Max Rieck

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Max Rieck (born on May 10, 1857 in Alt-Strelitz ; died on March 19, 1932 in Hamburg ) was a German businessman , journalist and publisher who mainly worked in the field of cocoa and confectionery .

Life

Rieck came from a Mecklenburg farming family. After attending the community school in Strelitz, he began a four-year commercial apprenticeship at the age of 14 and then worked as an assistant for eight years , including two years for the Dresden chocolate manufacturer Jordan & Timaeus . In 1883 he settled as an independent businessman in Hamburg and in 1887 took over the Hansa-Cacao- und Chocoladenfabrik with a sales outlet at Steindamm 37, which was completely destroyed by a fire in 1893. His foreign trade company mainly imported cocoa, almonds , nuts, cane sugar and canned fruit, exported semi-finished products for the cocoa and confectionery industry and was involved in commission trading. Rieck ran this business with great success and had warehouses in Brussels, Genoa, London, New York, St. Petersburg and Warsaw.

In addition, Rieck began to write and publish publications for the cocoa and chocolate industry. In 1895 he published a four-volume compendium under the pseudonym "Adolf Gordian" with the title: The German Chocoladen- und Zuckerwaaren-Industrie. From the practice for the practice. In May 1895 he founded the magazine Gordian , which was aimed at the cocoa, chocolate and sugar confectionery industry, was published every two weeks in Hamburg and received international attention. The independent newspaper commented in clear, often biting words on current developments in the markets for raw materials and products, the activities of industrial associations, legal disputes and judgments, legislative initiatives, etc. For a long time, extensive reports on foreign trade, in particular current prices, were taken up the trading centers for cocoa beans, cocoa butter and other commodities. The Gordian developed into an internationally recognized specialist magazine and appeared with interruptions between 1943 and 1948 for over 100 years. It was not until 2003 that it stopped appearing.

Max Rieck family grave ,
Ohlsdorf cemetery, sculpture by
Franz Dorrenbach

In addition to his specialist publications, Rieck also wrote articles on various economic issues, which he published - partly anonymously or pseudonymously - as brochures or in the form of magazine articles, including in the Grenzbote , in the Truth published by Christoph Schrempf and in Maximilian Harden's future . In particular, he was critical of the efficiency of trading under titles such as: Is the trading booth productive? , Merchant or parasite? and waste in commerce . From the estate of the Hamburg wholesaler Bleicken, he published his work Der Handel on an altruistic basis .

Max Rieck also invented an improved process for the production of highly de-oiled cocoa powder, for which he received a patent in 1895. Essentially, his idea was not to grind the cocoa kernels finely before pressing, as is customary, but instead to press them in a multi-stage process first in a crushed, then in a coarse, and finally in a finely ground state. The process invented by Rieck laid the foundation for the success of the Wandsbeck company Reichardt , which later developed into one of the largest cocoa processing companies in the world. When Reichardtsche low-fat cocoa powder was attacked by competitors and scientists, Rieck also passionately defended the product in the Gordian .

The Hamburg merchant Rieck was one of the founders of the Hamburg Scientific Foundation , to which he donated 5,000 marks each in March 1907 and April 1908 (compared to some other donors, a rather small and late contribution). For this reason, his name can still be read today as one of 47 sponsors on a marble pillar that the foundation installed in its lecture building, which was built between 1909 and 1911 and is now the main building of the University of Hamburg .

Max Rieck's grave is on the Ohlsdorf cemetery in Hamburg, grid square AD 18 (southwest of chapel 7).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Wilhelm Strieda: Max Rieck. 1857-1932 . In: Mecklenburg-Strelitzer history sheets . tape 8 , 1932, p. 181 ff .
  2. ↑ a b c Ulrike Hermes, Ottmar Jeschke, Heidrun Wurm: Economy and science in Hamburg using the example of cocoa . In: Symposium “Tropical Crop Plants”, 22. – 24. Sept. 1993 (=  Applied Botany Reports ). tape 5 . Hamburg 1994.
  3. ↑ a b Johannes Gerhardt: The founders of the Hamburg Scientific Foundation (=  patrons for science . Volume 1 ). 2nd, completely revised edition. Hamburg University Press, Hamburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-943423-23-5 ( online ).
  4. ↑ ISSN  0017-2243
  5. ↑ Barbara Leisner, Heiko KL Schulze, Ellen Thormann: The Hamburg main cemetery Ohlsdorf. History and tombs , Verlag Hans Christians, Hamburg 1990, page 139, cat. 945.
  6. ↑ patent DE89251 . ‌
personal data
SURNAME Rieck, Max
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rieck, Adolf Christian Max (full name); Gordian, Adolf (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German businessman, publicist and publisher
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Strelitz-Alt
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 1932
Place of death Hamburg