Martin Päßler

Martin Päßler also Peßler , Bäßler or Bäsler ( baptized November 14, 1586 in Platten ; † July 26, 1651 in Zschorlau ) was a German entrepreneur from Bohemia .

Life

He was the son of Barthel Peßler the Elder and Anna geb. Hausmann from Platten and, along with the hammer mill owner Caspar Wittich, was one of the most influential personalities in the area of Johanngeorgenstadt, founded in 1654 in the Saxon Ore Mountains , on the border with the Bohemian Ore Mountains. As a young man, he took over a paint mill in the Bohemian Breitenbachtal , above the later “ Dreckschänke ” inn , which burned to the ground in 1621 and was never rebuilt. After the fire, on February 26, 1622, Päßler received the right to operate a new paint mill, which he built in the same valley, below the paint mill from Christoph Schürer.

Päßler fell in love with Schürer's daughter Margareta, whom he married on April 23, 1617 in Platten. Out of consideration for his father-in-law, he sold his mill to Georg Preussler on September 27, 1622 and moved to Platten. From this color mill and a neighboring glassworks, the upper blue color factory later emerged. His younger brother was the paint mill owner Barthel Peßler the Younger, who had been married to Margareta's sister Maria Schürer since January 23, 1629.

In Platten, Martin Päßler specialized in trading in blue paint, which his father-in-law produced. He supplied several blue paint factories across the Saxon border, making him a wealthy man. After the death of his first wife, on November 4, 1645, he entered into another marriage with Rosina Gessner, the daughter of Gregor Gessner from Platten. The marriage remained childless. After the death of her husband, Rosina Päßler gave birth to an illegitimate child in 1655.

On one of his numerous sales trips in the Saxon Ore Mountains, he felt uncomfortable on the way and stopped in the shepherd's house on the outskirts of Zschorlau. His physical weakness was caused by lice , which quickly multiplied on his body due to the great summer heat. Because of the risk of infection, he had to leave the shepherd's house. He dragged himself to a shed across from Georg Glaser's stamp mill on Filzbach and died a gruesome death on July 26, 1651. In the church book of Zschorlau it is noted that he “was almost eaten by the lice that crawled out to his ears and eyes in such huge numbers”. The lice had to be brushed off with a broom before Päßler was buried two days later in Zschorlau.

Päßler's contemporaries kept his memories alive by naming a mountain ( Basler - or Bässlerberg ) after him. The road leading through the forest area from the road between Platten and Neuhammer into the Breitenbachtal was named Baslerweg and a rock group located there was called Baslerfels .

literature

• Edmund Schebek: Bohemia's glass industry and glass trade. Sources for their story . 1878, p. 57.
• Wolfgang Möhrig-Marothi : Miriquidis murmur . Sosa 2001, pp. 130-131