Johannes Semler jun.

Johannes Semler (born April 28, 1923 in Hamburg ; † October 9, 2018 in Kronberg ) was a German lawyer and entrepreneur . He worked as an auditor and as a lawyer for almost 60 years. As a member of the board of directors of several companies, he was responsible for financing and accounting. He was a member of numerous supervisory boards and advisory boards of large and medium-sized companies, especially in family businesses. After completing a teaching assignment, he was granted the license to teach commercial and corporate law. For years he was an honorary professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business .

Life

Semler was born as the son of Emma Helene Semler. Hütz (1902 to 1992) and trainee Johannes Ferdinand Semler (1898 to 1973) were born in Hamburg . His father was a lawyer (1924 to 1932) and an auditor (until his death). As a politician of the CSU, he was best known for his Erlanger (chicken feed) speech, which he had given in February 1947 as the then director of economics in the United Economic Area. Semler began his school years in Hamburg in 1929 and continued it in Berlin, Innsbruck, Freiburg i. Br. And Vienna away. At the end of April 1941 he finished his school education with the Matura at the Staatsgymnasium Vienna I (formerly Schottengymnasium). During the course of the eighth grade, Semler was drafted into the Reich Labor Service , which he performed for four months in Zuckmantel in the East Sudetenland. In the period from May 2, 1941 to May 9, 1945, he did military service in the Wehrmacht . From May 10, 1945 to April 28, 1948 he was a prisoner of war in Yugoslavia . He continued a course he had begun in captivity at the University of Hamburg and passed the first state examination in November 1949 and the second in June 1953. He was admitted to the bar and admitted to the bar in December 1953.

For professional reasons Semler moved his residence to Schönberg bei Kronberg (Ts) in 1958 and to Oberursel in 1963 . From 1987 he lived again in Kronberg-Schönberg. Semler was married and had three children.

War years

Semler was a recruit with the mountain troops in Admont im Gesäuse (Upper Styria). After six weeks of course time in Marburg / Drau , he became an instructor in Admont. In May 1942 he was transferred to a unit that, in preparation for the Caucasus campaign, trained Caucasians who had registered for military service in the German Wehrmacht to become mountain fighters. With this unit, Semler was on the frontline in the Caucasus, Crimea and the Balkans. Shortly before the end of the withdrawal from the Balkans, the Wehrmacht capitulated and Semler was taken prisoner by Yugoslavs. First he spent two and a quarter years in the officers' prison camp in Vršac north of Belgrade. After voluntarily reporting, he worked as a prisoner of war for nine months in the Bor copper mine (opencast mine). At the end of April 1948 he was released to Hamburg.

Study and training

While in captivity, Semler was able to start studying law at a "barbed wire university" in the prisoner-of-war camp in Vrsac. Three semesters and some compulsory work were credited towards the compulsory study period. After returning from captivity, he continued his studies at the University of Hamburg . He finished it with the first state examination in law. After the prescribed preparation time, Semler passed the assessor exam in 1953 and the auditor exam in 1955. From 1958 to 1963 he was a member of the main technical committee of the Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer , from 1968 to 1994 a member or chairman of the "Working Group for Economic Auditing". In 1979 he took up his studies again; at the University of Bochum he was preparing for his Dr. jur. in front. At the end of 1979 he submitted his dissertation entitled "The Supervisory Board's Monitoring Task". He received his doctorate "magna cum laude".

Employment

Johannes Semler already worked as an intern at Deutsche Warentreuhand AG during his studies and his internship . From 1953 he worked as an auditor and member of the legal department in this company. In 1957 he was appointed head of the company's Frankfurt branch. In exchange, he worked for three months in New York at the US accounting firm Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co . In December 1959, Semler was appointed a deputy member, and in 1961 a full member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Warentreuhand AG .

