Gustav Scipio

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Gustav Scipio (born June 18, 1872 in Bremen , † October 21, 1949 in Bremen) was a German entrepreneur in the fruit trade .

biography

Scipio was the son of Raimund Scipio, owner of a commission business. He attended the secondary schools in Debbe in Bremen, completed a commercial apprenticeship in an overseas business and then worked in the fruit trade in Spain . In 1902 he founded the Fruchthandel-Gesellschaft mbH (FGH) with five other Bremen merchants . The aim was to set up a wholesale market for fresh tropical fruits, fruit and vegetables in Bremen. The first products included oranges from Spain and lemons from Italy. The FGH worked closely with the German Argo Reederei (later Argo Shipping GmbH ) and with Jamaica Bananen- und Fruchtvertrieb GmbH .

In 1912 there were branches in 27 German cities and since 1914 daily auctions have been held at the company's fruit farm in Bremen . The First World War slowed the rise of the fruit trade. During the war his War Grain Society was established in Berlin .

After the war, Scipio founded the Atlanta trading company, initially for business in Spain . With the fruit trading company Scipio & Fischer and the companies Jamaica and Atlanta , the Bremen fruit market grew again in the 1920s. The goods came to Bremen by sea. For the banana trade own was shipping company , the Union Commerce and Navigation mbH (Union), founded.

From 1931 to 1933 Scipio was President of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce . He took the major share of the founding of the North German Credit Bank in 1931 Bankhaus J. F. Schröder and Danatbank in bankruptcy went. In 1933 he was elected a member of the Haus Seefahrt Foundation , in which the leading Bremen economic bourgeoisie is organized and whose " Schaffermessen" took place again from 1936 to 1939.

A few days after the old Senate resigned and the National Socialists came to power in Bremen in 1933 , Scipio, like many other influential figures in Bremen's upper-class business community, paid his respects to Mayor Markert , who was appointed temporarily, and congratulated him on taking office. On May 1st Scipio joined the NSDAP after the dissolution of the DVP . On June 28, the new Senate enacted the reshuffle of the Chamber of Commerce and the election of the new Presidium by July 15, 1933, which had to be approved by the Senate. In order to take account of the new political circumstances, the National Socialist businessman Karl Bollmeyer was elected President of the Chamber, and the former DVP member Scipio became the first Vice-President.

In the following period, probably in the expectation of serious legal trade regulations by the imperial government , Scipio presented a plan to overcome the foreign trade deficit , which was based on so-called export certificates and which should give the trading houses certain scope for decision-making. On July 19, 1934, Mayor Markert applied to Reich Finance Minister Schwerin von Krosigk for the implementation of a revised version of the Scipio Plan with similar proposals by Hamburg Mayor Krogmann . Ultimately, however, the new Reich Economics Minister Schacht prevailed with his New Plan , so that the scope of Bremen's trading capital was further drastically restricted from 1934 onwards through direct import restrictions and monitoring, and armaments investments were an essential economic option that was increasingly being pursued by entrepreneurs based in Bremen .

In 1936, Scipio took part in a takeover consortium initiated by Franz Stapelfeldt to reprivatize the share capital of the Deschimag shipyard association , whose profit distribution started again due to the good order situation. Through the transaction of this consortium, to which several other Bremen merchants belonged, he acquired a share of the nominal 333,000 Reichsmarks. His stake in Deschimag's share capital was put at around 5 percent in 1940. As a result of the orders acquired by CEO Stapelfeldt for Deschimag since the winter of 1934/35 from the National Socialist armaments program , a stock dividend of 5 percent resulted in 1936, and 8 percent in the following year, and 10 percent in 1938 and 1939.

In 1936 Scipio founded the Union Handels- und Schifffahrtsgesellschaft mbh (Union shipping company). In the first six reefer ships , mostly bananas were transported. One third of the shipping company's capital came from Bremen, one third from Hamburg and one third from the United Fruit Company from Boston , now known as Chiquita .

During the time of National Socialism the importation of some “un-German” fruits was forbidden. The restricted foreign exchange business during this period also hindered global fruit trade. The Atlanta now called Scipio & Co. , the Jamaica called himself Harder, Meiser & Co. and Scipio was a dominant limited partner . Because of his flair for new markets, he succeeded immediately after taking large orange producing area of Valencia by Franco Troops in spring 1939 to organize extensive orange-shipments to Bremen. During the Second World War , Scipio withdrew to his estate in the Altmark. The company facilities in Bremen were bombed during the war.

In 1945 Scipio moved back to Bremen, but had to retire from the company management for political reasons. In 1948 he was reinstated in his old rights.

It was not until 1955 - after his death - that fruit imports were fully released and in 1955 the Fruchthof Bremen was opened. The globally represented group of companies has been called Atlanta AG since 1990 and is the market leader in Europe in the fresh fruit trade. Since 2009 the company has been called Univeg Germany .

Board memberships

Scipio was a member of the supervisory board of Norddeutsche Kreditbank, and also on the supervisory boards of the shipping companies NDL , Union Handels- und Schiffahrtsgesellschaft , DG Neptun and Atlas Levante-Linie as well as the Francke Werke and Metallwerke Unterweser. Since 1936 he was a member of the Deschimag supervisory board.

Honors

  • The Gustav Scipio Foundation was named after him. It is a social institution of the Scipio group and the successor company.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl H. Schwebel : "Haus Seefahrt", Bremen, his merchants and captains. Four hundred years of service to the German seaman, 1545–1945 . Verlag H. Krohn, Bremen 1947, p. 76.
  2. ^ Inge Marßolek , René Ott, Peter Brandt: Bremen in the Third Reich - adjustment, resistance, persecution . Schünemann, 1986, ISBN 3-7961-1765-1 , p. 131 f.
  3. ↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From commercial center to armorers. Economy, state and working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945. University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 118/433, p. 457.
  4. ↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From commercial center to armorers. Economy, state and working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945. University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 117f.
  5. ↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From commercial center to armorers. Economy, state and working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945. University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 112ff / 432, p. 276.
  6. ↑ Peter Kuckuk (ed.): Bremen large shipyards in the Third Reich . (Contributions to the social history of Bremen 15), Edition Temmen, 1993, ISBN 3-86108-203-9 , p. 41ff.
  7. ↑ Peter Kuckuk (ed.): Bremen large shipyards in the Third Reich . (Contributions to the social history of Bremen 15), Edition Temmen, 1993, ISBN 3-86108-203-9 , p. 112.
  8. ↑ Peter Kuckuk (ed.): Bremen large shipyards in the Third Reich . (Contributions to the social history of Bremen 15), Edition Temmen, 1993, ISBN 3-86108-203-9 , p. 55.
  9. ↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, state and working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945. University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 275.
  10. ↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, state and working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945. University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 456.
  11. ↑ Peter Kuckuk (ed.): Bremen large shipyards in the Third Reich . (Contributions to the social history of Bremen 15), Edition Temmen, 1993, ISBN 3-86108-203-9 , p. 44
  12. ^ Weser-Kurier : Gustav Scipio died. of October 22, 1949, in: Bremen 1933–45. From trading center to armaments smiths. Catalog for the exhibition in the Schlachthof cultural center. Bremen 1983, plates 54–60.
  13. ↑ Dieter Pfliegensdörfer: From a trading center for armorers. Economy, state and working class in Bremen from 1929 to 1945. University of Bremen Research focus on work and education, Bremen 1986, p. 179f.
personal data
SURNAME Scipio, Gustav
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Scipio, Gustav Wolrad Oskar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur in the fruit trade
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Bremen
DATE OF DEATH October 21, 1949
Place of death Bremen