Heinrich Diederichsen

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Carl Heinrich Wilhelm Theodor Diederichsen (born July 1, 1865 in Kiel , † April 20, 1942 in Hamburg ) was a German shipowner and shipyard owner .

Live and act

Memorial plaque in Diederichsenpark

The Diederichsen family had lived in Kiel since the beginning of the 18th century, when Jacob Diederichsen acquired citizenship on April 12, 1709. The previous three generations had worked there as deputies or city councilors. Heinrich Diederichsen was the son of a businessman of the same name (1813–1899) and his wife Dorothea Lehmann (1867–1941). He attended the Kiel School of Academics and completed a commercial training in Hamburg from 1881 to 1884. Then he served as a one-year volunteer in the infantry regiment "Duke of Holstein" until 1885 and completed his commercial training abroad.

H. Diederichsen & Co. brickworks in Tsingtau (1910)

In 1888 Diederichsen married Dorothea ( Thea ) Lehmann (1867–1941), with whom he had no children. In the same year he took over the company H. Diederichsen zu Kiel , which his father had founded in 1837. Diederichsen opened a major shipping company that benefited from the rapidly growing trade with East Asia. In 1899 he founded the company Diederichsen, Jebsen and Co. in Hong Kong , then the company H. Diederichsen & Co. in Tsingtau . The successful trade with East Asia came to a standstill with the outbreak of the First World War .

From 1903 to 1913 he was consul of the Russian Empire in Kiel. Its consulate district comprised the southern part of the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein with the exception of the Duchy of Lauenburg .

In 1900 Diederichsen took over shares in the Brazilian company Theodor Wille & Co. , which the businessman Theodor Wille (* 1818 in Kiel; † 1892 in Hamburg, buried in Kiel), who was related by marriage to the Diederichsens and who was also from Kiel, had built up and in which his brother Gustav, who died in 1924, had significant shares. He then continued their business as the sole owner and made the company one of the largest coffee exporters in the world. In 1931 he named the company, which had offices in São Paulo , Santos , Rio de Janeiro , Vitória , New York and New Orleans , Theodor Wille y Cia, Ltda. around. When the Second World War broke out , the company's ships transported around 2,375,000 bags of coffee annually. This corresponded to 14% of the total coffee beans exported from Brazil. As chairman of the supervisory board of the Hamburg South American Steamship Company , he significantly influenced its business with South America. In 1926 he took over Howaldtswerke AG in Kiel , which was in a severe economic crisis, and sold it to Deutsche Werke AG in 1937 .

Villa Forsteck
Gravestone of Heinrich Diederichsen, Ohlsdorf cemetery, Hamburg

In 1907 Diederichsen established the “Thea Diederichsen Foundation”. The surgical-orthopedic children's clinic developed into an important research and teaching facility at the University of Kiel . In addition, for almost 25 years as President of the Society for the Promotion of the Institute for World Economy and Maritime Transport, he significantly supported the development of the institute. He worked closely with Bernhard Harms . In 1934 he resigned in protest against the forced resignation of Harms and Max Warburg from the board.

Diederichsen, who often had business relationships in Hamburg, lived in the "Forsteck" house in Kiel's Diederichsenpark until his death in 1942 .

Heinrich Diederichsen was buried in the area of ​​the Gustav Diederichsen family grave on the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg, grid square Z 10 (south-west of the north pond ).

Honors

The University of Kiel awarded Diederichsen two honorary doctorates : in 1918 the Dr. rer. pole. honoris causa for promoting the Institute for the World Economy and in 1930 an honorary doctorate from the medical faculty.

He was the bearer of the Iron Cross on a white and black ribbon, second class, the Prussian Crown Order, second class, and the Imperial Russian Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd class.

literature

Web links

Commons : Heinrich Diederichsen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Handbook for the German Empire 1908, p. 166
  2. ↑ TWI: about us website of the company that still exists today
  3. ↑ Graves of honor in Kiel: Theodor Wille
  4. ↑ Tanja Drössel: The English in Hamburg 1914 to 1945. Göttingen: Cuvillier 2008 ISBN 9783867275088 , p. 149
personal data
SURNAME Diederichsen, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Diederichsen, Carl Heinrich Wilhelm Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German shipowner and shipyard owner
DATE OF BIRTH July 1, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiel
DATE OF DEATH April 20, 1942
Place of death Hamburg