Gustav Coppel

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Gustav Coppel and family tomb

Gustav Coppel (born July 17, 1830 in Solingen ; † December 25, 1914 there ) was a German steel goods and weapons manufacturer.

Coppel family, youth

Gustav Coppel's grandfather, Samuel (* February 1746 ; † April 23, 1837 in Solingen), came to Solingen around 1770 and founded what would later become a company selling steel goods . Samuel Coppels son Alexander (born November 7, 1795 in Solingen; † December 1, 1878 ibid) married Elise Schubach (born November 28, 1803 in Solingen; † November 8, 1880 ibid) on July 4, 1821 , and continued to build his father's business and founded the company Alexander Coppel Solingen in 1821 , which still exists today under the name ALCOSO and, in addition to steel goods, also produced weapons. In 1862, the company was the third largest in the city and in the early years was one of the five most important weapons manufacturers worldwide.

Gustav Coppel was born in 1830 as the fifth child. Like his siblings, he attended elementary school on Kirchplatz from 1835 onwards. He then completed his training in scissors production with a master's degree.

Entrepreneurs, politicians, social engagement

On November 23, 1853, the then 23-year-old entered his father's business. Already on his honeymoon in Vienna he was able to accept extensive assignments there. Further trips took him to Egypt, for example. From 1868 the production process was further developed with the installation of a steam boiler system, with convincing results in weapon technology, especially in the area of ​​bayonets. From the turn of the century, the company also manufactured seamless tubes, initially only for bicycle construction. Around 1898 a new factory was built in Hilden , where a cold-drawn precision steel tube was manufactured for the first time, which became known worldwide as the "Coppelrohr". In 1912 the company employed 380 people.

Coppel was also involved in other functions in the city of Solingen. Among other things, he was President of the Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Siegen-Solingen Gussstahl-Aktien-Verein , Chairman of the Scherenfabrikantenvereins and Chairman of the Chamber of Comparisons in the Scissors Industry and, after initially working for the German Progressive Party, later Chairman of the National Liberal Party . Later he became chairman of the association of all manufacturers' associations in Solingen and related associations. From 1867 to 1920 he was a city councilor, district councilor and from 1892 until his death an alderman. From 1905 to 1914 Gustav Coppel, Lord Mayor August Dicke and four other councilors such as Carl Friedrich Goerdeler formed the top management.

In 1906 he and other family members donated a substantial sum for the construction of the Coppelstift , an infant home and a recreation center for adults and the sick, which was inaugurated in 1912 and which still exists today as a municipal advice center in the historic building.

In 1897 Gustav Coppel was awarded the title of Kommerzienrath and in 1906 that of a secret councilor . He also became an honorary citizen of his hometown.

Gustav Coppel family

He was married to Fanny Katzenstein (born August 20, 1836, † December 13, 1922) since November 3, 1856. The couple had five children:

After his death, he and his wife were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Solingen . His descendants were persecuted and murdered as Jews during the Nazi era. The eldest son, Carl Gustav, committed suicide in 1941, his daughter Anna was deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in April 1942 and died in the Bernburg killing center in 1942 . Her sister Martha was admitted to the Jewish sanctuary and nursing home in Sayn-Bendorf, then deported to the Sobibor extermination camp on June 15, 1942 , nothing is known about her further fate. Alexander , the youngest son of Gustav Coppel, died of starvation and exhaustion in the Theresienstadt ghetto .

Commemoration

In Solingen the “Gustav-Coppel-Park” reminds of the entrepreneur.

literature

  • Wilhelm Bramann: Coppel - story of a Jewish family in Solingen. 1770–1942 , Solingen 2012, pages 82 to 208.
  • Wilhelm Bramann: The Coppel family - committed to the common good, in: "... that I should leave the place of happiness before my death" . Contributions to the history of Jewish life in Solingen, ed. v. Manfred Krause / Solinger Geschichtswerkstatt, Leverkusen 2000, pp. 89–93.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Bramann: Coppel - history of a Jewish family in Solingen. 1770–1942, Solingen 2012. p. 202
  2. ^ Wilhelm Bramann: Coppel - history of a Jewish family in Solingen. 1770–1942, Solingen 2012. Pedigree
  3. ^ Wilhelm Bramann: Coppel - history of a Jewish family in Solingen. 1770–1942, Solingen 2012. Pedigree
  4. ^ Wilhelm Bramann: Coppel - history of a Jewish family in Solingen. 1770–1942, Solingen 2012. Pedigree
  5. ↑ Clubs fight for the Coppel pen on solinger-tageblatt.de v. June 20, 2011
  6. ^ The Coppel family on Solingen.de ( Memento from July 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Fanny Coppel on the tombstone of the Coppel family
  8. ↑ Anna Reiche in the memorial book
  9. ↑ Martha Fanny Coppel in the memorial book
  10. ↑ Alexander Coppel in the memorial book
personal data
SURNAME Coppel, Gustav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German steel goods and weapons manufacturer
DATE OF BIRTH July 17, 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH Solingen
DATE OF DEATH December 25, 1914
Place of death Solingen