Ernst Behr (entrepreneur)

Ernst Wilhelm Julius Behr (born August 15, 1869 in Koethen , † March 14, 1934 in Kobe ) was a German businessman and entrepreneur who ran a successful business from Japan.

Life and professional development

Ernst Wilhelm Julius Behr was born in Köthen on August 15, 1869, the son of the merchant and spirits manufacturer Wilhelm Behr. Here he attended the Ludwigsgymnasium and graduated successfully in 1888. Then he volunteered for the infantry regiment in Halle / Saale and did his military service here. He then started to study law at the University of Halle . It was here that he came into direct contact with Japan for the first time, as the university maintained scientific relationships with partners and scientific institutions in Japan. After completing his studies, he completed a commercial apprenticeship. After completing his commercial apprenticeship, he got a permanent position at the Hamburg company Winckler & Co.

Professional and entrepreneurial activity in Japan

After a very short period of employment, he was employed in the Japanese branch of Winckler & Co. in Kobe. Here he got to know the life and commercial customs in Japan. Since Ernst Behr coped quite well with these framework conditions, he took over the management of the branch in Kobe as a partner. During this time he kept in touch with a cousin of his father, who was also doing business in Japan as an authorized signatory of the Hamburg East Asia company E. & A. Hasche . In 1897, Behr moved to the insurance company Becker & Co., which was also active in Kobe. In this position, he became a member of the German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia (OAG) in 1901 .

On June 2, 1904, Ernst Behr married the Anglo-Japanese Gladys Mabel Aki Nishikawa (1883–1954). From this marriage three sons were born. After completing school education in Japan, he sent all of his sons to Germany for vocational training. While Alfred and Hugo subsequently stayed in Germany, Victor Behr returned to Japan and took up a job at M. Raspe & Co. here.

In 1904 Ernst Behr worked for the company for maritime law and marine insurance, M. Raspe & Co., which was already quite experienced in the Japanese market. This company's customers included companies based primarily in Germany who exported part of their production to Japan. These included the A. L. Riediger Berlin iron foundry, the Sangerhausen machine factory, the military equipment company August Loh & Söhne AG Berlin and the United Machine Factory Augsburg. A short time later he received power of attorney here. During these years he had already developed into a respected member of the German Kobe community. He was first elected as President of the Concordia Club Kobe, founded in 1898, for the period from 1920 to 1922. In this position he was given the honor in 1921 of welcoming Albert Einstein and his wife, who were on a business trip, to Japan. From 1925 to 1927 he was re-elected President of the Concordia Club. From 1928 to 1932 Behr was Vice President of the Kobe International Chamber of Commerce and its President in 1933.

Due to a serious illness, he had to give up all offices in 1934 and died shortly afterwards on March 14th in Kobe. In an appreciative obituary dated July 22, 1934, the German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia emphasized that he "always put his experience and manpower at the service of the German cause" and thus a "universally respected Japanese German" was.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wilhelm Behr - Your traditional company for liqueurs and grain brandies In: wilhelm-behr.de , accessed on November 28, 2018.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Membership Movement . In: News of the OAG . Volume 35, 1934, pp. 1-3. Quoted in: Bernd Lepach: Lebensbilder - Behr, Wilhelm Julius Ernst (1869–1934), businessman , accessed on November 29, 2018.
3. ↑ Bernd Lepach: Lebensbilder - Behr, Wilhelm Julius Ernst (1869–1934), businessman In: das-japanische-gedaechtnis.de , accessed on November 28, 2018.