Shipping company Otto Wiggers
The Otto Wiggers shipping company was founded in Rostock in 1789 ; it was later taken over by Robert W. Kempowski and dissolved in 1948.
history
Otto Wiggers started as a ship broker in Rostock in 1789 . Rostock ships at this time had carrying capacities of 50–75 loads (around 95–150 tons carrying capacity). The sailing ships mainly carried wheat to England and coal back to Rostock.
After the founder's death, the Otto Wiggers company was continued by JC Padderaz and sold to the merchant F. Haack in 1885. In addition to the ship brokerage, the purchase and sale of ships was also carried out. The shipping business was added in 1895 with the purchase and operation of the 490 GRT steamer Marie . The merchants Robert William Kempowski (* 1865) and Franz Hinrichsen then took over the Otto Wiggers company. After Hinrichsen's death, Robert William Kempowski was the sole owner for a short time, and he accepted Friedrich Berg as a new partner.
In 1927 the cargo steamer Marie Ferdinand (1,500 GRT, compound engine 650 PSi) built in 1880 was taken over and renamed Consul Hintz . The ship was mainly used in the grain trade. In 1930 the Clara Hintz (1,100 GRT, compound machine 650 PSi), built in 1880, was added, but it was sold for demolition in 1937. R. Kempowski was supported by his son Karl Georg Kempowski, who led Otto Wiggers through the difficult period of inflation .
Walter Kempowski was born in Rostock in 1929 . He learned the trade of printing clerk and was sentenced to 25 years of forced labor in the Eastern Zone in 1948 for espionage. His brother Robert worked for the Otto Wiggers shipping company, which was dissolved in Rostock in 1948.
In 1943 the Gauja prize steamer was handed over to the shipping company Otto Wiggers for ship management and renamed Friedrich (1465 GRT, triple expansion machine , 680 PSi). It was used at the end of the war to evacuate the east and was then located in the Rostock port. The shipowner Karl Georg Kempowski fell in the last days of the war. His son Robert, Walter Kempowski's older brother , worked for the Otto Wiggers shipping company, which was dissolved in Rostock in 1948 after Robert and Walter Kempowski had been arrested on suspicion of espionage.
Friedrich Berg registered the shipping company and ship brokerage Otto Wiggers in Hamburg in 1946, but it did not succeed in rebuilding.
Sources and literature
- Walter Kempowski: Blameworthy & Wolff . A bourgeois novel. Hanser, Munich 1971, ISBN 3-446-11375-4 .
- Horst Adamietz : tides of shipping. According to protocols and documents of the centenary Bremen Rhederverein. H. Saade, Bremen 1984, ISBN 3-922642-09-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kempowski Foundation Haus Kreienhoop at www.kempowski-stiftung.de