Thilo von Boehmer

Thilo von Boehmer

Justus Thilo von Boehmer (born April 19, 1911 in Groß-Lichterfelde ; † June 16, 1997 in Hamburg ) was a German entrepreneur , lawyer and senior government director .

Life

origin

Thilo von Boehmer came from the Prussian legal family Böhmer / von Boehmer , whose origins go back to around 1600. His ancestors include Justus Henning Böhmer , director of the Leopoldina in Halle (Saale) and one of the most important canon lawyers of the 17th and 18th centuries. Century, as well as Johann Samuel Friedrich von Böhmer , director of the University of Frankfurt an der Oder and one of the leading criminal lawyers of the 18th century. His brother Hasso von Boehmer was a lieutenant colonel i. G. one of the resistance fighters of July 20, 1944 and was therefore executed in 1945 in Berlin-Plötzensee .

His parents were Hugo Erich von Boehmer and Ellinor Seliger (1868–1954), daughter of the landowner and court clerk Carl Gustav Albert Seliger (1829–1901, grandson of Johann Gotthilf Seliger ) and Mary Barbara Rennie (1836–1920) from New Alredsford / Hantshire / Scotland .

Act

After graduating from the Helmholtz-Gymnasium in Berlin-Schöneberg in 1930, Thilo von Boehmer studied law at the Law Faculty of the University of Berlin and at the Universities of Kiel and Geneva. After passing the 2nd state examination, he was admitted to the bar in Berlin. In addition, he graduated in 1935 at the Technical University of Berlin , the preliminary examination in the field of economics and a doctorate in 1936 with the thesis " The scope of the German Reich patent " for Dr. jur. This was followed by a job as a lawyer at AEG-Telefunken AG in Berlin, which was interrupted by the war effort.

After the end of the war, Thilo von Boehmer took over the management of the Düsseldorf machine factory Gebr. Poensgen AG in 1945 . It was founded in 1847 by the brothers Albert and Julius Poensgen in the Schleiden area in the Eifel and moved to Düsseldorf in 1860 . His father-in-law Helmuth Poensgen , member of the board of the Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG, now owned the majority of the shares in Gebr. Poensgen AG . He came shortly before the end of the war in 1945 with his wife Ursula, née von Ditfurth , died in a bomb attack in Ratinger Poensgenpark . Thilo von Boehmer had the company, which was largely destroyed in the war and damaged by the dismantling of the valuable machinery, rebuilt and converted from the production of war-essential goods to those for civilian use, such as large washing machines in stainless steel technology. In order to find out about the state of the art, von Boehmer made several trips to America, for example to South America, Central America and the Caribbean in 1951. The Jamaican newspaper The Daily Gleaner from Kingston reported on November 24, 1951 with a portrait of his visit there:

"T. VON BOEHMER German trade envoy - New West German Government at Bonn sent a representative to the Caribbean and South America on a goodwill tour (...). Dr. T. Von Boehmer arrived in the island Thursday by Pan-American Clipper en route from Camaguey and will remain for a few days. Dr. Von Boehmer told the Gleaner that the tour would take him to 21 countries in the Caribbean and South America. He had already visited Mexico and Cuba and would remain in Jamaica for about four days. Ecomonic conditions in Western Germany he said are improving as a result of the Marshall Aid Plan. (...) Conditions were very bad in Eastern Germany, Dr. by Boehmer said. To economist, Dr. Von Boehmer lived in Berlin before the war. "

Further trips to America followed, for example in 1959 before the trade embargo by the USA in 1960 to the Cuba Castro and the USA. The production and model range of the Düsseldorf company therefore soon corresponded to the latest state of the art. The company now produced the first frontal washing machines and fully automatic washing machine systems for hospitals, commercial laundries , hotels etc. with over 500 employees . In 1953, Thilo von Boehmer handed over the management his brother-in-law Helmuth Poensgen jun. He joined as a civil servant in the government service , was for a time in the NATO worked and worked after his retirement as a lawyer. Thilo von Boehmer died on June 16, 1997 in Hamburg and is buried in the Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth cemetery.

family

Thilo von Boehmer was married to Brigitte Poensgen (1922–1986), daughter of the board member of the United Stahlwerke AG Dr. phil. Helmuth Poensgen and Ursula von Ditfurth . They had five children, including Henning von Boehmer as the firstborn . In his second marriage he was born in 1987 with Gisela Rombolotto (1914–2002). Hornemann, married, a descendant of the Africa explorer Friedrich Konrad Hornemann .

Through his maternal grandmother Mary Barbara Rennie, Thilo von Boehmer is a direct descendant of Governor William Bradford , who emigrated to Plymouth (Massachusetts) / USA along with the Pilgrim Fathers on the Mayflower in 1620 . This means that the descendants of Hugo Erich von Boehmers are entitled to become members of the renowned General Society of Mayflower Descendants in the USA.

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Daily Gleaner
2. ^ Newspaper Archive: Kingston Gleaner, Saturday, November 24, 1951, Page-1 , facsimile of the title page with report and portrait [1]