Georg Spohn

Johann Georg Spohn (born April 24, 1870 in Ravensburg , † March 11, 1948 in Blaubeuren ) was a German cement entrepreneur. For many years he was senior partner and co-owner of the " Portland-Zement Blaubeuren Gebrüder Spohn AG " in Blaubeuren. He was also a member of the supervisory board of "Portland-Zementwerke Heidelberg AG", later " HeidelbergCement AG ".

Career

Georg Spohn was the eldest son of the Ravensburg industrialist Julius Spohn (1841–1919) and his wife Luise, nee. Hot (1845-1900). He took chemical and technical subjects at the TH Stuttgart and the University of Erlangen and was a member of the student association Academic Society Sonderbund in Stuttgart. Spohn completed his studies with the academic degree Dr.-Ing. from.

In October 1900 Julius Spohn gave his son Georg the technical management of the "Blaubeuren Gebrüder Spohn" cement factory. His father founded this company in 1871 together with his brother Georg (1843–1886) and another business partner in Blaubeuren.

In view of the ongoing decline in prices due to increased competition and the pending new investments in grinders and furnaces, the Blaubeur company founded a cartel in 1903 with another 25 southern German cement plants , the "Süddeutsche Cement-Salesstelle GmbH" based in Heidelberg . This company took over the joint sale of the partner companies in its own name and set annual production quotas for them according to the market situation.

In the following year Georg Spohn and his father Julius converted their cement works into a stock corporation , the " Portland-Zement Blaubeuren Gebrüder Spohn AG ". While Georg Spohn took over the chairmanship of the board , Julius Spohn became a member of the supervisory board . The new legal form simplified the financing of the company through the possibility of being able to issue new shares to new shareholders without much ado if money was needed .

At the beginning of the 2,500- share capital stock , 2,496 were still in the hands of the Spohn family and only one share was held by "Portland-Zementwerke Heidelberg AG", later " HeidelbergCement AG ", the latter already in 1938 took over the majority of the shares. In addition, Georg Spohn and his family signed an interest group agreement (" organ agreement ") with the Heidelberg Portland cement works, which granted the latter full authority over the business activities of the Blaubeur cement company. In return, Georg Spohn and his brother Richard received two seats on the four-person board of directors that led the interest group. In addition, Georg and Richard Spohn got seats on the supervisory board of "Portland-Zementwerke Heidelberg AG" and, in exchange for the majority of shares in their cement company, a block of shares in the Heidelberg Portland cement works.

In 1939 Georg Spohn handed over the technical management of the Blaubeurer cement company to his son Eberhard Spohn (1906–1981), but remained a member of the management until his death in 1948. It was not until 1966 that the Blaubeuren cement works was fully integrated into the Heidelberg cement group.

engagement

Georg Spohn was an active member in local and district self-government bodies and in various commercial enterprises and associations. From his private fortune, he donated large sums to the cities of Ravensburg and Blaubeuren for the construction of public facilities.

When Georg Spohn's son-in-law, the pharmaceutical entrepreneur Ludwig Merckle and his family were expropriated as Sudeten Germans in 1945 and expelled from Czechoslovakia , Georg Spohn took them in with him in Blaubeuren. He also helped Ludwig Merckle to rebuild his pharmaceutical company in Blaubeuren.

aftermath

The Blaubeurer cement factory of the Spohn family formed the cornerstone of the building materials branch of the “ Merckle Group ”. As already mentioned above, the Spohn family of entrepreneurs gradually exchanged the shares in their cement plant for a minority stake in “Portland-Zementwerke Heidelberg AG” (today “HeidelbergCement AG”). After a daughter of Georg Spohn, Luise Spohn (1900–1984), Ludwig Merckle (senior) married in 1931, this block of shares came into the possession of the Merckle family from Aussig (now Ústí nad Labem in Bohemia , Czech Republic ). The son of Ludwig Merckle and Luise Spohn, Adolf Merckle , expanded this stake in 2005 to a majority stake in “HeidelbergCement AG”.

Honors

• 1935: Honorary citizenship of the city of Ravensburg;
• After Georg Spohn's death in 1948, the "Dr.-Georg-Spohn-Strasse" in Blaubeuren was named after him.

family

Georg Spohn was married and had two children:

• Luise Spohn (* 1900 in Ravensburg - † 1984 in Blaubeuren ): married Ludwig Merckle on April 24, 1931 in Blaubeuren . From this marriage on March 18, 1934, Adolf Georg Merckle emerged;
• Eberhard Spohn (* 1906 in Blaubeuren - † 1981 in Dornach ( Canton Solothurn )): Joined " Portland-Zement Blaubeuren Gebrüder Spohn AG " in 1934 and was its technical director since 1939. In the same year he married Gretel Lührsen (1904–1978) in Stuttgart , who convinced him of anthroposophy . Didn't have children. From mid-1940 scientist in the air force in Karlshagen in the restricted area of ​​the Peenemünde Army Research Center . Duty to serve in the White Sands Missile Range in the USA for several years at the end of World War II . In addition, he brokered a glider pilot hall as the first factory for his brother-in-law Ludwig Merckle . After his return to Germany, he worked intensively with Fritz Caspari on the development of systems for composting municipal waste to promote soil fertility. On the basis of his research, the composting plant of the "Portland-Zement Blaubeuren Gebrüder Spohn AG" went into operation in the Gerhausen quarry in 1953 . He also had a 200,000 square meter area in the Gerhausen quarry renatured .

literature

• Dieter Kühn: "160 years of the Blaubeuren cement industry", published as issue no. 16 in the series "Blaubeurer Geographische Hefte", Denkhaus, Blaubeuren 1999, ISBN 3-930998-16-5 .
• Dietmar Cramer u. a .: "... a factory disappears", Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, Heidelberg 2001, ISBN 3-88-294-313-0 .
• Ursula Erdt: Spohn, Georg. In: Maria Magdalena Rückert (Ed.): Württembergische biographies including Hohenzollern personalities. Volume II. On behalf of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-17-021530-6 , pp. 278-279.
• Ulrich Viehöver: "The Influential", Campus Verlag, Frankfurt 2006, ISBN 3-593-37667-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Black Ring. Membership directory. Darmstadt 1930, p. 50.