Paul Franke (entrepreneur)

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Paul Franke (born November 30, 1888 in Mühlhausen / Thuringia ; † March 18, 1950 in Braunschweig ) was one of the two founders of the camera manufacturer Rollei .

Beginnings

Paul Franke came from a wealthy family. After finishing school in 1903, he began an apprenticeship as a druggist in his hometown of Mühlhausen and then, in 1906, moved to the Carl Tucht photo shop in Düsseldorf to work as a photo seller - he was already enthusiastic about telescopes in his childhood. In 1909 he started as an unpaid trainee at the Voigtländer camera factory in Braunschweig, where he worked as a photo merchant in Germany and abroad a year later. Not only did he lay the foundation for the export policy of what would later become his own company, he also got to know his future business partner Reinhold Heidecke . In 1912 Franke switched to the special factory for riflescopes Géhard, whose commercial director he became in 1916, i.e. at the age of 28 - since the exports of this company brought in important foreign exchange, he did not have to do military service. However, when the USA entered the war in 1917, Géhard lost its most important export market, whereupon Franke even became unemployed.

Your own photo shop

The sudden end at Géhard led to the founding of the Franke & Co. photo shop on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin . Franke mainly sold microscopes, binoculars and telescopes there. His customers were hunters, but also many officers. Above all, they needed binoculars, and members of the Navy sometimes also needed theodolites . In addition, the demand for cameras grew, as the world war offered many participants unprecedented travel opportunities. In order to expand his range of cameras, Franke visited his old employer, the Voigtländer-Werke in Braunschweig, in autumn 1918, and asked for cameras there, which were also delivered to him. On this occasion he met his old employee Heidecke and was amazed that he had risen to become production manager. He was told about the latest developments in camera technology, including an outstanding lens, the Carl Zeiss Tessar f / 6.3 with a 100 mm focal length, and in return talked about his experiences in the photo trade.

Rollei

Reinhold Heidecke invited his old friend Franke to his home on another visit to Braunschweig in February 1919 to report on his ideas for a new type of roll film camera. Heidecke wanted to produce his camera in his own company, but saw no way of financing this project on his own. So he hoped to be able to persuade Franke to start a joint venture. To his surprise, this was not even necessary, because Franke felt uncomfortable in Berlin, where the political situation had made him uncomfortable since the November Revolution. That is why he longed to live in Braunschweig again, a city that he liked more anyway. Franke also saw good opportunities to be able to sell the camera in his own photo shop. After registering the business, Franke first came to Braunschweig on the two days with the lowest turnover in his business, on Monday and Tuesday, to work in the Franke & Heidecke office. The situation was soon reversed, however: the unexpected success meant that after a year he was mainly living in Braunschweig and only traveling to his shop in Berlin on the two busiest days, namely on Friday and Saturday.

As a businessman

Paul Franke was an excellent businessman, as a result of which he, as managing director and export manager, contributed to the global success of the Rollei company as did his partner Reinhold Heidecke. Franke was a showman who could give a presentation perfectly. When he went to a customer, he naturally gave the secretaries a box of chocolates. And of course he knew all the sales tricks, such as having the demonstration cameras given a high serial number in order to fool an immense demand. As managing director, he was so good at juggling finances that he could easily lead a company through threatening situations. And he had an excellent sense of customer demand, which enabled him to avoid expensive bad investments. Paul Franke's son Horst (* December 22, 1913; † December 5, 1991) was completely lacking in all of these skills, so that Franke & Heidecke later got into great difficulties under his leadership.

Private life

Paul Franke was very fond of working in his garden, so he was often seen mowing the lawn. In the pre-war period he also rode out regularly. Franke died at the age of 61 after a short, serious illness.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Carl Tucht, Droguerie und photogr. Apparate, Schadowstrasse 83 , in address book for the city of Düsseldorf 1906, p. 470
personal data
SURNAME Franke, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur; Co-founder of Rollei
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Mühlhausen / Thuringia
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 1950
Place of death Braunschweig