Henry Dunker

Bust of Henry Dunker in front of the City Theater in Helsingborg.

Henry Dunker (* 1870 in Esbjerg ; † 1962 ) worked as a dispatcher and entrepreneur in the Swedish city ​​of Helsingborg . His father was one of the founders of Helsingborgs Gummifabrik AB , which later became Tretorn AB . The company developed into an international group under Henry Dunker.

Childhood and youth

Dunker's family originally came from Schleswig-Holstein . When Henry Dunker was born in 1870, the family lived in Esbjerg , Denmark . When Henry was two years old, his father was commissioned as a port construction engineer to manage the construction of the northern harbor in Helsingborg, whereupon the family moved there. As a teenager, Henry was sent to Germany to learn the German language and gain some initial business experience.

Helsingborgs Gummifabrik AB

In 1891, Dunker's father founded Helsingborgs gummifabrik AB , which specialized in the production of galoshes , which, however, were not of high quality. Dunker went to Russia to gain new experience in rubber production . Not having had much success in this matter in Saint Petersburg , he went to Riga , where he met the chemist Julius von Gerkan , who was ready to help him improve rubber production in Helsingborg. With the help of Gerkans, the company developed a high-quality rubber and Dunker apprenticed at von Gerkan in order to be able to replace it in an emergency.

In 1894, the 24-year-old Dunker took over the factory and expanded it. Through a network of sales offices that not only covered Sweden, but also Copenhagen , Berlin and Vienna , Dunker gained control of the distribution chain. Over time, the range was expanded to include balls, bathing caps and car tires. In 1912 Dunker formed a cartel to increase competitiveness abroad. By lowering prices in Sweden, he was able to lower prices outside the country. Since some countries protected domestic production with customs duties and import bans, Dunker established production plants in Helsingør in Denmark and Hamburg . The rubber factory in Helsingborg had now become an international group and changed its name to Tretorn AB.

In the 1920s Dunker built a villa with a unique view over the Øresund . He baptized it with the name " Hevea " - the scientific name of the genus of rubber trees .

The demand for rubber products increased steadily and the range was expanded to include bicycle tires, rainwear, sneakers, rubber bands, etc. The excellent business made Henry Dunker the richest man in Sweden in the 1940s.

The philanthropist Dunker

As a philanthropist, Henry Dunker showed great concern for his workers, whom he provided with free nursing and subsidized medicine. He had wooden floors laid in a factory just to protect his workers' backs. In 1911 he set up a company's own kindergarten .

On his death he transferred his fortune to a donation fund and a foundation that bore his name and that of his wife and had the aim of promoting Helsingborg's cultural life. In the past, the funds contributed to the establishment of various cultural institutions in Helsingborg, including the city theater, the Kulturmagasin and, last but not least, the Dunkers kulturhus named after Dunker . The foundation's surpluses also finance the Dunker nursing home in Villa Hevea.