Gustav von Velsen

Gustav Julius von Velsen (born December 11, 1847 in Unna , † September 13, 1923 in Berlin-Zehlendorf ) was a Prussian chief miner in Berlin .

Life

His parents were the pastor Engelbert von Velsen (1793–1868) and Wilhelmine Hueck (1809–1859), a daughter of the regional court judge Johann Adolf Hueck (1776–1809). His nephews, the Oberbergrat Otto von Velsen (1869–1945) and the District President Friedrich von Velsen (1871–1953) also became known.

Velsen attended schools in Unna and Gütersloh . After studying in Tübingen and Berlin , he became Bergeleve in July 1870 . In the Franco-Prussian War he was honored as a soldier. Velsen became a mountain trainee in January 1872 and a mountain assessor in October 1873 . He worked at the mining inspection in Zabrze and the upper mining inspection in Bonn . He then toured North America , India , China and Japan for a long time . In 1879 he became mine director of the "Königin-Luise-Grube" in Zabrze , in 1882 he became a mountain ridge.

Bleicherode: von Velsen Schächte, since 1899 (Photo: 2015)

Subsequently, Velsen became chairman of the mines' management in Saarbrücken in 1891 and the secret mountain ridge the following year. In 1896 he moved as a mining captain to the director of the Oberbergamt in Halle . Potash mining in Bleicherode was founded on his initiative in 1899, which is why the “von Velsen Schächte” got his name.

In 1900 he was appointed chief miner and ministerial director to the head of the Prussian mining administration in the Ministry of Trade and Industry. He arranged the acquisition of the United Gladbeck colliery , the Vienenburg potash works and other mines in the Ruhr area for Prussia . The purchase of substantial parts of the Hibernia mining company in 1904 later led to the "Hibernia Affair". He was awarded the title Real Privy Councilor in 1910 and retired in 1917.

House at Limastraße 29 (Photo: 2016)

Velsen had his house built in Berlin-Zehlendorf in 1907 by the architect Hermann Muthesius . After the early death of his wife in 1910, his daughter Dorothee ran the household.

progeny

In October 1880, Gustav von Velsen married Anna Loerbroks (1856–1910), a daughter of the judiciary Otto Loerbroks (1824–1870) in Soest . Her significantly younger brother Otto Loerbroks (1870–1941) later became a judge of the Reich.

The couple had three daughters:

• Elisabeth (1881–1966), she married in 1904 the forest councilor Joachim von dem Borne (1871–1914), who fell in Lorraine. His father was the Prussian chamberlain Max von dem Borne (1826-1894).
• Dorothee (1883–1970), writer
• Ruth (1892-1970), she married the classical philologist Eduard Fraenkel (1888-1970) in 1917 . The family emigrated in 1934 because of his Jewish descent.

Honors

The Von Velsen shafts in Knurów in the Silesian district of Rybnik were named after him in 1903 on the initiative of Gustav von Velsen. The Velsen mine in Saarbrücken was also named after him in 1907.

literature

• Walter Serlo: Mining families in Rhineland and Westphalia . The von Velsen family and their mining relatives, p. 80 f. 3rd volume. Aschendorffschen Verlagbuchhandlung, Münster 1936.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Landesdenkmalamt Berlin - House of Velsen