Max Roesler

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Max Roesler (born July 31, 1840 in Regensburg , † June 2, 1922 in Rodach ) was a manufacturer and founder of the fine stoneware factory of the same name in Rodach near Coburg .

Life

Former house in Bad Rodach
Grave in Bad Rodach

Max Roesler was the son of Otto and Tina Roesler, nee Tennecker. His parents came from Dresden and were actors. The father was engaged at the then new ducal court theater in Coburg . Max Roesler grew up in Coburg and began to study chemistry in Dresden in 1858 after graduating from high school. Two years later he moved to Munich, where he graduated in 1862. During his studies in 1860 he became a member of the Algovia and later Arminia fraternity . This was followed by a first job as a second chemist and business traveler at a chemical factory in Blasewitz . In 1864 he took over the position of chemist, businessman and technical manager in a chemical plant in Elbogen near Karlsbad that processed lignite . In 1873 he moved to the Franz Anton Mehlem stoneware factory in Bonn as technical manager and to the Sinzig mosaic tile factory in the following year . In the summer of 1874 Roesler came to Schlierbach as technical and commercial manager at the Wächtersbacher Steingutfabrik , where he worked for 16 years, from 1878 as director. During this time the company experienced a strong boom. In addition, Roesler also took care of the social issues of his employees. In 1877, for example, he founded a factory savings bank to enable workers to buy houses. In addition, a handicraft school for young girls, a workers 'music club, an elders' college for disciplinary matters in 1884 and a company newspaper, the Schlierbach factory messenger, were set up.

In 1890 Roesler moved to the Springer porcelain factories in Elbogen in Bohemia . In the autumn of 1893 he moved with his family to Rodach near Coburg, where he founded his own factory for fine stoneware in the summer of 1894 at the age of 54 . The family coat of arms, the hedge rose , became the factory mark . The factories were built on the Coburg – Bad Rodach railway line, which opened on July 1, 1892, with its own siding. On January 1, 1896, the company started production as planned.

In 1908, Rösler donated the three colorfully glazed pointed arch windows in the choir of Rodach's St. John's Church .

In 1909, his son Heinz, who was the designated successor, died unexpectedly at the age of 32. The second son Max had died in 1897 at the age of 15. The death of his eldest son in 1910 caused Max Roesler to change the legal form of his company to a stock corporation, Max Roesler Feinsteingutfabrik AG . In particular, shareholders should become employees and personal friends. Since the nominal value of a share was at least 1,000 marks, Roesler made sure that two workers could acquire one share together. According to the statutes, 25 percent of the net profit of the stock corporation should be distributed to the employees. 371 workers and 33 salaried employees produced utensils for high demand in 1910.

After the First World War , Roesler saw no more economic future for his formerly successful company. He sold his shares in July 1919 to the Dresdner banking house Gebrüder Arnhold and resigned from the board at the end of the year. In 1938, Siemens took over the heavily indebted company. The factory has belonged to the French Valeo group since 1995 .

Max Roesler died on June 2, 1922 at the age of 82. He was buried in the Rodach cemetery. He was married to Theodora (1839–1925), nee Kemmler, since 1868. In addition to the sons Heinz and Max they had daughters Elsa and Paula (the later by their silhouettes known Paula of Goeschen-Roesler (1875-1941)).

Honors

On December 24, 1900, Roesler was awarded the title of Kommerzienrat by the regent of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , Hereditary Prince Ernst zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg , and on July 22, 1908, Duke Carl Eduard awarded him the Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Ernestine House Order . The Technical University of Munich awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1920. Rodach named a street after him after the Second World War .

Every year, on the last weekend of July, there is a barter and collector's exchange in Bad Rodach. Fans of Roesler ceramics meet from all over Europe.

literature

  • Max Roesler: Ceramic Questions of the Day . Müller & Schmidt, Coburg 1888.
  • Max Roesler: Workers' participation in the management, earnings and ownership of commercial operations . Böhmert, Dresden 1914.
  • Heinz and Lilo Frensch: Wächtersbacher stoneware . Koenigstein i. Ts. (Langewiesche Nachf. KG) 1978, especially pp. 16-20 and 28-38.
  • Rodach local history museum: Max Roesler fine stoneware . various vols. 1987 and 1988
  • Markus W. Peters: Max-Roesler-Feinsteingutfabrik Rodach: 1894 - 1938 . Private Roesler Archive, Gelnhausen, 1st edition, 1989
  • Helga Augustin: Max Roesler and his family: a contribution to the family history of the industrialist Max Roesler (1840-1922), founder of the former fine stoneware factory Max Roesler Rodach . Rodacher Rückert-Kreis, Bad Rodach near Coburg 2002.
  • Rolf Peters: Max Roesler. Ceramic between Art Nouveau and Art Deco . Catalog for the exhibition in the Museum Künstlerkolonie Darmstadt 1998.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl Gareis: The Munich fraternity Arminia - becoming and fate. Munich 1967, pp. 141-142.
  2. ^ Government Gazette for the Duchy of Coburg, July 28, 1894
  3. ↑ Irmhild Tschischka: The St. Johanniskirche - a striking landmark of the town of Bad Rodach . Writings of the Rückertkreis Bad Rodach eV, issue 36, Bad Rodach bei Coburg 2009, p. 140
  4. ^ Coburger Zeitung, August 3, 1909
  5. ^ Government Gazette for the Duchy of Coburg, July 22, 1908
personal data
SURNAME Roesler, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH regensburg
DATE OF DEATH June 2, 1922
Place of death Bad Rodach