsheet for Automen Center Wuppertal, access May 2008
  12. ↑ Chronicle . In: Die Zeit , No. 41/1968
  13. ↑ List of winners of the ring of honor of the city of Wuppertal ( Memento from February 21, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Werner-Steinbach.de, accessed May 2008
  14. ^ Society of Friends of the Bergische Universität ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Accessed May 2008  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gfbu.uni-wuppertal.de
  15. ↑ Merit holders since 1986. State Chancellery of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, accessed on March 11, 2017 .
  16. ↑ Honorary Citizen and Honorary Senators of the University of Cologne 1925–2004 with a list of the holders of the University Medal ( Memento of the original from April 23, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) Accessed May 2008  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.uni-koeln.de
personal data
SURNAME Mittelsten Scheid, Erich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mittelsten Scheid, Enno Erich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH June 30, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Barmen
DATE OF DEATH April 29, 1993
Place of death Wuppertal