Karl von Škoda

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Karl von Škoda by Jan Vilímek
( The Humorist , issue of January 10, 1917)
Jagdschloß Ritter v. Škoda (south side), Gaaden, Lower Austria; Architect: Emanuel von Seidl (before 1911)

Karl Freiherr von Škoda (born June 29, 1878 in Pilsen , West Bohemia ; † January 10, 1929 in Semmering in Lower Austria ) was General Director of the Škoda Works in Pilsen.

Life and family

After attending grammar school in Pilsen, Karl von Škoda served as a kuk one-year volunteer in the navy and studied at the Technical University of Zurich and Stuttgart . After his father Emil von Škoda (1839–1900) died in 1900, Karl became the main shareholder of the extensive Škoda Group at the age of 22 . But since he was too young to be General Director at this age, the banks gave preference to Georg Günther , Central Director of the Bohemian Mining Company. Two years later he became a member of the Board of Directors, and in 1906 deputy general manager. On November 20, 1906, he married Hedwig Hermann, a daughter of Anton Hermann, director of the Skoda factory, in whose marriage the sons Emil and Karl and the daughter Hedwig were born.

In 1909, after internal power struggles with Günther , who prematurely terminated his contract , Karl von Skoda was elected General Director of the group. He moves the company's headquarters to Kantgasse in Vienna. The peacetime production was in Prague Maschinenbau AG focused while in Pilsen, the defense industry has contracted. He expanded the capacity of the steel works and the arms factory by producing wagon axles . As a result, the group received large orders from the Austro-Hungarian state railways and is said to have employed up to 35,000 workers at times. Before the war began in 1914, extensive arms deliveries were made to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy , especially 15 cm howitzers and mountain cannons, 30.5 cm howitzers and, during the First World War (1914–1918), 38 cm howitzers and 24 cm cannons. Engineer Karl von Škoda is considered to be the inventor of the 30.5 cm mortar and other ballistic and artillery weapons.

On October 27, 1914, Karl Ritter von Škoda was raised to the status of hereditary barons in Austria and was one of the founders of the Oesterreichische Flugzeugfabrik AG in Wiener Neustadt and the cannon factory in Győr . He was also involved in the Austro-Daimler works to develop vehicles for transporting the mortar.

In 1917 and 1918 he was a member of the Austrian manor house and the Reichsrat . Like his father, he was very socially minded and a constant promoter of local economic and cultural concerns. He has received numerous awards, including the Franz Joseph Order and honorary doctorates from the German Technical University in Prague and the TH Stuttgart. His services to the arming of the Austro-Hungarian army and the fleet on the Adriatic brought him on October 22nd, 1915, the appointment as marine artillery engineer retired. D. In 1918 he was also appointed privy councilor.

After the end of the First World War in 1918 and the emergence of Czechoslovakia , Karl Freiherr von Skoda was expelled from the country following a state land reform after a partial expropriation of his property in Bohemia. He settled in Vienna and also lived in his hunting lodge in Gaaden in Lower Austria. His shareholding is said to have come into the possession of French shareholders. He then left the management of the Skoda factory in Pilsen. He retained his property and the Žinkovy Castle near Pilsen, which he had administered from Austria and which remained in the possession of his descendants until May 1945. After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918, the family fell under the Nobility Repeal Act .

In 1925 he was injured in a car accident on the way from Gaaden to Vienna. His chauffeur died in the process.

Karl (Freiherr von) Škoda died on January 10, 1929 while taking a cure at Semmering near Vienna. He was laid to rest on January 14, 1929 in the local cemetery in Gaaden in Lower Austria. After the grave maintenance of the grave ended in 2014, the grave was permanently taken over by the community . The grave inscriptions were sponsored by the Škoda general importer Intercar.

A death mask reminds of him in the Gaadner Heimatmuseum.

patron

Skoda belonged to the founding association of the Technical Museum in Vienna. Together with Bernhard Wetzler , he bought the collection of Baroness Ebner-Eschenbach for the watch museum . But Skoda was also generous in social matters. With a donation he made it possible for the Red Cross to build a lung hospital in Puchberg am Schneeberg . In his last hometown, Gaaden, he also supported social institutions, schools, kindergartens and a home for war invalids.

literature

  • Rolf Freiherr von Perger: Chronicle of the Perger family. 1995, therein: Chronicle of the Škoda Family , pp. 132–157, and 1997:

Addendum to the chronicle.

Web links

Commons : Karl von Škoda  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • Škoda, Karl Freiherr von . In: Biographical Lexicon on the History of the Bohemian Lands . Volume 4, Delivery 2, Munich: Oldenburg 2005, p. 96 f. ( limited preview in Google Book search)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Ilona Gälzer: Privy Councilor of Cannons in the Wiener Zeitung from 22./23. November 2014 p. 37 ( online )
  2. ↑ Appointment of Baron v. Skoda to retired naval artillery general engineer D .. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 18388/1915, October 30, 1915, p. 8, top left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  3. ^ Hunting lodge Ritter v. Skoda in Gaaden near Vienna. In:  Wiener Bauindustrie-Zeitung , year 1911, no. 37/1911 (XXVIII. Year), pp. 288 f., 291 (main part) as well as plates 69–71. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wbzas well as
    Wilhelm Michel: New works by Emanuel von Seidl . In: Alexander Koch (Ed.): Interior decoration. The entire art of living in pictures and words . Issue 1.1911, XXII. Year, ISSN  2195-6340 . Verlagsanstalt Koch, Darmstadt 1911, pp. 39–48. - Full text online .
  4. ^ Mentschl: Skoda (Škoda) .
  5. ↑ ( Parte ):  Bent over with deep pain (...). In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 23105/1929, January 11, 1929, p. 23, top left. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  6. ↑ Gaaden saves Škoda grave in the NÖN edition Mödling, week 21/2014, p. 37
personal data
SURNAME Škoda, Karl von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Škoda, Karl Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bohemian-Austrian entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Pilsen
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 1929
Place of death Semmering , Lower Austria