Erich Rathenau

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Erich Rathenau (born August 26, 1871 in Berlin ; † January 19, 1903 ) was a German engineer and entrepreneur .

Biographical

Erich Rathenau was the son of Emil Rathenau and brother Walther Rathenau . From 1897 until his death he was in charge of the Oberspree cable works (KWO), which was built by his father and was then the largest cable factory in Europe. Among other things, insulated lines, power cables up to 10  kilovolts and micanite products were manufactured. The plant also included a copper rolling mill and a wire drawing shop . The KWO was one of the first German factories to employ factory nurses . His father Emil Rathenau had planned him for the later management of AEG , of which he had been a member of the board since 1901.

In 1902, at the request of Erich Rathenau, the AEG management had a two-story villa with an extended attic built on the site of the cable factory, in which he wanted to move in with his family. He wanted to live close to his work at all times in order to be quickly informed about all events. The villa, today given the address Wilhelminenhofstraße 75, is also known as the Rathenau villa .

Erich Rathenau died on January 19, 1903 in Italy after falling ill while traveling with his father in Aswan, Egypt . Due to the early death of Erich Rathenau, the family did not move into the villa.

His grave is in the Oberschöneweide forest cemetery . His son Ernst Rathenau was a partner and director of the Euphorion publishing house and after his emigration to New York owner and director of the Ernest Rathenau publishing house .

Use of the Rathenau villa on the KWO site

After the Second World War and the state ownership of the KWO, the management was located in the villa. With the fall of the Wall and German reunification , both the factory buildings and the villa fell into the possession of the Rathenau heirs. They had the building renovated and transferred it to the Berlin Electrical Guild (BEI) founded in 1903 . Among other things, the BEI provides space for start-ups , such as the Qinous , which plans and develops energy storage systems in line with the earlier use of the site, with particular attention to the subsequent use of solar energy at night, making diesel emergency generators superfluous could become.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jochen Knoblach: Still under power . In: Berliner Zeitung , July 13, 2018, p. 6.
  2. ↑ Ursula Mangoldt. On the threshold between yesterday and tomorrow. Encounters and experiences , Weilheim / Upper Bavaria: Otto Wilhelm Barth-Verlag, 1963
  3. ^ Website Berliner Elektro-Innung , accessed on November 30, 2018.
  4. ↑ Qinous website - with presentation of the team, address and products , accessed on November 30, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Rathenau, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH January 19, 1903