Johann Gottlieb Langner

Johann Gottlieb Langner (born January 15, 1814 in Militsch or in the village of Gugelwitz on the city limits, † December 20, 1877 in Warsaw ) was a Silesian farmer's son who became a haulier and hotel entrepreneur in Poland.

Langner's grave in Warsaw

His father was a small landowner (Langner describes his father's property in his memoirs as an "aristocratic estate" with a mill and a schnapps distillery ) and managed very poorly, after the early death of his wife everything fell apart. Johann's older brother Karl emigrated to Warsaw as early as 1828 , where he got a job as a waiter in the elegant "Dresdener Hotel" (property of the entrepreneur Karl Friedrich Dückert , formerly the Palais des banker Peter Tepper ). In 1832 Johann went on a hike to the Polish capital, but received no help from his brother and became a valet for a Russian general . After he had gathered a small amount of capital, he went into business for himself, bought a few horses and wagons and supplied building materials for the construction of the Warsaw Citadel . At the same time he acquired a carriage and four beautiful horses and drove passengers in the city center. In 1838 he expanded his activities and transported Russian officers to Saint Petersburg and even a military man to Pyatigorsk in the Caucasus (distance: 2000 km). But this last venture brought him bad luck: the horses died, he and his client got sick, and finally he had to walk the 1500 km back to Warsaw in his last suit, which was full of vermin . Here he borrowed new money, bought a couple of carriages, circulated in the city and also on longer routes, to Poznan , Kiev and St. Petersburg.

In 1845, he was inspired by two Russian priests hired after Vienna and from there to Naples wanted to go. Already in Vienna he was treated like best friend: the three gentlemen enjoyed themselves, ate and drank together and even slept in one room. Langner allowed himself to be persuaded to take them to Naples; on the way the cheerful revelers visited Rome , where they spent six days. When they arrived in Naples, they stayed there for three weeks: Langner got the opportunity to see the ruins of Pompei and an eruption of Mount Vesuvius . In the meantime, he did not want to remain in the service of the priests, sold his horses, bought gold-edged lava jewelry and drove back to Warsaw. After the lucrative sale of the jewelry, he bought new carriages and horses. In 1847 he drove a Russian general to Karlsbad and worked there as a transport company: he drove the spa guests to various spas , including Prague , Buda and Vienna. After returning to Warsaw, he had enough money to buy many new cabs, carriages, sleighs and more than twenty horses. However, he soon lost most of his fortune in a fire and the rest to the dishonesty of a young widow, to whom he transferred the remaining fortune in order to save it from a forced auction for debt: the young lady he was to marry disappeared with his all the money. In 1851 things began to improve again: he married a Rosalie of unknown name († 1896 ), rented the "Fuhrmannsherberge" in a suburb of Warsaw, which belonged to a Silesian compatriot named Kurella , built a few tenement houses and a mill there and opened horse-drawn bus services Lublin , Sochaczew and Suwałki . After a few years he was able to buy the hostel: he had the building torn down and built a new, elegant "Hotel der Paris" on the property, which survived until 1914. The gourmet restaurant in the hotel was run by his brother Karl, the former waiter in the "Dresden Hotel". Langner's son Johann owned a large spice shop in Warsaw, while his grandson Edmund owned a famous wine shop and restaurant, "Edmund Langner", in Warsaw's old town.

In 1864, on the occasion of his 50th birthday, Langner self-published his memoirs , which were written in German , and which soon appeared in Polish translation. A secret action by the family caused the entire edition to be destroyed without the father's knowledge: the origins and difficult career of the Silesian farmer's son were not fine enough for the distinguished descendants. To date, only 2 copies of the 1st edition, a German and a Polish, have survived.

Johann Gottlieb Langner was buried in the Evangelical Cemetery in Warsaw (Allee 9 No. 17) and received a magnificent tomb with his bust in white marble from Carrara .

Works

• Memories of a Warsaw coachman. Warsaw 1864 (1 copy exists). Polish translation: Pamiętnik dorożkarza warszawskiego 1832–1867. Warsaw 1975.

literature

• Eugeniusz Szulc: Cmentarz Ewangelicko-Augsburski w Warszawie. Zmarli i i Rodziny . Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warsaw 1989, ISBN 83-06-01606-8 , ( Biblioteka Syrenki ).