Ernst Hellmut Vits

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Ernst Hellmut Vits (born September 19, 1903 in Barmen ; † January 23, 1970 in Wuppertal ) was a German entrepreneur and business lawyer.

Origin, family, studies and starting a career

Ernst Hellmut Vits was a son of the general superintendent of Neumark and Niederlausitz Ernst August Vits and his wife Julie, née Schaefer. He had three sisters and two brothers. His family moved from Düsseldorf to Berlin in 1912 . After graduating from the Royal Wilhelms-Gymnasium in Berlin in 1922 , he completed an apprenticeship as a clerk in a Berlin metal goods factory. At the same time he studied law and political science at the University of Berlin and from 1924 at the University of Münster . He passed his first state examination in law in 1925 and was awarded a doctorate in 1926 during his legal internship. jur. PhD . In March 1929 he passed the court assessor examination at the Prussian Ministry of Justice. At the beginning of April 1929 he joined Deutsche Revisions- und Treuhand AG, an auditing company, as a legal advisor. There he soon became a board member.

Vits was married to Eleonore, nee Müller, in his first marriage since 1929. After the divorce he married Ingrid, nee Molchin. He was the father of three children.

time of the nationalsocialism

At the time of National Socialism he was a military economics leader and was a member of the military economics council. According to the historian Klaus-Dietmar Henke , he was a member of the NSDAP . In 1937 he was one of the founders of the Reichswerke AG for ore mining and ironworks "Hermann Göring" in Salzgitter . In 1939 he moved from Deutsche Revisions- und Treuhand AG to Vereinigte Glanzstoff-Fabriken AG , where he became chairman of the board and general director in April 1940. Vits recognized the possibilities of synthetic fibers and initially tried to get the company to "maintain the leading role in the German artificial silk industry". He also took over the office of President of the Reich Association of Chemical Fibers. Together with the professor of economics Alfred Müller-Armack , he founded the research center for general and textile market economy in Münster on October 23, 1941. His brother-in-law was the Protestant clergyman and Nazi opponent Heinrich Grüber , whose aid measures for racially persecuted Protestant Christians were financially supported by the Grüber Vits office . After Grüber's arrest, he was later released from the concentration camp in 1943 as a result of international efforts and Vit's multiple interventions .

post war period

Vits (3rd from left) with Adenauer and Abs during the state visit to Nehru in 1956

After the end of the Second World War he moved his office from Berlin to Wuppertal, in the meantime he had stayed in Coburg . In June 1945 he was appointed trustee of the United Glanzstoff factories and the artificial silk stock company by the British military administration and was able to prevent the entire company from being broken up. In January 1947, he became a financial advisor to the Combined Coal Group. In this role he worked in an advisory capacity for the Combined Coal Group as part of the reorganization of the German coal mining industry. He prepared the transfer of the coal industry to a German trust administration and completed this activity in 1949. During the Nuremberg Trials , he was questioned on May 11, 1948 in the course of the IG Farben trial. In the post-war period, his main task was to rebuild the company's factories, some of which were destroyed by the war.

Vits was a member of the following supervisory boards: Deutsche Revisions- und Treuhand AG Treuarbeit, Zellstofffabrik Waldhof, Deutsche Bank AG, Deutsche Erdöl AG, Union Sophia-Jacoba, Rheinpreußen AG for Mining and Chemistry and Hamburg-America Line (HAPAG). He was also a member of the supervisory board of Schwelmer Eisenwerk Müller & Co. GmbH. to whom he presided from 1946. At Kuag Textil AG, BARMAG Barmer Maschinenfabrik AG in Remscheid and JP Bemberg AG, he was also chairman of the supervisory board.

After 30 years as chairman of the board and general manager of the United Glanzstoff-Fabriken AG, he became chairman of the supervisory board in July 1969. Shortly before that, he managed the merger of the company he led with the Dutch Algemene Kunstzijde Unie NV, which took place in 1969. Vits made an outstanding contribution to the development of synthetic fiber production and the company was internationally known for products such as Perlon and Diolen. Vits died on January 23, 1970 as a result of an operation.

engagement

Science funding

Vits was committed to promoting science and was a member of numerous relevant bodies. After the end of the war in 1947, he initiated the sponsoring society of the Westphalian Wilhelms University , which founded the Ernst Hellmut Vits Prize in 1968 . From 1947 to 1970 he was the first chairman of this society. From 1954 to 1970 he was Vice President of the German Research Foundation (DFG). From 1955 to 1970 he was chairman of the Donors' Association for German Science . He was one of the first members of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, founded in 1959 . From 1964 he was in the Senate of the Max Planck Society .

