Johannes Albrecht Suckau

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johannes Albrecht Suckau (born January 2, 1828 in Lübeck ; † April 8, 1891 there ) was a German businessman.

Life and work as an entrepreneur

Johannes Albrecht Suckau was a son of the skipper Martin Diedrich Suckau (born May 30, 1797 in Lübeck) and his wife Marie Auguste, née Kaven (born December 18, 1798 in Lübeck; † February 16, 1864 ibid). The parents married on May 15, 1827 in Lübeck.

Suckau's father was believed to have been lost at sea after 1827. He grew up with his single mother, who wanted her son to have a good education. Suckau attended the real classes at the Katharineum in Lübeck and then began commercial training at the Schlick & Eckmann trading company . He quickly took on orders abroad for the Lübeck company and also traveled to Denmark for a long time on behalf of Jakob Bürger & Sohn from Barmen . During the sometimes extremely strenuous journeys, he made personal acquaintances which later proved useful. In Denmark he also worked for the iron and steel company Krupp from Essen .

In November 1854 Suckau founded the company JA Suckau and offered agency, commission and forwarding business. A few years later he ended his difficult travel activities and put the focus on sales in Lübeck, where, among other things, he represented prestigious wine companies from Bordeaux. He had relationships with a bank in Hamburg that had problems due to the economic crisis of 1857 and, in addition to the general economic situation, was partly responsible for the fact that Suckau was unable to settle bills for a while. His company belonged to one of four houses in Lübeck that were subjected to an inspection procedure for the settlement of creditor claims. Suckau assured that he would settle 70% of all claims by the end of the year, whereupon the proceedings ended at the end of May 1858.

From January 1860, Suckau worked as a general agent for the Leipziger Feuer-Versicherungs-Anstalt . Afterwards he also represented the insurance company "Donau" from Austria and "Moguntia" from Mainz . For these companies, he founded agencies in several ports on the Baltic Sea. Suckau set up his own library via the Seeassekkuranz and was soon seen as a specialist in the subject area. Together with Gustav Beuck, who worked as director of the "Lübecker Seeversicherungsgesellschaft von 1859", he founded the "Lübeck Seeversicherer Association" in 1888.

Suckau also traded in grain, initially around Lübeck, Holstein and Mecklenburg, but expanded his field of activity within a short time. He bought goods in East Prussia and Russia and sold them in North and Central Germany, but had significant problems due to fluctuations. During the Franco-Prussian War he did not get a sufficient number of wagons from the railroad, after which trade flourished. When the German Empire issued protective tariffs in 1879, trade took a different route. In particular, cheap grain from Russia was now transported by sea to Rotterdam and then across the Rhine . Entrepreneurs from Lübeck had no opportunity to participate. Suckau therefore largely stopped the grain trade and put the focus of his activities on the insurance business, but still maintained a forwarding agency. In Lübeck he temporarily represented Russian and East Prussian grain export companies.

voluntary work

Suckau took on several honorary posts, which is likely to have been the main reason for the reputation he was shown in Lübeck. In November 1854 he joined the Lübeck merchant class and was briefly involved there as an auditor in 1867. In 1870 he became a member of the closer management body of the association and was a member of the Chamber of Commerce since June of the same year. From 1870 to 1874 he participated in the committee for tug steamers, from 1871 to 1874 in the exchange committee and in 1873/74 in the committee for railway affairs.

At the end of June 1874, Suckau was elected President of the Chamber of Commerce. Re-elections took place in 1877, 1880, 1883 and 1886. His term of office in this body ended in June 1889. He participated in several chamber committees, which sometimes also dealt with topics that corresponded to his concerns. In 1877 he took over the chairmanship of the committee for shipping affairs, in 1882 the head of the committee for customs affairs. From 1874 he headed the committee for the administration of commercial wills and prebends, and from 1881 the merchant widow's cash register. From 1880 at the latest, he became the president of the advance and savings association.

A special concern of Suckau was the committee for tug steamers. He belonged to this since 1876 and took over its chairmanship. During this time the Chamber of Commerce had its own fleet of tugs, which underwent a major overhaul during Suckau's tenure as chairman. In 1889 the Chamber of Commerce had three tow steamers built between 1877 and 1880 that could produce 100 to 200 hp. The ships operated on the Trave and took over maneuvering work for ships that arrived in Lübeck or left the city. In winter they worked as ice breakers and also took over passenger transport on special occasions. From 1887 to 1880 the ships competed with those of Henry Koch . In January 1880 the companies merged.

