Leopold Hoesch

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Leopold Hoesch
The tomb

The industrialist Leopold Hoesch (born January 13, 1820 in Düren ; † April 21, 1899 ibid) founded the Hoesch AG iron and steel works , later the Westfalenhütte, in Dortmund in the then Prussian province of Westphalia .

Youth and education

Hoesch was the only son of Wilhelm Hoesch (1791–1831) and his wife Johanna (1790–1879), a daughter of the hut owner and cloth manufacturer Arnold Schoeller (1747–1831) and sister of the Düren entrepreneur Leopold Schoeller .

His father William had established with his brothers Ludolph (1788-1859) and Eberhard (1790-1852) in 1812, the company "Brothers Hoesch" which the paper and iron enterprises of Hoesch Family in Krauthausen , Schneidhausen , Zweifall and Simonskall summarized .

After attending the Protestant elementary school in Düren, Wilhelm Hoesch - like almost all wealthy industrialists in Düren - sent his son Leopold to Cologne to attend the higher middle school founded in 1828, which later became the Kreuzgasse grammar school . After his father's death on September 23, 1831, his brother Eberhard signed a contract with Leopold's mother Johanna on April 24, 1832. According to J. Hashagen, the assets of the deceased “incidentally only amounted to 92,000 thalers (…).” From then on, the upbringing of the eleven-year-old Leopold was solely in the hands of his strict mother.

After graduating from high school in Cologne, Leopold attended the polytechnic school in Vienna for three years and lived with his eldest sister Pauline, who had lived there with her husband Alexander von Schoeller since 1831 . After graduating from the Polytechnic, Leopold went to Liège for a few months to perfect his French.

First professional experience and starting a family

Back in Düren, Leopold worked in his uncle Eberhard's shop. He took on the role of a father for Leopold and he recognized his abilities and soon gave him a preferred position in the company.

The relationship between the two also deepened when Leopold married Eberhard's second daughter Henrietta Maria Sibilla (1823–1872) in 1844. From today's perspective, the marriage among close relatives, which is unusual from today's perspective, was not unusual at that time, and especially in the Dürens factory owner families. In the same year Leopold's mother bought a house in Weierstrasse, so that Leopold and his wife moved into their parents' house in Wirtelstrasse, which his father had bought in 1824 . Leopold's marriage had five children: Wilhelm (1845–1923), Albert (1847–1898), Hugo (1850–1916), Adele (1853–1920) and Pauline (1858–1920).

Hoesch's father had greatly expanded the family business in 1846 by founding a rolling mill on Sticher Berg in Eschweiler and purchasing ten additional mine fields to secure the supply of raw materials and energy. On October 1, 1846, the company "Gebrüder Eberhard und Wilhelm Hoesch", named after Leopold's father and uncle, changed and from then on operated under the name "Eberhard Hoesch & Sons." Leopold's mother resigned from her share in favor of her son. He now held a quarter in the company. In addition to Eberhard himself, his eldest son Gustav Hoesch (1818–1885) was involved in the new company, which now included the operations in Eschweiler, Lendersdorf, Schneidhausen, Simonskall and Zweifall. While the depression that accompanied the March Revolution endangered the plant in Eschweiler, which was under construction and was unique in its dimensions, it became one of the most profitable plants alongside Lendersdorf in the subsequent boom in the mid-1950s.

Company manager

After the death of his uncle Eberhard on April 21, 1852, Leopold became the new, authoritative head of the family and head of the company. In the 1860s, the switch to the Bessemer process made iron ores low in phosphorus and sulfur necessary. The Hoeschwerke threatened to become unprofitable due to their poor traffic situation. Hoesch therefore relocated the company's headquarters to the Ruhr area in order to benefit from low freight costs and the proximity to the coal mines. Together with his sons Wilhelm (1845–1923) and Albert (1847–1898), who got to know the most modern industrial techniques abroad, as well as with the sons of his uncle Eberhard, Viktor and Eberhard Hoesch , the foundation of the “ Eisen- und Stahlwerk Hoesch ”in Dortmund with a share capital of 800,000 thalers. The company was initially a general partnership and two years after it was founded, it was converted into a stock corporation, whose shares remained in family ownership and which has since operated under the name Hoesch AG .

While Albert took over the construction and management of the plant, Leopold took care of the strategic direction of the new company. The new plant also set new standards on a social level with its own company health insurance fund , the BKK Hoesch , and later with a death benefit fund , the provident fund Hoesch . The development of the new plant proceeded point by point according to Leopold's plan. Later, among the so-called Hoeschians, the term Karl Hoesch emerged , a lovingly intended declaration of respect which, as an idiom, stands for everything that has to do with the steel company Hoesch AG.

Until the end of the century, Leopold Hoesch, as the majority shareholder and chairman of the supervisory board, had central responsibility in the company. The Bessem steelworks initially used with rail and beam rolling mills was replaced by a Thomas mill in 1884 . In 1895 a Siemens-Martinwerk was built with several rolling mills. In 1896 a blast furnace was added.

Under Hoesch's leadership, the share capital rose from 3.6 to 15 million marks, the bonds grew to six million marks.

