Georg Fell

Georg Fell

Georg Fell (born January 23, 1858 in Oberursel , † February 28, 1938 in Altona-Klein Flottbek ) was a German locksmith , consumer cooperative , trade unionist, social democrat and manager.

Georg Fell was born on January 23, 1858 in Oberursel. His father was a cigar worker. He attended elementary school from 1864 to 1872 and then learned the metalworking trade. He worked in different parts of Germany and came to Leipzig in 1881 . Around 1884/1885 he was chairman of the metalworkers' association for Leipzig and the surrounding area . By 1890 at the latest, he was a member of the SPD's agitation committee for the Reichstag elections in and around Leipzig. From 1894 to 1900 he represented the Social Democrats in the city council. In 1890 and 1893 he was a delegate at the SPD party congresses.

In 1887 he became a member of the Consum Association for Plagwitz and the surrounding area . He was elected to the board of directors by the general assembly of this consumer association on October 9, 1887. At first he performed this office on an honorary basis. In March 1889 he became a salaried managing director, ie executive director. He held this post for 11 years. Under the leadership of Georg Fell, the consumer association Leipzig-Plagwitz, as it was called after the incorporation of Plagwitz into Leipzig, became one of the largest cooperative ventures with unprecedented speed. At the end of the 1890s, he built the largest and most modern steam bakery in Germany in conjunction with a 40-tonne grain mill. Although a locksmith by trade and not a businessman, he had proven his organizational talent as the managing director of the consumer association.

From 1896 he was a member of the supervisory board of the Großeinkaufs-Gesellschaft Deutscher Consumvereine (GEG), which at the time was developing into the goods and economic center of the socialist consumer cooperatives.

In April 1899, at the invitation of the Co-operative Wholesale Society Limited (CWS), he went on a two-week trip to England with six other members of the GEG's supervisory board, its managing director Ernst August Scherling and another member of the consumer cooperative to get to know the organization and operations of the CWS. For him, as for the other participants, this trip was, in particular, the impetus to push GEG's own production. After the trip, like other participants on the trip ( Heinrich Lorenz , Adolf Gustav Seifert , Max Hoppe and Ernst August Scherling), he each wrote part of a travel report. This was published in the weekly report of the GEG and received a lot of attention in the socialist German consumer cooperative movement. At the general assembly of the GEG on March 17, 1900 in Gera, Fell was elected the company's second managing director despite his reluctance. With a heavy heart he finally accepted the election. On July 1, 1900, he began his position on the board at the company's headquarters in Hamburg. Surprisingly for the friends of the cooperative, he quit his job as managing director of the GEG in July 1902 and left on December 31st. On January 1, 1903, he took over a director's position at the Jürgens & Prinzen margarine factory, which he held until June 30, 1904. From July 1st, Fell was director of A. L Mohr GmbH margarine factory, Altona-Bahrenfeld . Here, too, he had proven himself as a manager for decades.

Fell died of a heart attack in 1938.

Fell had been married to Marie Henriette Caroline Lerchner (1861–1933) since 1885.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Death register StA Altona-Groß Flottbek, No. 10/1938
2. ↑ Wilhelm Fischer: 60 years on p. 55 ff.
3. ↑ https://www.nordkirche.de/nachrichten/nachrichten/detail/mit-der-familienbibel-auf-den-spuren-der-vorfahren.html
4. ↑ Marriage register StA Leipzig, No. 822/1885

literature

• Mustafa Haikal : Good business. The history of the Leipzig consumer cooperative. Faber & Faber, Leipzig 2009, ISBN 978-3-86730-084-1
• Erwin Hasselmann : History of the German consumer cooperatives. Fritz Knapp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1971.
• Wilhelm Fischer : 60 years versus 60 years of service to consumers. 1894-1954. Festschrift Hamburg 1954.
• Heinrich Kaufmann : The large purchasing company of German consumer associations mb H. GEG. For the 25th anniversary 1894–1919. Hamburg 1919
• Paul Göhre : The German workers' consumer associations. Vorwärts bookstore, Berlin 1910