Rudolf Wilhelm Schoeller

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Rudolf Wilhelm Schoeller (born April 18, 1827 in Düren , † September 3, 1902 in Zurich ) was a German entrepreneur and consul in Switzerland .

Live and act

The son of the cloth and carpet manufacturer Leopold Schoeller (1792–1884) and Maria Emilie Schöller (1800–1854), daughter of Düsseldorf's Mayor Philipp Schöller , was trained in the family business after finishing school. On July 16, 1849, his father acquired the worsted spinning mill founded in 1843 by the Königliche Seehandlungs-Societät Berlin in Breslau and renamed the factory Schoeller's worsted spinning mill . This investment made it possible for him to have the yarns required for his home carpet office in Düren, which later became the Anker carpet company . Since Leopold Schoeller had to be present at the Düren plant, however, he handed over the management of the Wroclaw plant to his son Rudolf Wilhelm. In the following years he was one of the first manufacturers to introduce profit sharing for employees.

In addition, Rudolf Wilhelm Schoeller was also involved in politics and sat from 1859 to 1861 for the city of Breslau as a member of the Old Liberal Party in the Prussian House of Representatives . However, he could not come to terms with the political changes after the Reichstag election in February 1867 and in the same year relocated the company's headquarters to Zurich for political reasons, but kept the factory in Breslau as a branch, which he managed to his brother (Philipp Eberhard) Leopold Schoeller (1830-1896) transferred.

Immediately after the resettlement, Schoeller founded the first worsted yarn spinning mill in Switzerland in Schaffhausen and, in 1871, a top dyed factory in Zurich on the Hardturm site, and in 1896 acquired a factory in Hard, Austria, and one year later in Bregenz . To get access to the resources necessary for his products, he bought cisal and cotton plantations in East Africa in the 1890s .

In the meantime Schoeller achieved a high level of awareness and great reputation in the Alpine region and was then appointed German consul for Switzerland from 1881 to 1886.

Villa Liebenstein

During his lifetime, Rudolf Wilhelm Schoeller, who was married to Caroline Schenkel, mainly included his sons Arthur (1852–1933) and Caesar (1853–1918) in his company. After Rudolf's death Arthur took over the management of the company and expanded it with the acquisition of further worsted yarn factories, among others in Sevelen SG , Rüti GL and Derendingen SO , but also in Eitorf and Süßen in Germany and in the USA . In addition, he acquired the Villa Liebenstein there around 1910 , which his son Rudolf and the associated park had extensively expanded and sold to Schoeller GmbH & Co. KG in 1953 . Since 1982 the villa has belonged to the city of Bregenz, which set up the city music school there.

Arthur's brother Caesar Schoeller added a cloth dye works to the family property on the Hardturm site. All branches later renamed Schoeller Switzerland, which after the death of Rudolf's grandson Walter Schoeller fell to the Albers family by marriage and friends and was renamed Albers & Co. Another grandson of Rudolf Wilhelm, Leo Schoeller (1878–1936), who headed the branch in Breslau after Philipp Eberhard Leopold Schoeller's death in 1896 and until it was closed in 1925, moved to his old home in Düren, where he was On the one hand, he joined the family's own carpet office as a partner and, on the other hand, was appointed to the consul general of Switzerland due to his family connections.

Literature and Sources

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Building history of the Villa Liebenstein
personal data
SURNAME Schoeller, Rudolf Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German worsted yarn and textile manufacturer and consul in Switzerland
DATE OF BIRTH April 18, 1827
PLACE OF BIRTH Düren
DATE OF DEATH September 3, 1902
Place of death Zurich