Hermann Dietrich Lindheim

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Hermann Dietrich Lindheim, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber , 1852.

Hermann Dietrich Lindheim (born July 30, 1790 in Breslau ; † March 11, 1860 in Vienna ) was a large industrialist who worked in the textile industry, in trade, in mining, in railway construction and in the chemical industry. His places of activity were in the county of Glatz as well as in Silesia , Bohemia , Saxony and Vienna.

Origin and family

Lindheim was born as Heymann David Levy. After the conversion from the Israelite to the Protestant faith, he took the name Hermann Dietrich Lindheim . His father David Levy was a trader in Wroclaw . In 1826 Lindheim married Estelle Marie Mevil (1806–1878) in Paris. The couple had four children:

  • Clementine (1831–1884), married on November 20, 1850 the manor owner and Majoratsherr Hugo von Löbbecke (1827–1901);
  • Ernst Edler von Lindheim (1832–1895) was also an industrialist as a partner and manager of his father's company.
  • Wilhelm Ritter von Lindheim (1835–1898), industrialist, partner and manager of the company; mainly active in railway construction since 1867.
  • Alfred Ritter von Lindheim (1836–1913) was director of Wiener Handelsbank, member of the State Railway Council and member of the state parliament.

Professional success

Lindheim was initially successful in the wool yarn trade. In 1825, he set up one of the first mechanical flax yarn spinning mills in Europe in Ullersdorf in the Glatz district . The necessary machines were manufactured in the mechanical workshop and iron foundry he also built in Ullersdorf , which later also produced boilers and steam engines. Together with the banker Friedrich Eduard Löbbecke, he set up another flax yarn spinning mill in Bohemian Skalitz in East Bohemia , about 50 km west of Glätzischen Ullersdorf. This spinning mill was also expanded into a large operation. In 1841 6,836 spindles were in operation.

In 1840 Lindheim settled in Vienna and opened a wholesale company with a relative, which initially operated as JM Lindheim . Later it was presumably the sole owner under the company name HD Lindheim . In Ullersdorf he set up a linen and hemp spinning mill in the 1840s. As a result, the number of employees there grew to a total of 830 workers in the cotton mill and 150 workers in the other plants. He also had a cotton spinning and weaving mill with 750 employees built in neighboring Rengersdorf , but soon sold it on.

In cooperation with the English company Hawthorn, three locomotives were assembled in Ullersdorf from 1846–1847, the parts of which were imported from England. Therefore, the locomotives were given a factory number from the manufacturer Hawthorn.

With the acquisition of the Wilkischen domain near Mies in western Bohemia, Lindheim entered the previously unprofitable coal mining industry, which he made profitable. He also acquired the ore deposits Hermannshütte , Nürschan and Josephshütte in western Bohemia . In the blast furnaces and rolling mills that he built or took over, he processed the previously inferior Bohemian iron into high-quality products. This enabled him to enter the railroad business. After this success he founded the Prague Iron Industry Company , which in 1856 already employed 2,500 miners and metallurgical workers. After the merger with the state iron works leased from him in Kladno in Central Bohemia in 1857, the number of workers rose to 5,000. From 1853, Lindheim acquired several zinc blende pits in the upper Ore Mountains near Annaberg and Schwarzenberg , including Grube Menschenfreude , Wolfgang Erbstolln on Henneberg, Zweigler Fundgrube including Julius Erbstolln near Wildenau, prince blessing of God near Elterlein, Briccius behind the Pöhlberg, Herkules and Frisch Glück Stolln near Waschleithe, Johannes Beheading Erbstolln near Drebach, Pluto Erbstolln near Antonsthal, Geyern and Konrad Stolln near Buchholz. In 1856, Lindheim appointed the shift supervisor Hermann Gustav Poller as an authorized representative for his Saxon ore mines. In addition, Lindheim founded a chemical factory in Aussig in 1858 .

In 1856 Lindheim received the concession to build the Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Bahn , in which the Hamburg wholesaler and banker Ernst Merck was also involved. It was completed in sections by 1860. In 1859 Lindheim also received the concession to build the Bohemian Western Railway .

Lindheim was awarded the Prussian Privy Council title and the Red Eagle Order for his services . Austria awarded him the Franz Joseph Order .

Lindheim died in Vienna on March 11, 1860. He was buried in the Ullersdorf cemetery (now Ołdrzychowice Kłodzkie ). The tomb has been preserved to this day. His sons received the hereditary nobility in 1860 in appreciation and recognition of the services of their father. The Viennese trading house was closed, and the important industrial companies in West and Central Bohemia were continued by Lindheim's sons. The Ullersdorf textile companies sold it to Friedrich Eduard von Löbbecke , who expanded it further. In 1860 the Lindheim mine administration in Johanngeorgenstadt was dissolved and the mines were sold in the following years.

In 1975 the Lindheimgasse in Vienna- Penzing (14th district) was named after him.

Social work

Lindheim created numerous social institutions for its workers. In Ullersdorf he took over the costs of running a factory school and built his own district there in the 1840s with houses for the workers in the spinning mill. He also had factory apartments and a hospital built for employees in need of treatment in the Bohemian production facilities . He founded the Gisela Foundation, which was based in Marienbad , for sick soldiers and state officials .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tomb with inscription
  2. ↑ Tomb of his wife Estelle Marie (1806–1878)
personal data
SURNAME Lindheim, Hermann Dietrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heymann David Levy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Industrialist in Silesia, Bohemia and Vienna
DATE OF BIRTH July 30, 1790
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH March 11, 1860
Place of death Vienna