Ernst Nedelmann

Ernst Nedelmann (1818–1888)

Ernst Theodor Nedelmann (born July 7, 1818 in Essen , † February 22, 1888 in Mülheim an der Ruhr ) was a German businessman and entrepreneur.

Life and work in Essen

Ernst Nedelmann was born on July 7, 1818 as the youngest son of the city council and founder of the Essen music association Wilhelm Nedelmann (1785–1862) and his wife Friederike Ascherfeld in Essen. The father came from a long-established Essen merchant family, whose members had excelled as councilors and mayors in their hometown for several centuries. Born Ascherfeld, the mother also belonged to the established Essen families. Her aunt Helene Amalie Krupp (1732–1810), née Ascherfeld, was a successful business woman and was largely responsible for the later success of the Krupp cast steel factory of the grandson Friedrich Krupp .

In view of his diverse commitments, Wilhelm Nedelmann had little time for business. As a result, his wife Friederike and the older daughters of the manufactory store on the flax market in Essen took care of themselves. In addition to their four daughters Berta (* 1808), Louise (* 1810), Auguste (* 1812) and Amalie (* 1820), the couple also had two sons, Friedrich Wilhelm (* 1814) and Ernst (* 1818). The former died at a young age, so that Ernst Nedelmann took on the role of ancestor.

In contrast to his musically oriented father, Ernst Nedelmann developed a pronounced commercial talent, which was encouraged by his similarly inclined mother. After finishing school, he went to Friedrich Send in Elberfeld to start a commercial apprenticeship in his manufactory. During a trip in the service of Send, he met his wife Henriette Winkelmann (1825–1887) in Krefeld , whose father owned a manufacturing business there. On her father's side, she came from a Mennonite family, but like her mother she was a member of the Evangelical Church in Krefeld. The wedding took place on July 24, 1845 in Krefeld.

New beginning in Mülheim an der Ruhr

In Essen's neighboring town of Mülheim an der Ruhr, Nedelmann noticed a spirit of optimism that attracted the merchant in him. For some time now, Mülheim had seen an enormous increase in population, and it appeared economically prosperous and up-and-coming. The chamber of commerce founded in 1841, the flourishing coal trade and the associated growth in shipping on the Ruhr made the neighboring city attractive to him. So in 1845 he decided to start over in Mülheim an der Ruhr, after his family had lived and worked in Essen for almost 500 years.

Ernst Nedelmann opened a manufactured goods store, with which he supplied the residents of Mülheim as a retailer and served the smaller merchants in the surrounding area as a wholesaler. Over time, his professional commitment became more diverse. Since mining and the emerging iron industry needed more and more capital that the company owners could not raise alone, not a few of the wealthy Mülheim merchants lent money to entrepreneurs and thus got into the banking business. So did Ernst Nedelmann, who among other things supported the young August Thyssen and brokered one or the other loan through his contacts with the board of directors of the Reichsbank in Essen. The business interests with Thyssen also intersected at another point, since Nedelmann had been chairman of the supervisory board of the Eisenindustrie zu Styrum company in Oberhausen since 1857 and co-founder of the German Emperor's union in Hamborn , which was bought by Thyssen in the early 1890s. He chaired the mining board of the Carolinenglück union as well as the supervisory board of the Medio-Rhein corporation.

Just like mining, the up-and-coming Ruhr shipping promised profit. Together with the Mülheim shipowner Wilhelm Winschermann, Nedelmann bought ten barges that had previously been in use on the Rhine for a Dutch owner . At the Timmerhelling shipyard in Mülheim, he had his own wooden Ruhraake built and put it into operation. The non-industry Nedelmann received advice and support in all shipping matters from his confidante, an experienced Mülheim boatman named Lickfeld.

The stake in Mülheimer Kunstwollfabrik AG, which had previously operated as Troostsche Weberei und Spinnerei Luisenthal, turned out to be a bad investment. Initially in the sole possession of Heinrich Pelzer, August Thyssen's father-in-law, the company was converted into a stock corporation in 1872 and given further capital by Ernst Nedelmann. The financial difficulties of Pelzer finally became so precarious that the son-in-law with his company Thyssen & Co. took over the debts. August Thyssen Kuxe deposited the union of Schalke mining and smelter associations as security . Thyssen's Dutch brother-in-law Fritz Hoosemans took over the management of the synthetic wool factory, which gave Nedelmann new confidence. Despite the bad experience, he bought shares in the company from Heinrich Pelzer's sons. Again it turned out to be a losing business and the money invested was ultimately completely lost.

Ernst Nedelmann died on February 22, 1888 in his adopted home Mülheim an der Ruhr. In 1867 his youngest son, Carl Nedelmann, was born, who worked as a businessman and glass manufacturer.

literature

• Carl Henke: The Nedelmann family - 500 years in the service of the city of Essen . Essen, 1936.
• Ernst Henke: The Nedelmanns. A seven-century Essen family history, 1388-1937 . Potsdam, 1937.
• Jens Roepstorff: Merchant tradition and social commitment: The Nedelmanns in: Horst A. Wessel (Hrsg.): Mülheim entrepreneurs: pioneers of the economy. Business history in the city on the river since the end of the 18th century . Klartext Verlag, Essen 2006, ISBN 3-89861-645-2 , pp. 232-239.