Heinrich Lieser (entrepreneur)

Heinrich Lieser

Heinrich Lieser (* 1891 in Finkenbach-Gersweiler ; † 1959 ibid) was a German businessman who was also very committed as a patron in the social field. As such he was, among other things, builder of the Viktoriastift .

biography

Heinrich Lieser was born in Finkenbach-Gersweiler in December 1891 as the son of poor day laborers. He lost his father early and had to go out of the house because of his mother's misery. As was customary in the village solidarity communities back then, he was accepted by Friedrich Schmitt's farming family on the Finkenbacher Hasenberg. The Braunwell hardware store in Kirchheimbolanden soon took 17-year-old Heinrich Lieser as a commercial apprentice. After his apprenticeship, he worked in Ludwigshafen am Rhein in a Jewish shop in the same branch where he was employed during the First World War. His future wife Maria Adam, an office clerk from Viernheim who was five years older and gave birth to two sons, was soon working there. This enabled him to be independent thanks to her origins and the good connections with her family. The first son Willi died quite early. The youngest named Karlheinz became a professor at the age of 38.

Soon afterwards his own business flourished in Mannheim, with the help of which he earned a lot of money, especially during the war. Lieser supplied screws to the Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik (BASF) in Ludwigshafen am Rhein and, thanks to various speculations during the Revolution, brought together such a fortune within a short time that he bought around 120 days' work in Feld in Finkenbach , built and built his farm also bought several houses in Ludwigshafen. In 1924, Lieser had his own spacious house built for his employees and workers on the outskirts, which is now popularly known as "Customs". But soon afterwards, as the Finkenbacher school diary and other records report, he was brought to justice for bribery of BASF officials and received two years in prison. Lieser was very charitable. He donated the new work for the church organ and gave grants for the new bells and the imposing war memorial. For the elementary school he donated a new oven and 250 marks for the purchase of a photo and cinema machine. In 1925 he built the gym, which was available free of charge to local associations, the school and the community.

First problems

In January 1926 Lieser had business supervision. On February 4th, he was arrested for the second time for fraudulent bankruptcy. With no evidence of fraud, he was released in early May and the bankruptcy lifted. According to various statements, his debts amounted to around 300,000 marks. In 1 ½ years he squandered this large sum of money through speculations, guarantees, splendid court rulings and other things. The main creditors were the Darmstädter Bank with 93,000 marks, the Bayrische Hypothekenbank with 63,000 marks, the Sparkasse Mannheim with 50,000 marks, the Sparkasse Finkenbach with 23,000 marks and many individual creditors. In 1926, with the consent of the Sparkasse Finkenbach, which had the right of first refusal, the estate was sold to the children's sanatorium in Bad Kreuznach . Heinrich Lieser sold the gymnasium to the community for 6,000 marks.

He then lived with his wife on the main street where he ran a hardware store. Lieser was an opponent of National Socialism and criticized the Hitler government, which got him into trouble. Contemporary witnesses report that he stood with the Volksempfänger on the Moschel Bridge and ridiculed Hitler's speeches. This was probably the reason for an attack by the SA on 30/31. March 1933. During the attack by SA forces from Finkenbach, Waldgrehweiler and Obermoschel - which was repeated a few months later - the house and its furnishings were badly damaged. Heinrich Lieser was placed in protective custody. Upon his release, he had to assure that he would no longer engage in any activities or make any statements against the Nazi government and undertake to cease all business relationships with the Jews. In 1938 he divorced his wife. Finally Lieser left his hometown and continued to work in the profession he had learned.

His second marriage

Heinrich Lieser remarried in Frankfurt am Main . A daughter came from the second marriage. His new partner also brought a son into the marriage. Lieser works in the iron trade and owned a number of properties. After the war, Heinrich Lieser converted the house next to his parents' house - the former prisoner-of-war camp, an old barn - on the corner of Hauptstrasse and Neugasse as a retirement home. Lieser never actually lived in it, however, only when he was visiting Finkenbach. Lieser died in 1959 and was buried in the Finkenbach cemetery. After the layover time, the bereaved donated 25,000 marks to the local community so that Heinrich Lieser could be reburied.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chronicle of Finkenbach Part 2 ( Memento from October 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 3.9 MB)
2. ↑ Chronicle of Finkenbach Part 4 ( Memento from October 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 4.2 MB)