Irmgard from Opel

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Irmgard Opel ; from Opel from 1917 ; (* April 8, 1907 in Rüsselsheim ; † May 20, 1986 in Ingelheim ) was a German show jumper and entrepreneur from the Opel family .

family

Irmgard Opel was the granddaughter of the industrialist and founder of Adam Opel AG , Adam Opel (1837–1895), and daughter of Heinrich von Opel (1873–1928), who was raised to the grand ducal Hessian nobility in 1917 .

In 1927 she married the film director Karl Georg Külb (1901–1980), and a daughter was born. The marriage was divorced the following year. In 1938 she married her second cousin Georg von Opel (1912–1971), the well-known German automobile entrepreneur and sports official. Their first son Carlo von Opel was born in 1941, and the second son Heinz von Opel was born in 1943 . The second marriage ended in divorce in 1957.

Irmgard von Opel is buried in the Opel mausoleum in Rüsselsheim am Main .

Horsewoman

In the 1930s Irmgard von Opel was probably the best rider in the world in military and jumping saddles at the time . She successfully penetrated the male domain of the time. She won many tests at home and abroad and in 1934 was the first woman to win the German jumping derby with her Trakehner gray stallion Nanuk .

Entrepreneur

Westerhaus estate

Since 1928 she has been managing the Westerhaus estate, which her father Heinrich acquired in 1900, as well as the Westerberg stud farm near Ingelheim am Rhein , which her father created . Extensive construction work and park design resulted in the so-called Westerhaus Castle , which after the war offered a number of bombed-out families a home for years and provided an apprenticeship for the descendants of displaced landowners and relatives. The gardening with a shop in Bingen , the quite large winery with sparkling wine distribution, the dairy cattle barn, and pig breeding and keeping were run as separate branches . The stud - formerly also a racing stable - was used for thoroughbred breeding with its own - but mostly foreign - (adjuster) horses. There is also the riding facility with jumping arena and hall built by Irmgard von Opel. As a market novelty, rubber harnesses were made at Westerhaus for a few years at the beginning of the 1950s.

The fields of Hofgut Westerhaus as well as the stud are now cultivated by her granddaughter Aline, married Rodde - the winery with the so-called manor house is cultivated by her granddaughter Ivonne, married Countess von Schönburg-Glauchau.

Petersau estate

In 1934 she acquired the somewhat larger Hofgut Petersau near Frankenthal (Palatinate) as a co-heir of her maternal family. Both goods were among the first to use a large, permanently installed field railway. On both estates - on Petersau with success - pig breeding was carried out as well as Ardennes horses and, from the 1950s, the filling of preferred milk. Hofgut Petersau went to her eldest son, Carlo von Opel, who meanwhile passed it on to his daughter Jeanette.

With Irmgard von Opels Kapital, their son Carlo founded the Chio Chips company at Hofgut Petersau in 1962, which developed into a market-leading company. The company name Chio consists of the initials of Carlo, Heinz and Irmgard von Opel. Carlo von Opel became managing director of Chio Chips. Initially, only potatoes from their own cultivation were processed by Hofgut Petersau, later production was expanded through regional contract cultivation .

In 1977 the Chio Chips company was sold. Today it belongs to the Intersnack Knabber-Pastry GmbH & Co. KG .

United capsule factories in Nackenheim

In the early 1950s she received the United Capsule Factory in Nackenheim from her husband Georg, the market leader in the manufacture of bottle caps, which she ran as a well-running business until it was handed over to her son Heinz in 1978.

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personal data
SURNAME Opel, Irmgard von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Külb, Irmgard (married name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German industrialist, eventing and show jumping rider
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Ruesselsheim
DATE OF DEATH May 20, 1986
Place of death Ingelheim