Willem Jan Holsboer
Willem Jan Holsboer (born August 23, 1834 in Zutphen , Gelderland , † June 8, 1898 in Schinznach-Bad ) is considered the founder of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) and promoter of the health resort of Davos .
Life
Willem Jan Holsboer left home at the age of 14 and went to sea. In a very short time he worked his way up from cabin boy to helmsman and captain. On his sea voyages he got to know the world, was in California at the time of the gold rush and had the thankless task of leading his ship back to Europe with mutinous sailors.
But the seafaring didn't appeal to him. Holsboer did a commercial apprenticeship in a bank in Amsterdam, became an authorized signatory in its London branch and director at the age of 30. At the age of 31, in 1865, he married an 18-year-old English woman who fell ill with tuberculosis a short time later.
Holsboer therefore decided to leave London and travel to Davos. Here he hoped for help for his young wife.
At the end of May 1867, Holsboer came to Davos with his seriously ill wife and stayed at the Hotel Strela, the "Kuretablissement", where the doctor Friedrich August Unger and the bookseller Hugo Richter were the first winter guests to find healing two and a half years earlier. Holsboer entrusted Alexander Spengler with the medical treatment of his wife . She died in October 1867 at the age of 20.
Holsboer stayed in Davos and married Ursula Büsch, a local farmer's daughter, in 1868. They had five children. The eldest daughter Helene (1869–1943) married Lucius Spengler , the son of Alexander Spengler.
His most important work was the construction of the Landquart – Davos railway line in 1888/89. Holsboer became one of the formative personalities in the development of the Davos spa and tourist center.
In 1871 he founded the Kurverein Davos, which handled large infrastructure works. Holsboer became the first president of the Davos Society for Electricity Works.
This enormous workload left its mark. Atherosclerosis has noticeably worsened since 1894. While still seriously ill, Holsboer traveled to Basel in 1898 to push ahead with work on the railway and construction on Schatzalp. On June 8, 1898, he died of a stroke in Schinznach-Bad.
One of his grandchildren is the theater director and actor Willem Holsboer , his great-grandson the psychiatrist and depression researcher Florian Holsboer . A great-great-grandson of Holsboer is the Munich District Administrator Christoph Göbel .
Curhaus Spengler-Holsboer / Curhaus WJ Holsboer
Together with the doctor Alexander Spengler, he opened the Spengler-Holsboer spa in 1868 , the first larger facility in Davos, alongside small pensions, which introduced the open-air reclining cure for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis according to the principles of Hermann Brehmer and Peter Dettweiler in a moderate form. It blossomed immediately. It was originally a simple mountain inn, which was expanded by a transverse wing in 1871.
Holsboer became its head. Just four years later, when the Kurhaus was fully occupied, it fell victim to the flames, but Holsboer built a new, more modern house on the foundation walls, the Curhaus WJ Holsboer , with a large glass gallery on the south side and a social room. Spengler took over the medical management again. He had withdrawn from his work as a doctor.
A milk hall was available above the house. There the guests could drink fresh milk in the morning. Several villas, Villa Germania, Villa Britannia, Villa Wohlhotels, Villa Helvetia, Villa Piccola, were connected as branches with the main building or with each other by covered wall halls or underground corridors.
After the expansion in 1881 with a concert hall and corresponding stage facilities, the "Curhaus" became the social center of Davos. Up until the 1930s, concerts or theater were played here every day in order to bring variety to everyday life for the sick. Knowing that some guests cannot stay in one place for long if they are not offered intellectual stimulation, Holsboer was the initiator of a permanent spa orchestra, a dedicated theater group and the organizer of many lectures. From 1915 these tasks were taken over by the newly founded Davos Art Society. Clara Schumann was a guest in the »Curhaus« hall , Béla Bartók played the piano in this hall in 1927, and a year later Albert Einstein played his violin in the same place and spoke at the opening of the Davos university courses .