His children Hans-Joachim Vits, Gisela Vits and Eleonore Vits-Kinader set up the Ernst Hellmut Vits Foundation on the occasion of his 90th birthday in 1993 to promote science and research. This foundation emerged from the Ernst Hellmut Vits Fund established in 1970.

Promotion of culture and social engagement

Vits supported the Mainfränkisches Museum in Würzburg , the Roman House in Obernburg and the Abbey Museum of the city of Aschaffenburg . He was the godfather of a primary school in Erlenbach am Main, which is still named after him because of his donations. In 1954, he and his wife donated the Protestant Johannes Chapel in Laudenbach.

Honors (selection)

Fonts (selection)

  • To what extent are the civil parishes involved in filling church offices according to today's state church law? : Unt. esp. d. ev. Churches in Prussia , Berlin 1927 (at the same time legal and political dissertation, 1927)

literature

  • Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich . Who was what before and after 1945 . 2nd Edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 .
  • Vits, Ernst Hellmut . In: Rudolf Vierhaus (Ed.): German Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 10: Thies - Zymalkowski , De Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 2008, ISBN 978-3-598-25040-8 , p. 263.
  • Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, contributions to the history and local history of the Wuppertal Volume 17, Born-Verlag, Wuppertal 1970, pp. 90–118
  • Dr. Dr. hc Ernst Hellmut Vits . In: Ute Lähnemann: Ich über mich - 50 prominent Wuppertaler tell , Alfred-Lau-Verlag, Wuppertal, 1969, pp. 138-140.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, Wuppertal 1970, pp. 90f.
  2. ^ Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, Wuppertal 1970, p. 94
  3. ^ Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, Wuppertal 1970, p. 96
  4. ↑ a b c Rudolf Vierhaus (Ed.): German Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 10: Thies - Zymalkowski. , Berlin a. a. 2008, p. 263
  5. ^ Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, Wuppertal 1970, pp. 97f.
  6. ^ Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, Wuppertal 1970, p. 111
  7. ↑ cf. Peter-Ferdinand Koch: The financial transactions of the SS. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-455-11285-4 , p. 224
  8. ^ A b c Klaus-Dietmar Henke: The American Occupation of Germany , 2nd edition, Oldenbourg, Munich 1996, p. 461
  9. ↑ a b c Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich , Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 641
  10. ^ Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, Wuppertal 1970, p. 101f.
  11. ^ Erhard Obermeyer: University of Münster: a portrait , Aschendorff Verlag, 1992, p. 63
  12. ↑ Frank Friedhelm Homberg: Savior resistance in Wuppertal during the Nazi era , Dusseldorf 2008, p 9, p 101ff. (Dissertation at the University of Düsseldorf)
  13. ^ Kurt Schnöring : Auschwitz began in Wuppertal , Peter Hammer Verlag , Wuppertal, 1981, ISBN 3-87294-174-7 , p. 101f.
  14. ^ Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, Wuppertal 1970, p. 102
  15. ↑ a b c Archive North Rhine-Westphalia: Holdings 76 Ernst Hellmut Vits, Wuppertal - Dr. jur., General Director
  16. ^ Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, Wuppertal 1970, p. 110
  17. ^ Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, Wuppertal 1970, p. 104
  18. ^ Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, Wuppertal 1970, p. 110f.
  19. ^ Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, Wuppertal 1970, p. 105
  20. ^ Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, Wuppertal 1970, p. 117
  21. ^ A b Heinz Dollinger: The University of Münster: 1780-1980 , Aschendorff, 1980, p. 565
  22. ↑ https://www.uni-muenster.de/Foerderer/geschichte.html
  23. ↑ History ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 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. at www.fritz-thyssen-stiftung.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fritz-thyssen-stiftung.de
  24. ^ Ernst-Hellmut Vits-Foundation
  25. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 20, 2015 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.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stifterverband.info
  26. ^ Theodor Langenbruch: Ernst Hellmut Vits. In: Wuppertaler Biographien, 9th episode, Wuppertal 1970, p. 111f.
  27. ↑ Honors and prizes from the city of Wuppertal ( Memento of the original from June 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (to be determined via search function) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wuppertal.de
  28. ↑ a b c Who is who? : The German Who's Who , Volume 16, 1970, p. 1365
  29. ↑ a b Chemiker-Zeitung / Chemische Apparatur, Volume 92, A. Hüthig, 1968, p. 649
  30. ↑ http://www.bayerischer-verdienstorden.de/
personal data
SURNAME Vits, Ernst Hellmut
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vits, Ernst Helmut; Vits, Ernst Hellmuth; Vits, Ernst H. (alternative names)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur and business lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Barmen
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1970
Place of death Wuppertal