Friedrich Adolph Brüggemann

Friedrich Adolph Brüggemann , (born April 17, 1797 in Magdeburg , † August 10, 1878 in Aachen ) was a German entrepreneur and insurance agent and founder of the Aachen reinsurance company .

Live and act

Friedrich Adolph Brüggemann came from an old Magdeburg family of civil servants and, after finishing school, also began a civil servant career, which initially led him to Paris from 1813 as the secretary of a French director's officer . After he had received civil rights in the old town of Magdeburg in 1822 , he first became a treasurer's assistant to the Magdeburg Senate in 1823 and a few years later .

In the meantime, the Aachener Feuerversicherungs-Gesellschaft, a forerunner of today's AachenMünchener VersicherungsAG, was founded in Aachen on August 13, 1824 on the initiative of David Hansemann (1790–1864) . In the same year Brüggemann took over an agency for this insurance company in Magdeburg , initially on a part-time basis . Due to the rapidly growing insurance business, he gave up his municipal office in 1829 and became a full-time inspector of the Aachen insurance company. As early as 1831 he was entrusted with the management of the Berlin main agency. From here, Brüggemann was responsible for the successful expansion of insurance activities to other provinces, cities and countries. When the insurance company expanded its activities to include Bavaria in 1834 , King Ludwig I (1786–1868) personally suggested that it be renamed the “ Aachener und Münchener Mobiliar-Feuer-Versicherungs-Gesellschaft ”.

On the occasion of a major fire in Hamburg , the Hamburg Fire , in 1842 , Friedrich Adolph Brüggemann , who has meanwhile been promoted to General Director , went personally to the disaster area and paid compensation of 320,000 thalers from the insurance fund (for comparison: the main damaged fire insurance bank was the Gothaer Feuer , the total 1.4 million thalers paid as compensation). This earned him and the company great prestige, and customer numbers and premium income grew rapidly. The increasing industrial business of the early industrial age and the effects of the Hamburg fire now prompted Brüggemann to found the Aachen reinsurance company in 1853 . This was only the second company of its kind in the world after the Cologne Reinsurance Company . On May 28, 1853, the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV granted the concession for 50 years , which was later extended. In 1997 the Aachener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft was finally merged with the “ Aachener und Münchener Beteiligungs-AG ” and this in turn merged with the AMB Generali Holding AG .

At the instigation of General Director Friedrich Adolph Brüggemann, who has meanwhile been promoted to Hofrat , and together with his Chairman of the Board of Directors Robert von Görschen as well as influential Aachen merchants, manufacturers and wealthy privateers, including the secret commercial councilors Leopold Scheibler and Johann Arnold Bischoff , the spinning mill owner Johann Friedrich Pastor and the director of the chemical factory Rhenania in Stolberg, Friedrich Wilhelm Hasenclever , presented the incumbent district president Friedrich Christian Hubert Kühlwetter (1809-1882) to King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. a donation from the Aachen and Munich Mobiliar-Feuer-Versicherungs-Gesellschaft for charitable purposes Purposes amounting to 5,000 thalers. This happened on the occasion of a stopover by the king in Aachen on a return trip from London to Potsdam . This donation was ordered by the king as start-up financing for the establishment of a polytechnic school in Aachen, later the Rheinisch Westfälische Technische Hochschule ( RWTH Aachen ). With the help of this donation and the assurance of further loans and guarantee funds from the insurance company, also for future expansion plans, RWTH Aachen was finally built and officially opened in 1870.

On the occasion of his 50th service anniversary in 1875, Brüggemann was promoted to Privy Councilor. Under his leadership, the insurance company's track record continued to grow, and Brüggemann was one of the most outstanding men in the German insurance industry. He was also involved in the legislation of private insurance in Prussia and created the basis of material private law through the insurance contract . Friedrich Adolph Brüggemann ran the insurance company until his death in 1878. A street in Aachen was named after him in his honor.

Sources and literature

Aachener und Münchener Feuerversicherungsgesellschaft - memorandum for the jubilee of the 75th anniversary of the society 1825-1900 . Georgi, Aachen; 1900
Aachener und Münchener Feuerversicherungsgesellschaft - Memorandum for the centenary 1825–1925 . Aachen publishing and printing company, 1925
Aachener und Münchener Feuerversicherungsgesellschaft - Festschrift for the 125th anniversary . 1950, pp. 37-48
Peter Koch : Pioneers of the insurance concept - 300 years of insurance history in life pictures . 1968, pp. 265-268.
Ludwig Arps: German insurance company . Karlsruhe, 1968 pp. 42-50
Eduard Arens, Wilhelm Leopold Janssen : Club Aachener Casino , printed by Wilhelm Metz, 1964 Aachen, p. 158

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personal data
SURNAME	Brüggemann, Friedrich Adolph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German entrepreneur and insurance agent as well as founder of the Aachen reinsurance company
DATE OF BIRTH	April 17, 1797
PLACE OF BIRTH	Magdeburg
DATE OF DEATH	August 10, 1878
Place of death	Aachen