Kurt concern

Kurt Oskar Sorge (born July 28, 1855 in Zwickau , † September 9, 1928 in Berlin ) was a German industrialist and chairman of several business associations.

Life

After attending the Zwickau Citizens' School, Sorge graduated from secondary schools in Chemnitz and Dresden . In 1873 he passed the school leaving examination . Sorge, from whose family several technicians came, then started studying at the Freiberg Mining Academy . In 1877 he received his diploma as an iron and steel engineer .

He then found a job as a chemist and assistant engineer at the Ilseder Hütte in Peine . In 1879 he moved to the Georgsmarienhütte as an assistant and chemist , where he stayed until 1882. In 1887 he became a technical adviser to the Spaeter company in Koblenz . In 1888 he left the company and became director of the Rombacher Hütte .

In 1893 he then moved to Friedrich Krupp AG Grusonwerk in Magdeburg-Buckau , where he received power of attorney in 1895 and became a member of the board of directors and chairman of the management board in 1899. The Krupp-Grusonwerk, which he successfully ran, was one of the largest heavy machinery construction companies in Germany. He operated the expansion of the steelworks and the construction and expansion of the wheel foundry and forge.

In 1902 he became chairman of the Association of Magdeburg Metal Industries . Later he became a member of the board of the General Association of German Metal Industries . In 1910 and 1911 he took over the chairmanship of the Association of German Engineers , in 1915 he was elected chairman of the Association of German Mechanical Engineering Institutions for five years . From 1917 to 1924 he also held the function of chairman of the Association of German Employers' Associations.

During the First World War he was chief of the technical staff of the War Office and coordinated German industry.

A significant challenge in his work at the Krupp-Grusonwerk was the conversion of the factory, which was heavily influenced by the armaments industry, to civilian production after the end of the First World War, while maintaining the workforce.

In 1919 Sorge became a member of the supervisory board of Friedrich Krupp AG , of which he became deputy chairman in 1925. This was followed by positions on the supervisory board of Leipziger Messe- und Ausstellunggesellschaft AG and as chairman of the supervisory board of Deutsche Kreditversicherungs AG . Between 1919 and 1925 he also took over the chairmanship of the Reich Association of German Industry , of which he was later honorary chairman. He was also a member of the Provisional Reich Economic Council . In 1922 he became a member of the Gäa . Sorge was a member of the German People's Party and was a member of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic from 1920 to 1928 .

In 1924 the Technical University of Dresden awarded him the honorary title of Dr.-Ing. In 1925, Sorge was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bonn . The city of Magdeburg had temporarily named a street in his honor as Kurt-Sorge-Strasse .

family

In 1879, Sorge married the daughter Jenny (1858–1886) of the Freiberg lawyer and politician Ottomar Blüher . After Kurt died in 1886 with or shortly after the birth of his first child, he married Jenny's older sister Helene (* 1854) a second time in 1888.

Fonts

• The development of the iron industry over the past 25 years. In: VDI monthly magazine. Volume 7, Issue 6, 1914

literature

• Kurt Sorge †. In: Journal of the Association of German Engineers , Volume 72, No. 41 (October 13, 1928), pp. 1441–1442.
• C. Schiffner: From the life of old Freiberg mountain students . E. Maukisch, Freiberg 1935, pp. 237-239.
• Werner Bührer:  Worry, Kurt Oskar. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , p. 599 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Werner Hohaus: Worry, Kurt. In: Guido Heinrich, Gunter Schandera (ed.): Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon 19th and 20th centuries. Biographical lexicon for the state capital Magdeburg and the districts of Bördekreis, Jerichower Land, Ohrekreis and Schönebeck. Scriptum, Magdeburg 2002, ISBN 3-933046-49-1 .
• Uwe Kessler: On the history of management at Krupp. From the beginning of the company to the dissolution of Fried. Krupp AG (1811-1943) . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-515-06486-9

Web links

• Kurt Sorge in the database of members of the Reichstag
• Newspaper article about Kurt Sorge in the press kit for the 20th century of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .