Zeppelin donation by the German people

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Aluminum spoon made from the rubble of the airship LZ 4 that crashed in 1908

The zeppelin donation of the German people , also known as national donation or the miracle of Echterdingen , goes back to the accident of the airship LZ 4 on August 5, 1908 in Echterdingen near Stuttgart . It brought in over 6 million marks and laid the financial basis for the breakthrough in the construction of rigid airships and the establishment of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH and the Zeppelin Foundation .

The zeppelin donation of the German people should not be confused with the zeppelin-Eckener donation in the 1920s or the national flight donation of 1912.

prehistory

“Ascent, flight and end of the Zeppelin airship model 4”, historical postcard

During the 24-hour journey Friedrichshafen - Mainz - Friedrichshafen, which Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin began on August 4, the LZ 4 airship had an engine failure on August 5, so that von Zeppelin had to make an emergency landing. In a short time, thousands of onlookers rushed to the makeshift landing site on a meadow. A few hours later, the airship was torn loose during a storm that had arisen and after colliding with some trees exploded in front of the audience who were still present.

The accident triggered a wave of sympathy and helpfulness among the audience. The decisive factor for this was an address given to the Count by a stranger, in which he finally asked the German people to collect them in order to create a new Zeppelin.

Fundraiser

Among other things, the aluminum remains of the zeppelin were melted down by the Carl Berg company in Lüdenscheid to make various spoons and bowls. These were sold in Germany for the benefit of the fundraising campaign.

The zeppelin donation - the largest voluntary fundraising campaign in the German Empire - could be made by December 24, 1908. With large donations it brought in over 6 million marks .

As a result, the Zeppelin Foundation was created .

memory

Zeppelin stone in Echterdingen, at the site of the accident of 1908

A spoon made from the debris is in the collection of the City Museum Leinfelden-Echterdingen .

The zeppelin stone on the landing site near Echterdingen reminds of the accident in Echterdingen.

literature

  • Helmut Braun: The rise and fall of airship travel: an economic historical analysis. eurotrans, Weiden / Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-936400-22-9 .
  • Karl Clausberg: Zeppelin: The story of an unlikely success. Schirmer-Mosel, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-921375-23-1 .
  • Saskia Frank: Zeppelin events - technical disasters in media processes. Tectum, Marburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8288-9836-3 .
  • Guillaume de Syon: Zeppelin! Germany and the Airship, 1900-1939. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore / London 2002, ISBN 0-8018-6734-7 .
  • Hans von Schiller: Zeppelin: Departure into the 20th century. Kirschbaum, Bonn 1988, ISBN 3-7812-1187-8 .
  • J. Zeising: "Reich and people for Zeppelin!" The journalistic marketing of a technological development . In: W. Meighörner (Hrsg.): Wissenschaftliches Jahrbuch . Friedrichshafen 1998, pp. 67-227.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flight, January 2, 1909 edition, p. 5
  2. ↑ City Museum Leinfelden-Echterdingen