Hans Konrad König

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Hans Konrad König at a lecture in Maastricht in 2005.

Hans Konrad König , nickname Hans König , (born August 23, 1923 in Breslau ; † November 15, 2016 in Minusio , Switzerland) was a top German civil servant in the founding phase of the European Union , Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, and an art collector and patron.

Life

König came from a Silesian merchant family who had to leave their hometown of Breslau at the end of World War II. König, who was drafted into military service shortly after starting his studies in Breslau, did not return to West Germany until 1947 from a Soviet prisoner of war. From 1948/49 he studied languages, law and economics at the University of Friborg, Switzerland.

Through his uncle Hans Lukaschek , he was given the opportunity in 1951 to work as an interpreter in the negotiations on the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). In 1952 he entered the service of the ECSC, in 1964 he left the then EEC with the rank of Director in the Foreign Service .

From 1964 to 1982 König was Secretary General of the German Group of the International Chamber of Commerce , Cologne .

From 1982 until his retirement in 1989, König was Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce , Paris.

Since 1955, König was with Marion König, b. Frowein, who came from a merchant family in Wuppertal, is married and has a son and a daughter.

Patron of art

König has been collecting oriental carpets since the 1960s and has authored books and articles on the subject, especially on Chinese and Turkmen carpets .

In 1992 he took over the position of Chairman of The European Fine Art Foundation, which organizes one of the world's most important international art fairs in Maastricht under the name TEFAF . In 1998 he handed over the position of Chairman of TEFAF to a successor, but continued to be involved there as a member of several selection committees for exhibits.

König was also active as a sponsor of institutions of Asian and Islamic art, including as a member of the advisory committee of the Islamic Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and as chairman of the Sarre Club , a support group of the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin.

Publications (selection)

  • Relationship between the carpets of East Turkestan and Mughal India. In: Anneliese Ohm, Horst Reber (ed.): Festschrift for Peter Wilhelm Meister on the occasion of his 65th birthday on May 16, 1974 . Hauswedell, Hamburg 1975, p. 32-40 .
  • with Friedrich Spuhler, Martin Volkmann: Old oriental carpets. Masterpieces from German private collections = Old Eastern carpets. Masterpieces in German private collections . Callwey, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-7667-0431-1 .
  • Spoilt for choice . Rugs exhibited at the International Conference on Oriental Carpets. In: Hali . Vol. 15, No. 71 , 1993, p. 97-99 .
  • with Michael Franzes: Shine of the Sons of Heaven. Imperial carpets from China 1400-1750; Museum of East Asian Art . Textile Art Publications, Cologne 2005, ISBN 978-1-898406-45-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ My Life and Times • Chapter 16. Retrieved December 23, 2017 .
  2. ^ Hans König: Company obituaries: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved December 23, 2017 .
  3. ↑ obituary portal.ch. Retrieved December 23, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Islamic Art | The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved December 22, 2017 .
  5. ↑ We say goodbye to Hans Conrad König . ( freunde-islamische-kunst-pergamonmuseum.de [accessed on December 22, 2017]).
personal data
SURNAME King, Hans Konrad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES King, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Top German civil servant in the founding phase of the European Union, General Secretary of the International Chamber of Commerce and art collector and patron
DATE OF BIRTH August 23, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH 15th November 2016
Place of death Minusio , Switzerland