Georg Kossenhaschen

Georg Kossenhaschen (born August 28, 1868 in Oldenburg ; † April 2, 1931 in Magdeburg ) was a German entrepreneur and hotelier.

Life

Advertisement (around 1920) for the luxury hotel Haus Kossenhaschen in Erfurt

Kossenhaschen began training in hotel management in Amsterdam in 1883 . In the following years he worked in hotels a. a. in Brussels (1888), Paris (1889) and London . In the British capital he was secretary of the Hotel Albemarle in 1891/92 and also attended the Royal Society of Arts and the Metropolitan College, from which he graduated with first class degrees.

Back in Germany, Kossenhaschen worked in hotels in Frankfurt and Berlin before leasing the municipal spa garden in Godesberg in 1896 and opening a wine house in Bonn . Here he met his first wife Ida Addicks (1881–1912). After the couple moved to Erfurt , Kossenhaschen opened a wine shop there in 1907 and was appointed managing director of the renowned Hotel Erfurter Hof . In 1908 Kossenhaschen acquired the hotel, next to which he had the modern luxury hotel Haus Kossenhaschen built from 1914 to 1916 , which could compete with the large European hotels of the time.

From 1912, the bustling entrepreneur expanded his hotel and restaurant group across Germany. So he acquired and modernized hotels a. a. in Magdeburg ( Magdeburger Hof and Kaiserhof ) and Gotha ( Schloßhotel ) as well as cafés etc. a. in Chemnitz ( Reichskaffee ) and Mannheim ( Plankenkaffee and Kossenhaschen confectionery ). Kossenhaschen's skill in his ventures earned him the reputation of " Moltke in the hospitality industry" among contemporaries .

Kossenhaschen's second marriage to Marie-Luise Bieringer, which was concluded in 1921, remained childless. 1921 acquired Kossenhaschen of the royal family of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach , the Burg Creuzburg in Creuzburg in Eisenach was he elaborately restored and to his private residence and as a country rest home expand. A land domain of 121 hectares belonged to the castle. In 1923 he also bought the manor Burgtonna near Bad Langensalza, including 132 hectares of land.

In 1931, Kommerzienrat Kossenhaschen died in the old town hospital in Magdeburg from a kidney disease. However, he did not find his final resting place in the "Kossenhaschen crypt" on the Wisch mountain near the Creuzburg, which he laid out as a hereditary burial and is still in ruins , but was buried in the Erfurt Südfriedhof. With the abolition of the cemetery and the construction of today's Südpark in 1970/71, the Kossenhaschensche family grave was removed.

Others

Family crypt on the Wisch (Creuzburg)

Due to his charitable commitment to needy children and senior citizens, Kossenhaschen was made an honorary citizen of the city of Creuzburg .

Georg Kossenhaschen held a large number of honorary positions. He was a co-founder, long-time 1st chairman and honorary president of the Thuringian Hotelier Association, co-founder of the Reich Association of German Hotels and a member of the international hotel owners' association.

In 1927 Kossenhaschen was ridiculed throughout Germany because in November and December 1926 he was the impostor Harry Domela , who was mistaken for the Hohenzollern Prince Wilhelm of Prussia in the Erfurt court and who then passed himself off as the latter, in his hotels in Erfurt and Gotha as well as on the Creuzburg had hosted as a private guest. At the trial of Domela in Cologne on July 11, 1927, Kossenhaschen did not appear personally as a witness, but his testimony was read out. In it he emphasized that he "did not feel harmed in any way", rather he had "met a lovely person in Domela and had pleasant hours with him."

In 1933, Georg Kossenhaschen co-authored the "Cultural History of German Restaurants" which was published posthumously in Berlin and is still considered a standard work on the subject today.

In Erfurt , the renewed "Haus Kossenhaschen" lettering on the former hotel building on the station square has been reminding of the hotelier since 2006.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Steffen Raßloff : Der Erfurter Hof , in: Thüringer Allgemeine from August 11, 2007.
2. ↑ Steffen Raßloff: The Creuzburg and the Georg Kossenhaschen era - the lord of the castle and his false prince. In: Breustedt, Susanne-Maria (ed.): 800 years of Creuzburg. A commemorative publication. Creuzburg 2013. P. 68 f.
3. ↑ http://gutsanlagen.blogspot.com/2017/03/gutsbesitz-in-thuringen-vor-1945_22.html Gutsanlagen in Thuringia, accessed on April 10, 2020
4. ↑ Ruth and Eberhard Menzel: A 'Moltke' in the hospitality industry , in: Thüringische Landeszeitung, July 19, 2003
5. ↑ Steffen Raßloff: "The False Prince". Harry Domela in 1926 as guest at the “Erfurter Hof” . In: Steffen Raßloff (Ed.): “Willy Brandt to the window!” The Erfurt summit meeting in 1970 and the history of the “Erfurt court” . Jena 2007. pp. 137-145

literature

• Steffen Raßloff (Ed.): "Willy Brandt ans Fenster!" The Erfurt summit meeting in 1970 and the history of the "Erfurter Hof" (writings of the association for the history and antiquity of Erfurt ; vol. 6). Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-940265-05-0 .
• Hans-Peter Brachmanski : Hotel Erfurter Hof yesterday and today . Bad Langensalza 2007, ISBN 978-3-938997-84-0 .
• Ulrich Seidel: The Erfurt court . Erfurt 2006, ISBN 978-3-86680-029-8 .
• Georg Kossenhaschen and Ossip D. Potthoff: Cultural history of the German restaurant. Comprehensive Germany, Austria, Switzerland and German Bohemia . Reprint of the Berlin 1933 edition. Hildesheim, Zurich, New York 1996. ISBN 3-487-08332-9