Otto-Georg Beckmann

Otto-Georg Beckmann (born June 19, 1879 in Ritzebüttel , † July 5, 1967 in Cuxhaven ) was a German shipbuilding engineer and entrepreneur in Cuxhaven. The Beckmann shipyard was named after him.

Life path

Training and driving time

After finishing secondary school, Otto-Georg Beckmann began training as a machine fitter in Buxtehude in 1894 and then worked at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg . In 1896 he switched to seafaring, initially as a machine assistant on the steamship Siegmund of the Rhederei AG from 1896 , then on the Argos of the German Levante Line , graduating from the marine engineering school in 1901 and as a machinist on the Nicaria of the shipping company HAPAG .

He did his military service until 1903 on the artillery training ship SMS Carola in Kiel . After completing his military service, he went back to sea, graduated as a marine engineer in 1908 and went to sea again - including on the Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria , the Hamburg and the Cleveland . During the First World War he was called up: in 1914 he was a machinist on the outpost boat Schönfels , but in 1915 he switched to the minesweeping department in Cuxhaven.

After discharge from the Navy in 1919, he joined the company Schiffsanker- and chain forge Sanftleben of Hermann Sanftleben one in Cuxhaven. Together they founded the new company Sanftleben & Co. on January 1st, 1920 at the southern end of the Ewerhafen. The Cuxhaven Waterways and Shipping Office is located at this location today .

Co -owner of the shipyard of Sanftleben & Co.

They added a shipyard to their previous operations. The shipyard specialized in repairs, conversions and the extension of ships. It initially employed around 80 people and was continuously expanded in the following years: The construction of three slipways , a new machine hall, metal foundry, new workshop and a crane system led to further orders. The number of employees rose from 80 employees in 1920 to around 200 employees in the 1920s.

On the way to the Beckmann shipyard

In 1930 Otto-Georg Beckmann bought Hermann Sanftleben's shares and took over sole ownership and management of the company. From 1938, the shipyard also overhauled ships or converted them for the navy , which has since been stationed again in Cuxhaven. The shipyard was busy with this work in World War II and employed around 350 people at peak times. How many of these workers were forced laborers at the shipyard is unclear. In 1942 he renamed the Beckmann shipyard .

New beginning and beginning crisis years

After the Second World War, the shipyard was able to continue working without restrictions from war damage or dismantling . In 1946 Otto-Georg Beckmann took his son Rolf, who became the sole manager of the company in 1967, into the business as a partner. During this time, the shipyard initially also took on non-shipyard orders, such as B. the repair of trams from Dortmund. More important was the repair of ships that were sunk during the war and lifted again, as well as conversions, modernizations and extensions. The Beckmann shipyard worked together with the neighboring Mützelfeldt shipyard on several orders . In 1957 - now 78 years old - he was also able to win the newly established German Navy as a customer.

In the following years, the shipyard business became more and more difficult due to the changing framework conditions - the German Navy relocated its ships from Cuxhaven to Wilhelmshaven , the fishing fleets switched from side trawlers to larger stern catchers and at the same time the change from general cargo to larger container ships began . The shipyard broke away the customers. Neither the space in the Ewerhafen nor the shipyard's slipways were sufficient for larger ships. At the same time, the owners Otto-Georg Beckmann were no longer able to devote themselves fully to managing the company due to reasons of age and his son Rolf for health reasons. Otto-Georg Beckmann died on July 5, 1967.

Honors

In the First World War he received the Iron Cross II and I and in the 1930s the Cross of Honor of the Front Warriors and the War Merit Cross .

literature

• Werner Jakobeit, Günter Kramp, Willi Schäfer: The Beckmann shipyard. Chronology of a Cuxhaven shipyard (series of publications by the “Förderverein Schifffahrtsgeschichte Cuxhaven eV”, issue 10b (V1L / May 2016)), self-printed, Cuxhaven 2016 (without ISBN).
• Peter Bussler: Historisches Stadtlexikon für Cuxhaven , special publication of the Heimatbund der Männer vom Morgenstern Volume 36, Cuxhaven 2002, ISBN 3931771-36-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bussler, p. 44
2. ↑ Martin Weinmann (editor): The National Socialist Camp System, Verlag Zweausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-86150-261-5 , as downloadable PDF
3. ↑ Jakobeit, p. 33f., P. 90
4. ↑ Jakobeit, p. 33f.