Friedrich Grösser

House 180 (larger) in Yokohama

Friedrich Grösser (born June 14, 1844 in Bremen ; died 1915 there ) was a German merchant who was active in Japan between 1864 and 1893.

life and work

Friedrich Grösser's older brother Everhard emigrated to Japan via Holland in 1853. He founded the company "Grosser & Co." (ゴロッスル商会, Gorossuru shōkai) on Deshima in Nagasaki , the first German company in Japan at all. Friedrich followed his brother in 1864, emigrated to Nagasaki, giving up his Bremen citizenship, and reached Japan by ship via Cape Town and Batavia. The Grösser company had meanwhile relocated to the mainland and used oura No. 30 property in the Oura district, in the foreign settlement there. While the co-owner Boemeyer ran the business in Nagasaki, Brother Everhard had been working in Yokohama since 1859. He built a beautiful house there on Lot 180. In 1864 they placed themselves under the protection of the Prussian representation in Japan, which had existed since 1862. Everhard withdrew from Japan in the early 1870s, founded a shop for Japanese goods in London and left the company to his brother.

When the port of Kobe was opened to foreigners in 1868, Friedrich acquired lot No. 27 for 8 1/4 buses at a property auction on February 10, which was equivalent to 2.75 Mexican dollars. The commercial building survived a major typhoon in 1871 unscathed. - Friedrich took his first home leave after 16 years in Japan, went to Bremen and married Clara Focke in November 1882, with whom she returned to Japan, this time through the Suez Canal. In 1888 Friedrich took over the chairmanship of the "Club Germania" when it celebrated its 25th anniversary.

In 1893 Friedrich sent his family to Germany, in 1900 he returned himself and settled in Bremen. In 1912 he sold his last company shares to Reimers & Co. He died in Bremen in 1915.

Remarks

↑ The American flag is still blowing on the house.
↑ The house was destroyed in the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923 .

literature

East Asian Association Bremen (Ed.): Friedrich Grösser. A Bremen merchant in Japan. East Asian Association Bremen, undated ISBN 3-929902-36-2 .

personal data
SURNAME	Bigger, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH	June 14, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH	Bremen
DATE OF DEATH	1915
Place of death	Bremen

[1] The American flag is still blowing on the house.

[2] The house was destroyed in the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923 .