Otto Kapp from giltstein

Coat of arms of Otto Kapp von giltstein

Otto Kapp von giltstein , ennobled 1905 (born August 1, 1853 in Rottenburg am Neckar as Otto Kapp, † October 19, 1920 in giltstein ) was a Württemberg engineer and railway pioneer.

Childhood and youth

Otto Kapp was born as the son of a teacher on August 1, 1853, the oldest of 11 children. Influenced by Wilhelm von Pressel, who worked as an engineer with the Brennerbahn and the Orientbahnen, his inclination towards engineering developed. In 1867 he finished the polytechnic high school in Stuttgart brilliantly.

job

He got his first job with the Württemberg railway in Herrenberg and Dornstetten . After that he worked in Northern Germany and Holland, where he made it up to the government master builder.

From 1880 he worked as a simple draftsman in Belgrade . When the planning office had to close after two years due to financial difficulties, Otto Kapp went to Constantinople to the German planning office of the Baghdad Railway .

In 1887 he directed work on the Corinth Canal for a year . In 1888 he married Olga Elisabeth von Kronhelm with whom he had 4 children, including the later journalist Nora von Beroldingen . In the following 10 years he built the section of the Baghdad Railway from Imit to Ankara for the Anatolian railways . When he was dismissed by his boss and friend Count Vitali after 32 years in 1914 (as a German he had now become an enemy), he withdrew to the Castle Castle he had built .

Old age and death

His health was very bad and one foot had to be amputated. Otto Kapp died on October 19, 1920 and was buried in his Ottoman grave chapel in the Goffstein cemetery, in the immediate vicinity of "his railway".

Otto Kapp was raised to the nobility by King Wilhelm II in 1905 and called himself Otto Kapp von giltstein from then on. In 1913 he was made an honorary citizen of Herrenberg-giltstein . There is no relationship to the family of the giltsteiner from the 14th century.

literature

• Jörg M. Bossert: From the Bosporus to Werdenfelser Land: An attempt at a biography of the journalist Nora Gräfin von Beroldingen Stuttgart 2006, especially pages 7–11.
• Sabine Ellwanger: He wanted to be buried within earshot of the train. Ceremony for the 150th birthday of the engineer Otto Kapp von giltstein . In: Kreiszeitung / Böblinger Bote from August 4, 2003
• Daniel Gotzen: From the Gäubahn to the Baghdadbahn. Otto Kapp from giltstein . In: Roman Janssen (ed.): Herrenberger personalities from eight centuries . (Herrenberger historical writings; 6). Herrenberg 1999, ISBN 3-926809-09-4 , pp. 361-366
• Hans Jaeger:  Kapp von giltstein, Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , p. 138 ( digitized version ).