Lightship Gedser Rev 1898

Suckau was chairman of the local nautical association, which had existed since 1870, and initiated two major projects:

  • In February 1871, the association suggested mooring a lightship at Gedser Reef and building a lighthouse in Buk to facilitate navigation in the Kadetrinne . Therefore, in 1878 the Danish government created the Gedser Rev fire station and the government of the German Empire created the Bastorf lighthouse .
  • In July 1871 the association proposed to the Lübeck Senate that the Trave be excavated. From 1878 to 1882, the river was deepened from 5.3 meters to 5.5 meters in the 2nd Trave correction led by Peter Rehder .

Suckau campaigned for the construction of the Elbe-Trave Canal and was a member of the administrative board of Germanischer Lloyd from 1871 to 1889 . From the first mention in 1872 until the end of his life he was a member of the Lübeck citizenship, in the years 1877/78 he was deputy spokesman there. 1879/80, 1884/85 in the first period and in 1885 he took over the post of deputy spokesman. From 1878 to 1884 he was involved in the building deputation, from 1879 to 1886 he was one of the six heads of the St. John's Monastery . In 1873 he joined the Central Arms Deputation; 1873-1875 he worked as a district nurse for the poor institution.

family

On October 11, 1855, Suckau married Charlotte Margarete Elisabeth Grabener in Lübeck (born September 25, 1825 in Lübeck; † April 9, 1898 there). The couple had three daughters and three sons, including Johannes Joachim August (born August 13, 1856 in Lübeck; † May 21, 1922 there). He continued his father's business and shortly before the First World War was named as one of the ten wealthiest people in Lübeck. The name of the company can be found in Lübeck address books until 1931.

Honors

  • Suckau was awarded the Swedish Wasa Order in 1879 .
Medal of honor of the Lübeck Chamber of Commerce
  • When he resigned from the office of President in the Chamber of Commerce for the third time in June 1889 , he was the fourth recipient to receive the gold medal of the Chamber of Commerce donated 1876 "To recognize the merit of trade and transport".

Trivia

After the death of Senator Mann on October 13, 1891, Consul Fehling and the wine merchant Tesdorf were appointed guardians of the five children he left behind.

Thomas Mann was 16 years old at the time. In his novel Die Buddenbrooks , for which he would later receive the Nobel Prize , we meet the businessman Suckau in the person of the businessman Henning Kurz .

literature

  • Christian Ostersehlte: Suckau, Johannes Albrecht . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 12 - 2006. ISBN 3-529-02560-7 , pages 403-406.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Ostersehlte: Suckau, Johannes Albrecht . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 12 - 2006. ISBN 3-529-02560-7 , page 403.
  2. ^ Christian Ostersehlte: Suckau, Johannes Albrecht . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 12 - 2006. ISBN 3-529-02560-7 , pages 403-404.
  3. ^ Christian Ostersehlte: Suckau, Johannes Albrecht . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 12 - 2006. ISBN 3-529-02560-7 , page 404.
  4. ^ Christian Ostersehlte: Suckau, Johannes Albrecht . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 12 - 2006. ISBN 3-529-02560-7 , page 404.
  5. ^ Christian Ostersehlte: Suckau, Johannes Albrecht . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 12 - 2006. ISBN 3-529-02560-7 , page 404.
  6. ^ Christian Ostersehlte: Suckau, Johannes Albrecht . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 12 - 2006. ISBN 3-529-02560-7 , page 405.
  7. ^ Christian Ostersehlte: Suckau, Johannes Albrecht . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 12 - 2006. ISBN 3-529-02560-7 , page 405.
  8. ^ Christian Ostersehlte: Suckau, Johannes Albrecht . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 12 - 2006. ISBN 3-529-02560-7 , page 405.
  9. ^ Christian Ostersehlte: Suckau, Johannes Albrecht . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 12 - 2006. ISBN 3-529-02560-7 , page 405.
  10. ^ Christian Ostersehlte: Suckau, Johannes Albrecht . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 12 - 2006. ISBN 3-529-02560-7 , pages 405-406.
  11. ^ Christian Ostersehlte: Suckau, Johannes Albrecht . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 12 - 2006. ISBN 3-529-02560-7 , page 403.
  12. ↑ Quoted from Jan Zimmermann : St. Gertrud 1860–1945. Bremen 2007, p. 8.
  13. ^ Christian Ostersehlte: Suckau, Johannes Albrecht . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 12 - 2006. ISBN 3-529-02560-7 , page 406.
  14. ^ The coin of honor of the Lübeck Chamber of Commerce. In: Father-city sheets . Born in 1905, No. 3, edition of January 15, 1905, p. 11.
  15. ^ Buddenbrooks - List of real names
personal data
SURNAME Suckau, Johannes Albrecht
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German businessman
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH Lübeck
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1891
Place of death Lübeck