Karl Knauf

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Karl Knauf (born March 27, 1909 in Algringen ; † July 18, 1984 in Iphofen ) was a German entrepreneur. Together with his brother Alfons Knauf , he laid the foundation stone for Knauf Gips, which now operates worldwide, by founding a gypsum pit in 1932 .

Career

He was the son of the miner Matthias Knauf, who initially worked for the Röchling company in Algringen in Lorraine and later in Deutsch-Oth . In 1922 the family moved to Wellen on the Moselle. Karl Knauf owned a sand pit with two employees while he was still in high school . At the Technical University of Berlin , Karl studied mining together with his older brother Alfons .

In 1932 the brothers founded a gypsum mine in Schengen . In 1933, not far from Schengen, in Perl, Saarland, the brothers acquired a bankrupt lime works, which they converted into a gypsum plant and which then traded as Gebr. Knauf Rheinische Gipsindustrie . The company's main plant in Perl was destroyed during the western campaign . Karl Knauf and his family temporarily moved to Stadtoldendorf, where another Knauf factory was located. From 1940 on, the brothers rebuilt the plant in Perl and leased another plant in Markt Einersheim . At the end of the war, however, the brothers' works were placed under compulsory administration. While Alfons lived temporarily in Chile , Karl Knauf rebuilt the company from 1947 onwards. It was not until 1951 that Saar-Gipswerke GmbH regained its independence. In 1956, Alfins also returned to Saarland and joined the family business again. From 1957 the company expanded. The Knauf brothers acquired numerous companies and built numerous plaster works. The brothers managed the company alone until 1969, after which Karl's eldest son Baldwin and Alfons' eldest son Nikolaus became personally liable partners. In 1972 the previously separately operating companies Saar-Gispwerke Siersburg and Gipswerke Iphofen were merged. Iphofen became the new company headquarters. Building on the performance of the company founders, their company developed through international expansion into the globally active Knauf Group .

In the 1970s, the Knauf brothers built the Knauf Museum Iphofen in the town's former prince-bishop's rent office with relief casts from all major cultural epochs, which opened in 1983.

Karl Knauf was awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit and the Bavarian State Medal , among others . The city of Iphofen has made him an honorary citizen . The multi-purpose hall Karl-Knauf-Halle in Iphofen also bears his name.

From 1938 he was married to Lucia Federau, called Lucie, in his second marriage. The Knauf Group is still owned by his descendants and that of his brother Alfons.

literature

  • Werner Rödiger, Herbert Schumacher, Wilfried Demel: Growing and Becoming. Biography of the entrepreneurial family Knauf , Iphofen 2003.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Till Dillinger: From Perl to the whole world. (No longer available online.) Forum - The Weekly Magazine, February 10, 2013, formerly in the original ; accessed on February 6, 2017 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / magazin-forum.de  
  2. ↑ Knauf made an honorary citizen. Mainpost , April 29, 2008, accessed February 9, 2017 .
  3. ^ Karl Knauf Hall. Stadt-Iphofen.de, accessed on February 6, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Knauf, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Algringen
DATE OF DEATH July 18, 1984
Place of death Iphofen