Corporate investments

His extraordinary commitment and entrepreneurial instinct is evident in the numerous institutions in which he was mostly active. Here again the personality of his predecessor, uncle and role model Eberhard Hoesch is reflected. Leopold was a member of the supervisory board of the "Aachener Hütten- und Aktienverein Rothe Erde ", the Hüttenwerk Phoenix in Ruhrort , the Märkisch-Westfälischer Bergwerkverein in Letmathe , the Sieg-Rheinischer Bergwerks- und Hüttenverein, the Schaaffhausen'schen Bankenverein in Cologne and also a member of the board of the Rheinische Eisenbahngesellschaft .

Economic interest policy

After playing a major role in establishing a joint interest group, Leopold became the first chairman of the Technical Association for Metallurgy, which was founded in 1860 (since 1880 the Association of German Ironworkers, now the VDEh Steel Institute ). Four years later he became its honorary chairman and is also considered the spiritual father of the iron research institute founded by the association in Düsseldorf in 1917.

Leopold knew how to cleverly combine the economic and political interests of his company with those of his branch. In his club function, however, Hoesch pleaded in vain for maintaining moderate iron tariffs in the 1860s. During the founding crisis, he advocated the introduction of protective tariffs from 1873 onwards .

A high point of his industrial policy engagement was his role as an expert in the iron study commission of 1878.

Politics and honorary positions

Since 1859 Leopold, like many other wealthy industrialists from Düren, was also a member of the city council, because “the personal skills of the entrepreneurs, the close connection between community and industry, as well as the social and economic position also pushed the manufacturers to the most important political tasks of the city and the district Düren. ” In addition, he was a member of the district council and, since he was the owner of the Boisdorf manor , he was also a member of the district council . Also in the Protestant community, which was supported by numerous foundations of the Hoesch family, Leopold was active as their church master from 1870 to 1875 in addition to regular visits to the masses. After he had been appointed to the Commerce Council at a young age , he was given the title of a secret Commerce Council in 1884. And in the same year he was awarded the Cross of the French Legion of Honor and the Bavarian Civil Service Order of St. Michael for his active participation in world exhibitions .

The importance and recognition of his achievements by politics is also shown by the fact that General Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke was a guest in Leopold's house on Wirtelstrasse during a major maneuver around Düren.

The conservative political stance is particularly evident in the fact that the Düren industrialists signed the so-called “Cologne Address” from 1863 during the Prussian constitutional conflict. King Wilhelm I was asked to establish the constitutional legal status.

His involvement in the new German-East African Society of 1887 known as the DOAG can be seen as an indication of Leopold's patriotic sentiments . Although he was extremely skeptical about the profitability of the colonial society - in which numerous Rhenish industrialists were involved in addition to the Kaiser as the largest shareholder - he took part. In 1887 Leopold wrote to the Cologne industrialist Eugen Langen , who was significantly involved in the new DOAG, that he was participating in the DOAG “only out of patriotic inclination and to do justice to your interest in this colonial matter”.

In Düren, Leopold, as a successful and communally committed factory owner, was valued by all and resided - like all successful entrepreneurs at that time - in his representative villa in front of the Obertor , which he had built there in 1865. In general, the relationship between workers and manufacturers in Düren was exceptional. After 1870, the successful businessmen and their families, venerated as “princes”, increasingly invited all employees of their companies with their family members to festivities. In addition to the need for recognition, a real interest in the well-being of the community, helpfulness and a feeling of religious obligation also played a major role in the social commitment of the Düren entrepreneurs.

Social engagement and family life

In 1884 Leopold donated 70,000 marks to the Protestant school. Six years later, thanks to his successfully completed lobbying work with other manufacturers and a further donation by Leopold of 20,000 marks, the upgrading of the school to an upper secondary school was celebrated. From now on, the Düren students no longer had to travel to Cologne to receive a thorough and up-to-date high level of training.

Leopold's own difficult childhood was certainly reflected in this commitment to youth. In keeping with tradition, he laid the foundations for his sons to be independent at an early age, giving them the opportunity to develop their skills and inclinations. While Albert was in charge of the Hoesch factory in Dortmund from the age of 24 until his surprisingly early death, Wilhelm became the sole owner of the company "Eberhard Hoesch and Sons" after Albert's early death. For the third and later ennobled son Hugo von Hoesch , who married Mathilde Friederike, a daughter of the German-Austrian industrialist Gustav Adolph von Schoeller , Leopold bought the Hütten paper mill in Königstein / Saxon Switzerland . For his two daughters Adele, who married the Aachen textile manufacturers Carl Delius and Pauline, who married Richard Brockhoff, connections with successful manufacturers from Aachen and Düren also ensured a secure future.

Leopold Hoesch Museum Düren

On April 21, 1899, Leopold died after a stroke in his villa at Oberstrasse 64, from where on April 24 the funeral procession carried the body to his grave in the Protestant cemetery. In the obituaries in the Düren newspapers, the officials and workers thanked their strict, always legal and loving fatherly superior for his commitment and interest in the well-being of the workforce. The high school also remembered their noble donor and led the funeral procession. The strong participation of the population in the funeral of their benefactor reflected Leopold's reputation and the recognition of his charity. After Leopold's death, his son Wilhelm bequeathed the city of Düren an amount of 300,000 marks in 1899 for the construction of an art museum, which was finally opened in 1905 under the name Leopold-Hoesch-Museum .

See also

source

  • Gerd Mörsch: Leopold Hoesch - a "gentleman from head to toe" . Biography printed in the commemorative publication for the 100th anniversary of the Leopold Hoesch Museum

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hoesch, Leopold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1820
PLACE OF BIRTH Düren
DATE OF DEATH April 21, 1899
Place of death Düren