The Schatzalp
Holsboer's last major project was the construction of a sanatorium on the Schatzalp . He searched for a long time for a suitable place for his dream. Again and again his path led him to the Schatzalp, at that time only accessible on foot. He felt that this piece of earth was very special.
Together with his sons-in-law Lucius Spengler - the son of Alexander Spengler - and Edward Neumann, Holsboer planned the Schatzalp luxury sanatorium. With this building at an altitude of 1,865 meters, something “never seen before” should be created. Far ahead of its time, the first flat roof was built on Schatzalp with a drainage through the inside of the house. Floor heating, running cold and hot water in every room were further innovations. A hydraulic elevator, a meteorological station, a funicular with direct current drive and electric light became standard.
The Schatzalp sanatorium was opened at Christmas 1900. The Schatzalpbahn was built at the same time.
The son of his colleague Alexander Spengler, Lucius Spengler, headed the Schatzalp sanatorium as chief physician until his death in 1923. Spengler is one of the pioneers of artificial pneumothorax . His other son-in-law Edward Neumann was his successor and chief physician until 1934.
The Schatzalp in the magic mountain
In the Zauberberg , Thomas Mann mentions the Schatzalp nine times.
"The Schatzalp sanatorium is at the very top over there ... They have to move their corpses down there on a bobsleigh in winter because the paths are then impassable ..." , he lets Joachim Ziemßen explain to his cousin Hans Castorp.
To the Blauer Heinrich he says: Already on the drive from the train station to the Berghof Sanatorium, where Hans Castorp visits his sick cousin Joachim, he can take a look at the "flat, curly bottle made of blue glass with a metal cap". Joachim slips it straight back into his coat pocket, with the words: “Most of us have that up here. [...]. It also has a name with us, such a nickname, very jolly. " Later, Hans Castorp learns this name from the mouth of the uneducated Ms. Stöhr: " Without overcoming, "says Thomas Mann," with a stubbornly ignorant expression, she brought the grumpy one Description "Der Blaue Heinrich " on the lips. "
The Rhaetian Railway
In addition to his commitment to the establishment of new spa facilities, he soon began developing the first plans for a railway between Landquart and Davos.
In February 1888, on Holsboer's initiative, the Landquart – Davos AG (LD) narrow-gauge railway was founded. Originally, the company wanted to build a rack railway from Landquart to Davos to overcome the gradients on this mountain route. A variant with three switchbacks was also discussed. However, both variants were discarded due to the success of the Gotthard Railway, which was free of cogwheels and sharp bends, and it was decided to build a pure adhesion railway with only one hairpin. This only hairpin was in Klosters train station and was later abandoned. The initially planned standard gauge could not be realized due to the cramped conditions and cost reasons. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on June 29, 1888. In 1889 the section from Landquart to Klosters and eight months later the entire line to Davos was opened. Due to the other plans, also going back to Holsboer, for an expansion of the railway into other regions of the canton of Graubünden, the narrow-gauge railway Landquart – Davos AG changed its name to Rhaetian Railway in 1895 . In 1897, after a referendum, the RhB became the Bündnerische Staatsbahn.
After the Landquart – Davos narrow-gauge railway opened on July 21, 1890, Holsboer developed plans for a new line from Davos via St. Moritz to Chiavenna in Italy . The construction of the St. Moritz – Chiavenna line was prevented by the First World War .
literature
- J. Ferdmann: Willem Jan Holsboer . Publishing house of the Davos Revue, Davos 1934
Web links
- Jürg Conzett: Holsboer, Willem Jan. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz .
- Davos im Zauberberg (PDF; 7.5 MB)
- Medical Museum Davos (PDF; 7.8 MB)
- Friends of the Rhaetian Railway
Individual evidence
- ↑ Collector details. In: www.herbarien.uzh.ch. Retrieved October 23, 2015 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Holsboer, Willem Jan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Founder of the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) and promoter of the Davos health resort |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 23, 1834 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zutphen , Gelderland |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 8, 1898 |
| Place of death | Schinznach-Bad |