Katharina Sulzer-Neuffert

Katharina Sulzer-Neuffert

Katharina Sulzer-Neuffert (born February 5, 1778 in Leutkirch ; † January 27, 1858 in Winterthur ) was a Swiss factory owner of German origin who had a strong influence on the "Sulzer Brothers" company and promoted its development into a global corporation.

Life

Katharina Sulzer-Neuffert was born into a well-to-do pharmacist family in Leutkirch, Swabia. Due to financial difficulties, she was forced to leave the home with her sister in the spring of 1795 and to take a job as domestic help in Switzerland. She came to Winterthur and worked for Hofrat Johann Sebastian von Clais . In the house of the Clais family she was very much appreciated for her character and hard work. It was there that she met the young locksmith Jakob Sulzer. His father owned the first brass foundry in Winterthur and had close business relationships with the Clais family.

Katharina Neuffert and Jakob Sulzer had been a couple for several years when they married on February 9, 1806, after the Sulzer company opened a new workshop that her husband could take over. The sons Johann Jakob and Salomon were born in 1806 and 1809.

Sulzer family

The roots of the Sulzer family in Winterthur go back to 1408. Gender has always had a considerable influence in the city, and the Sulzers were present in both economic, political and social life. Over the centuries they produced four mayors or city presidents and 16 city councilors. In the 19th century they formed the largest local bourgeois family by far. Salomon Sulzer, known as the elder, was born in 1751 as the only son of the innkeeper of the restaurant "Zum Wilden Mann" at 3 Obertor. He learned the craft of silver turning and then founded the first brass foundry. His son Johann Jakob Sulzer learned the same trade and took over the workshop. His two sons Salomon Sulzer-Sulzer and Johann Jakob Sulzer-Hirzel expanded the company into a global corporation , with the active help of their mother Katharina.

Company Sulzer Brothers

Katharina Sulzer-Neuffert supported her husband with all her strength. At first they had major economic problems, and her husband suffered from severe mood swings that made him think about giving up. However, they wanted to hand over the business to their two sons and, after completing their training in the family business, sent them abroad for further training. In 1834 they handed over to their two sons, who had major expansion plans. These could only be realized with outside capital , which the father did not want until his wife could convince him. This marked the beginning of the expansion into the global SULZER group that still exists today . In 1853 the husband died. Katharina Sulzer-Neuffert died after a severe gout disease in 1858 at the age of eighty.

They did not experience how the family business continued to grow and how it was active in various areas from locomotive construction to medical technology. The group also went through several crises and was reorganized again and again. The ownership structure also changed, so the majority of the shares were with Russian owners for some time.

Create

Former factory building and high-rise office building of the Sulzer company in Winterthur

In a biography of Katharina Sulzer-Neuffert by Alexander Isler , her influence on events in the family and in the company is emphasized. She was an energetic woman and cooked lunch for the entire workforce for a long time, which soon grew to 50 people. She was also described as a very good mother and a reliable wife. It was always important to her that the Sulzer workers were doing best. She is remembered as an important person in Winterthur.

Honors and commemorations

The old Sulzer factory site in the middle of the city of Winterthur has been converted for residential and commercial use. In 2013, the square in the new center was named "Katharina Sulzer-Platz" after the founding mother.

literature

• Conrad Matschoss: The history of the company Gebrüder Sulzer Winterthur and Ludwighafen a. Rh. Julius Springer's publishing bookstore, Berlin 1910.
• E. Brn. Praise of service. In: At the domestic stove. Volume 54, No. 24, Zurich, September 15, 1951, p. 478f.
• Alexander Isler : The woman as wife and mother. Katharina Sulzer-Neuffert. In: Gertrud Villiger-Keller (ed.): The Swiss woman. A family book. Neuchâtel 1911, pp. 1–65.
• Christian von Zimmermann : Biography of women: life descriptions and portraits. Gunter Narr Verlag, 2005.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Katharina Sulzer-Neuffert in the Winterthur glossary.
2. ^ Sulzer - An attempt at a family history in the Winterthur glossary.