Johann von Berenberg-Gossler

Grave of John Freiherr Berenberg-Gossler with his wife Julie and daughter Martha in the old Niendorfer cemetery in Hamburg.

Johann Freiherr von Berenberg-Gossler , called John (born February 13, 1839 in Hamburg ; † December 8, 1913 there ) was a German banker and owner of Berenberg Bank until 1913 .

Life

He was a member of the Hanseatic family Berenberg / Goßler and son of the banker Johann Heinrich Gossler (1805–1879) and grandson of the Senator Johann Heinrich Gossler . His uncle was the First Mayor Hermann Goßler .

Berenberg-Gossler, whom friends called John Bi , was intended by his father to head the company Joh.Berenberg, Gossler & Co. in Hamburg, although he was interested in music and theater and would have liked to study languages, literary studies and history. He stayed for a while for training in France , England and North and South America and became a partner in the company on July 1, 1864. After his father's death in 1879, he took over management of the company. Berenberg-Gossler dissolved the company's branches in New York and Boston in 1880 and 1891, respectively. His share of the assets in the company in 1913 was around 7 million marks . Owning shares made his total wealth considerably greater.

From 1876 Berenberg-Gossler was a member of the district committee of the headquarters of the Reichsbank in Hamburg. He was a member of the Hamburg citizenship from 1886 to 1891. In 1894 Berenberg-Gossler became the Grand Ducal Consul General of Baden . He was Commander 1st Class of the Swedish Order of Vasa .

Berenberg-Gossler married Juliane Amalie Donner (1843-1916) in Altona on August 18, 1864 . They initially lived on two floors at Ferdinandstrasse 26 in Hamburg. After the birth of nine children, Berenberg-Gossler bought a house for the family at Alsterglacis No. 8 in 1885. He enlarged the property in Niendorf , which he inherited from his father, through acquisitions and had a villa built there in 1881/82. In 1912 Berenberg-Gossler founded a waiting school in Niendorf , the building of which is known today as the Berenberg-Gossler House and serves as a cultural meeting place.

In 1880 the Hamburg Senate approved the name change to Berenberg-Gossler. In 1889 Johann Berenberg-Gossler was raised to the Prussian nobility for his services to the customs connection of Hamburg and was now called von Berenberg-Gossler. In 1910 Johann von Berenberg-Gossler was elevated to the status of a Prussian baron .

His sons were John von Berenberg-Gossler (1866–1943) and Cornelius Freiherr von Berenberg-Gossler (1874–1953). The Berenberg-Gossler-Weg in Hamburg-Niendorf has been a reminder of the family since 1993.

literature

• Bernhard Koerner: German gender book . tape 19 . Starke, Görlitz 1911, p. 34-35 .
• Genealogical manual of the nobility . Volume 16, Freiherrliche Häuser B II, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1957.
• Renate Hauschild-Thiessen: Gossler, Johann (John) Berenberg . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 2 . Christians, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-7672-1366-4 , pp. 154-155 .