Viktor Lenel

Victor Lenel (born June 18, 1838 in Mannheim ; † October 17, 1917 there ) was a German industrial pioneer .

life and work

He was a son of Moritz Lenel . After attending grammar school in Mannheim , he studied at the University of Heidelberg and in 1866 joined his father's trading company, which he took over management with his brother Alfred after the death of his father, and which became “Gebr. Lenel ”.

In 1873 Viktor and Alfred Lenel founded the "Rheinische Hartgummi-Waaren-Fabrik" with the businessman Friedrich Julius Bensinger (1841–91) and the Hohenemser & Sons bank in Mannheim, which has been producing soft rubber since 1884 and celluloid since 1886 .

On March 27, 1885, the factory in Neckarau was destroyed by fire. After the reconstruction, which took place from April 1 to December 31, 1885, it traded under the name "Rheinische Gummi- und Celluloidfabrik". In 1907, it employed around 500 employees and 15 administrative employees. In addition, in 1886 the "Lenel, Bensinger & Co waterproof laundry factory" was established. The "Rheinische Gummi und Celluloid Fabrik" developed the blow-press method for plastics for the production of dolls' heads and table tennis balls from celluloid. In 1899 the turtle was protected as a legal trademark retrospectively until 1889. Your shell should be reminiscent of the tint and pattern of celluloid products.

1875 Victor Lenel was for the National Liberal member of the citizens' committee , commercial judge and member of several boards of directors of public companies , inter alia 1899 to 1905 chairman of the Hamburg-Mannheimer Versicherung . Viktor Lenel was Vice President from 1898 to 1903, then President of the Mannheim Chamber of Commerce until 1911. From 1905 to 1909 he was the first Jewish member of the first chamber of the Baden state estates . After the death of his father in 1876, he and his siblings donated the “Moritz-und-Caroline-Lenel-Stiftung” study grant and, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, a children's rest home, the Viktor-Lenel-Stift in Neckargemünd - they controlled the necessary building site Stadt Neckargemünd bei -, which was handed over to the administration of the city of Mannheim in 1911. After his death he was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Mannheim .

His son Richard Lenel continued the family business until 1938.

portrait

• 1911 cast bronze, one-sided, 105 mm. Medalist Benno Elkan . Text: MY CHILDREN ZV CHRISTMAS 1911 / VICTOR LENEL - Bearded bust to the left. Literature: Menzel-Severing no.186.

literature

• Jacob Toury : Jewish textile entrepreneurs in Baden-Württemberg 1683-1938 . JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen 1984, ISBN 3-16-744824-5 [not evaluated]
• Hermann Schäfer:  Lenel, Viktor. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , p. 203 ( digitized version ).
• Lenel, Viktor. In: Karl Otto Watzinger : History of the Jews in Mannheim 1650-1945 . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1984, pp. 117-119. ISBN 3-17-008696-0 .
• Christiane Fritsche, plundered, repaid and compensated, Aryanization and reparation in Mannheim, Ubstadt-Weiher, ISBN 978-3-89735-772-3
• Lucia Keller: Victor Lenel (1818–1917) - Successful entrepreneur and generous benefactor . In: William Cross, Volker von Offenberg (ed.): J üdische student of the United Grand Ducal Lyceum - Karl-Friedrich-Gymnasium Mannheim. Portraits from two decades, Mannheim 2014 (series of publications by the Karl-Friedrich-Gymnasium Mannheim in cooperation with the Mannheim City Archives - Institute for Urban History; 2), ISBN 978-3-95428-153-4 , pp. 39–50.

Web links

• http://www.lenel.ch/docs/viktor-lenel-d.pdf
• Speeches by Viktor Lenel in the Baden State Parliament in the digital collections of the Baden State Library