Ernst Busemann

Ernst Busemann (born December 7, 1876 in Cologne , † October 29, 1939 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German entrepreneur. Busemann was CEO of Degussa AG from 1930 to 1939 .

Life

Busemann passed his Abitur at the humanistic grammar school in his hometown of Cologne . He then completed a three-year apprenticeship from 1895 at the Bankhaus Seligmann founded by Leopold Seligmann with headquarters in Koblenz and a branch in Cologne . In addition to his teaching, Busemann dealt intensively with law. Shortly after completing his training, Busemann received his doctorate from the University of Göttingen as Dr. jur.

In 1903 Ernst Busemann became private secretary of Wilhelm Merton , the co-founder of the Frankfurter Metallgesellschaft . From 1904, Busemann headed the Usine de Désargentation desilvering works in Hoboken, Belgium, for more than ten years . It belonged equally to the metal company and what later became Degussa. Busemann later took over the management of Kriegsmetall AG in Berlin.

In terms of habitus and interests, he belonged to the educated middle class of the imperial period. Ernst Busemann loved music and a simple lifestyle. Politics hardly interested him.

1916, Degussa secured Busemanns collaboration for the post-war period. In 1919 he became a board member of Degussa. He played an increasingly important role on the board. As early as 1923 he succeeded in getting Fritz Roessler , whose father founded the company, to take over the less influential position of chairman of the supervisory board. He himself was now the actually dominant figure on the board. In 1930 he consequently took over the newly created post of CEO.

Busemann focused on diversifying production, particularly through the acquisition of new production facilities. He managed to steer the company through the inflation period . In the 1920s, he put not on American loans to corporate finance, the other companies in the Great Depression brought in big trouble, but preferred self-financing. Degussa came under pressure from stiff competition from IG Farben , which was founded in 1925 . The dependency on orders from major customers such as Henkel was also problematic for a long time . This could only be reduced in 1934.

After the beginning of the National Socialist rule, Busemann ran an adaptation course, initially to secure entrepreneurial ability to act. He himself did not belong to the NSDAP . However, he was considering that the top management should join the party as one. In the end he was satisfied with the fact that Hermann Schlosser applied for membership.

The adjustment also included support for the National Socialist economic goals of self-sufficiency, armament and Aryanization. The attitude towards the companies to be Aryanised was tightened over time. The adjustment course did not save the company and Busemann from restrictions on their entrepreneurial freedom of action by the National Socialist leadership. In the course of the "precious metal campaign", ie the delivery of valuable metal objects by the Jewish population after November 9, 1938, Degussa received numerous orders for metal separation.

Ernst Busemann died on October 29, 1939.

literature

• Peter Hayes : Degussa in the Third Reich. From cooperation to complicity. Munich, 2004

Web links

• Depiction of the life of Ernst Busemann at evonik
• Degussa during the Nazi era

Individual evidence

1. ^ S. Peter Hayes: The IG colors industry. In: Companies under National Socialism. Munich, 1998 p. 110