Franz Liebieg

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Franz von Liebig the Elder Ä. Lithograph by Adolf Dauthage , 1873

Franz von Liebieg (born January 6, 1799 in Braunau , Königgrätzer Kreis , Kingdom of Bohemia ; † September 13, 1878 in Bad Vöslau , Lower Austria) was a Bohemian industrialist.

Life

Franz was a son of the master cloth maker Adam Franz Thomas Liebieg († 1811). He was born in the East Bohemian Braunau in the suburb of Untersand and trained as a businessman in Braunau and Prague . In 1825 , together with his younger brother Johann Liebieg in Reichenberg in Northern Bohemia, under the company name "Gebrüder Liebieg", he founded a shop for cut goods in Altstädterplatz No. 10. Franz Liebig was responsible for the sale of the goods and his brother Johann Liebig took care of the selection of the goods and the purchase. Within two years they earned the then considerable sum of 1000 thalers.

In 1828 Franz and Johann Liebig bought a cotton and sheep's wool spinning mill from Ballabene & Co in what will later be the mountain road No. 30 in the Elisental near Reichenberg, which was originally built in 1806 as a red yarn dyeing works by Christian Christoph Graf Clam-Gallas , a large landowner in Northern Bohemia. In 1833 the brothers Franz and Johann Liebieg split up on business. Each of the two developed their own textile companies in and near Reichenberg in northern Bohemia.

In 1833 Franz von Liebieg first founded a manufacture for woolen goods under the name "Franz Liebig" in Reichenberg. In 1843 he acquired "Hübner'sche Realtät Nr. 40" in the market town of Dörfel near Reichenberg, a blanket printing company with 300 employees whose products, printed blankets, were delivered to Mexico and the Middle East . In addition, he ran a factory for sheep's wool. He expanded this business with a mechanical spinning mill and began manufacturing synthetic wool, one of the first companies of its kind in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy of that time. At times up to 2,500 people were employed in this company. In 1860 he founded in Bunzendorf a Leinwaren- and Garnwäscherei.

Franz von Liebieg was the co-founder of the Sparkasse in Reichenberg in northern Bohemia. For his workers he built social institutions, sponsored schools, churches and charities. He also set up foundations for the city of Reichenberg, to which he also made considerable cash donations. For his services he was raised to the hereditary Austrian nobility in 1872.

End of the company

The break-up of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918 brought about the inflation of 1923. The subsequent economic crisis of 1929 and 1930 led to mass unemployment in northern Bohemia. Trade restrictions imposed by the government in Prague also resulted in the loss of foreign buyers of the textile goods. The Liebieg'schen operations in Dörfel got into great financial difficulties and in some cases came to a standstill. Mass unemployment and the unresolved tensions between the Sudeten Germans and the Czech population and their respective ruling elites paved the way for further political upheavals, which were triggered by the Munich Agreement of 1938 and the end of the war in 1945.

family

Franz Liebieg had three sons:

  • Franz Freiherr von Liebieg (1827–1886), who had been a baron in Austria since 1883, joined his father's company in 1845 and relocated the company headquarters to Vienna. In his hometown Reichenberg he was vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, from 1866 to 1871 member of the state parliament in Prague and from 1869, 1870 and 1873 to 1880 member of the Reichsrat. He died childless and left the town of Reichenberg 100,000 guilders for the construction of the town hall.
  • Ferdinand Ritter von Liebieg (1836–1873) joined his father's company in 1858 and became a partner in 1872.
  • Ludwig Ritter von Liebieg (1846–1909) joined his father's company in 1867, was its director from 1878 and sole owner from 1886 to 1909. His wife Anna Freifrau von Liebieg, née Knoll (1855–1926) changed the legal form of the group of companies to a stock corporation in 1909, and in 1916 was given the status of Baron von Liebieg.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Liebieg, Franz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Liebieg, Franz von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION bohemian industrialist
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1799
PLACE OF BIRTH Braunau , Königgrätzer Kreis, Kingdom of Bohemia
DATE OF DEATH September 13, 1878
Place of death Bad Vöslau , Lower Austria