Johannes Kahlbaum

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Karl August Ferdinand Johannes Kahlbaum , nickname Johannes Kahlbaum (* July 24, 1851 in Berlin ; † 1909 there), was a Berlin factory owner who took over the distillation and fuel production company ( CAF Kahlbaum ) founded by his grandfather in 1818 , expanded and successfully continued.

Life

Johannes Kahlbaum grew up in a Protestant family in old Berlin . He probably completed his technical and commercial training in the business premises of his father's factory. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871 Johannes Kahlbaum served in the 10th  Hussar Regiment as a one-year volunteer .

In 1879, the father August Wilhelm Kahlbaum (1822–1884) handed over the fuel factory in old Berlin (Münzstrasse 19) and an external chemistry laboratory in Schlesische Strasse ( later incorporated as a district of Kreuzberg to Berlin ) to his son Johannes to continue running.

As a result of the rapidly increasing demand for drinking spirits , but also for chemical-technical raw products, a significant increase in production became necessary. Johannes Kahlbaum bought a building plot of 120 acres (around 15 hectares) in the then Berlin suburb of Adlershof (Glienicker Weg 11–15, corner of Adlergestell ), which had previously belonged to the Lehmann brothers. They originally wanted to run a railroad car rental company on the area , but this idea was not profitable and they had to file for bankruptcy. The property, which already had a rail connection to the railway, lay fallow for a few years. Johannes Kahlbaum gradually relocated the distillations to the existing buildings and in 1890 gave the company the name Kahlbaum Laborpräparate . Kahlbaum was also able to purchase a plot of land on the opposite side at a reasonable price, which left space for further expansion. In addition to the production facilities, the manufacturer had five residential buildings with gardens built for important employees on Glienicker Weg . These areas extended to today's Nipkowstrasse and have been preserved. The wet meadows adjoining the gardens, through which the Vollkropf ditch flowed, could be used by residents and were soon called "Kahlbaumwiesen".

From 1890 to 1906, Johannes Kahlbaum had the architects Gustav Kraemer and Max Jacob plan and build an extensive production complex with several halls and a representative administration building on the plot. Around 1900, around 250 people in the company were already producing around 1000 different chemical-pharmaceutical products.

In 1902, a hunting lodge built by order of Johannes Kahlbaum on the Bauersee near Kagel was ready for occupancy. After the First World War, Johannes Kahlbaum's heirs sold it to a Berlin wholesaler. The main house was destroyed in World War II, but an outbuilding has been preserved. During the GDR era, it served as a training and vacation home for the VEB Messelektronik Berlin factory .

Parts of the Kahlbaum factory complex in Adlershof, here the church-like administration building; Recording from 2011

The services to the supply of the city of Berlin led to the fact that the imperial magistrate made the application for the award of the title Kommerzienrat to the Berlin police president , and (probably) got it approved. For this purpose, all notes from the secret presidential registry from 1901 onwards were viewed. In a personality description created after surveys it says "[...] a closed and not particularly popular man."

Web links

source

Acta of the Police Presidency in Berlin, regarding the factory owner Karl August Fedinand Johannes Kahlbaum , in the Berlin State Archives, C Rep 147-06, internal number 69.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes Kahlbaum in: www.deutsche-biographie.de; accessed on July 16, 2019.
  2. ↑ Helmut Prochnow: Memories of Kahlbaumwiese and Vollkropfgraben in: Adlershofer Zeitung , June 2017, No. 278, pages 8/9.
  3. ↑ Fotowiesel: On the way - on the side. Retrieved July 16, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Kahlbaum, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kahlbaum, Karl August Ferdinand Johannes (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German factory owner
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 1909
Place of death Berlin