On April 1, 1963, Semler was appointed general representative of the Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG) . He took over the management of the finance department; In 1964 he became a deputy and in 1966 a full member of the board of this company. After eleven years and intensive disputes about the situation and the development of the company, Semler left the board of directors of AEG by mutual agreement. Since then, Semler has worked as a freelance lawyer and management consultant. From July 1996 to May 2005 he worked as "Of Counsel" with the international law firm Clifford Chance . After that he continued to work as a lawyer and management consultant. As part of this activity, he was a member of the Board of Management of Mercedes Automobil Holding AG from 1981 to 1984 and Managing Director of Marzotto GmbH from 1998 to 2001. As part of his freelance work, Semler was chairman or member of numerous supervisory boards, advisory boards and shareholder committees, primarily in family companies. Among other things, he was chairman of the supervisory boards of Hugo Boss AG and Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers KGaA as well as a member of the supervisory boards of Daimler-Benz AG and Axel-Springer-Verlag AG .

Scientific activity

Semler was a member and rapporteur of the corporate law commission of the German Juristentag from 1957 to 1965. From 1972 to 1979 Semler was a member of the corporate law commission of the Federal Ministry of Justice. In 1985 Semler received a lectureship in commercial and corporate law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. In 1989 he received the license to teach these subjects. At the same time he was appointed honorary professor. Semler was (as of February 2013) a member of the commercial law committee of the German Bar Association .

Writing, publications

In the scientific field, Johannes Semler was, in part, alone as author and editor; partly working with colleagues:

As editor or co-editor, Johannes Semler is responsible for the following works:

• Munich Commentary on the Stock Corporation Act (2nd edition of the commentary by Geßler / Hefermehl / Eckardt / Kropf), co-editor Bruno Kropff.
• Commentary on the Transformation Act, 2nd edition, Volume 56 in the series of Beck's short comments, co-editor Arndt Stengel,
• Working manual for members of the supervisory board, together with Kersten von Schenck, soon in fourth edition.
• Work manual for the general meeting, together with Rüdiger Volhard and Jochem Reichert, up to the third edition.
• Working manual for board members, together with Martin Peltzer, soon in the second edition.
• Work manual for company takeovers, together with Rüdiger Volhard,
• Legal foundations of a free economic order with Marcus Lutter
• "Volunteers from the Caucasus". Co-author / co-editor, Graz 2003.

As an author or co-author, Semler has contributed to the following works:

• "Management and supervision of the stock corporation". Dissertation, second edition
• The limited partnership on shares and together with Barbara Grunewald the part about integrated companies. in Geßler / Hefermehl / Eckardt / Kropff, Stock Corporation Act.
• Articles and contributions in all works whose editor or co-editor Johannes Semler is or was.
• Investigations into the reform of corporate law, report of the study commission of the German Juristentag
• About ten articles in various compilations of corporate and capital market law, about 30 articles on festschriften and about 30 additional articles in specialist journals on current topics, as well as book reviews and comments on judgments.

Honors

During the war, Johannes Semler received awards for bravery and other decorations (e.g. golden badge for wounded ). After lectures at the Technical University of Tbilisi and after holding several large symposia together with the President of the Supreme Court of Georgia, Lado Chanturia, Johannes Semler was promoted to Dr. hc of the Technical University. The State Academy of Fine Arts in Tbilisi made Semler an honorary professor in 2001. The then President of the Republic of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze , awarded Johannes Semler honorary citizenship of the Republic of Georgia in 2001 .

literature

• KW Böhme: The German prisoners of war in Yugoslavia 1949–1953 . Munich 1964.
• Jeloschek, Richter, Schütte, Semler: Volunteers from the Caucasus . Leopold Stocker Verlag , Graz 2003.
• Markus Bierich, Peter Hommelhoff, Bruno Kropff (eds.): Festschrift for Johannes Semler on his 70th birthday on April 28, 1993 . Berlin 1993.

Web links

• Literature by and about Johannes Semler jun. in the catalog of the German National Library

supporting documents

1. ↑ [1] (PDF; 51.3 kB)