Paul Silverberg

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Paul Silverberg, 1930

Paul Silverberg (born May 6, 1876 in Bedburg , † October 5, 1959 in Lugano ) was a German industrialist and business leader.

Life

He was initially active as a lawyer in the judicial service from 1898. In 1903 he succeeded his late father, Adolf Silverberg , General Director of Fortuna AG for lignite mining and briquette production, which later became the Rheinische AG for lignite and briquette production (today Rheinbraun ). In 1926 he moved to the company's supervisory board .

As deputy chairman of the Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie (RDI) (from 1927), chairman of the Association of Rheinischer Braunkohlenwerke (from 1914) and chairman of the supervisory board of the Rhenish lignite syndicate (from 1914), DVP member Silverberg was one of the most influential representatives of the coal and steel industry in the Weimar Republic . He was a presidential member of the Reich Association of German Industry and on the board of the so-called Langnam Association ("Association for the protection of common economic interests in the Rhineland and Westphalia"). He was also a member of the board of directors of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft . After the First World War he worked closely with Hugo Stinnes until his death in 1924.

On September 4, 1926, he gave a famous speech to the members of the RDI, in which he advocated a “state-affirming position” of the employers, for approval of the Weimar Republic and for cooperation with the SPD and trade unions. This earned him bitter criticism from industrialists who, like Fritz Thyssen , Emil Kirdorf and Albert Vögler, continued to be hostile to the republic. He turned down the offer to join the second Brüning cabinet as Transport Minister in October 1931 .

Silverberg's private secretary Otto Meynen had published the German Führer Letters since 1928 . The newspaper supported government participation by the NSDAP in the spirit of a taming concept. It is not known whether Silverberg shared this stance.

Despite his Jewish origins, he is said to have stood up for Adolf Hitler's chancellorship since mid-1932 . In November 1932 he made personal contact with Werner von Alvensleben , a member of the men's club . However, considerable doubts have been expressed about this interpretation.

In 1932/33 Silverberg was the last freely elected President of the Cologne Chamber of Commerce and Industry . In April 1933, the banker Kurt Freiherr von Schröder was able to replace him in a tricky manner after Silverberg had lost his association and board positions in Berlin. After the DC circuit of the Reich Association of Industry (RDI) on 1 April 1933, he had to resign as its vice-chairman of the association.

In 1934 the Protestant Silverberg had to emigrate to Switzerland due to his Jewish origins . Despite Konrad Adenauer's requests and being awarded the honorary presidency of the Cologne Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he refused to return to Germany after 1945.

The " Ernst and Anna Landsberg Memory Foundation", which he founded in Chur / Switzerland in 1951 , to preserve the memory of his sister and brother-in-law goes back to him . It supports prospective students from the law and political science faculty of the University of Bonn who are studying at a Swiss university.

Publications

  • Appeal, reason for appeal, increase and accrual in inheritance law of the civil code . M. DuMont Schauberg, Cöln 1992, OCLC 252986631 ( Dissertation Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn , Faculty of Law, May 12, 1902, 71 pages).
  • with Georg Adolf Solmssen and Christian Eckert : How do we create work and bread for the German people? 3 lectures, given in Cologne on March 1, 1926 on the occasion of the general assembly of the Association of Banks and Bankers in Rhineland and Westphalia e. V. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1926, DNB 576448249 .
  • with Georg Müller : Economic and social policy, tax and financial policy . Lectures given at the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Reich Association of German Industry on December 12, 1929 in Berlin (= publications of the Reich Association of German Industry , No. 50). Reich Association of German Industry, Berlin / Volckmar, Leipzig 1930, DNB 365001740 .
  • with Gustav Cassel : The Collapse of the International Monetary System. Lecture at the Industrie-Club Düsseldorf, given on October 26, 1931 by Gustav Cassel, followed by Paul Silverberg's speech. Industry Club, Düsseldorf 1931, DNB 572588038 .
  • with Franz Mariaux (ed.): speeches and writings. Cologne University Publishing House, Cologne 1951, DNB 454714165 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Programmatic speech by the deputy chairman of the Reich Association of German Industry, Director General Dr. Silverberg, on German entrepreneurship in the post-war period at the meeting of the Reichsverband on September 4, 1926. Published as a supplement to the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung No. 413
  2. ↑ Reinhard Neebe: Big Industry, State and NSDAP 1930-1933. Paul Silverberg and the Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie in the crisis of the Weimar Republic . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1981 (= Critical Studies in History, Volume 45), pp. 158–168 online (PDF; 6.9 MB)
  3. ^ Henry Ashby Turner: "The big entrepreneurs and the rise of Hitler", Berlin 1985, pp. 359-362; Boris Gehlen: Paul Silverberg (1876-1959). An entrepreneur , Steiner, Stuttgart 2007, pp. 477–508.
  4. ^ Ulrich Reimann: Councilor Adolf and his son, Dr. Paul Silverberg Councilor of Commerce Adolf and his son, Dr. Paul Silverberg ( Memento of the original from March 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 29, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stadtteilforum-oberaussem.de
  5. ^ Ulrich Soénius: Adolf Hitler's secret meeting in Cologne in the Kölner Stadtanzeiger v. January 4, 2008
  6. ↑ Federal Agency for Civic Education: Beginning of National Socialist Rule (Part 2)
personal data
SURNAME Silverberg, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German industrialist
DATE OF BIRTH May 6, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Bedburg
DATE OF DEATH 5th October 1959
Place of death Lugano