Heinrich Wiegand
Encyclopedia
Johann Heinrich Christoph Wiegand (born 17 August 1855 in Bremen
, died 29 March 1909 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe) was the General Director of the Norddeutscher Lloyd
shipping company during a period of great expansion.
and then go to university. He studied law at the universities of Erlangen, Bonn
, Berlin
and Strassburg
, passed the bar
at Lübeck
and earned a Doctor of Law
degree by examination at Göttingen in 1879, and went into practice as a lawyer in Bremen that same year. He was interested in transport and in 1878 had taken the state examination in Colmar
and become a referendary as the first step to a career with the railway. In his first case for Norddeutscher Lloyd in 1884, he demonstrated an excellent mastery of maritime and business law; in 1889 he became the company's general counsel. Beginning at the end of that decade, he tried repeatedly to persuade businessmen in Bremen to promote industry, which the city lacked. In particular he attempted to make Bremen the base of operations for American development of electric tram
s in Germany through the Ludwig Loewe company of Berlin. These efforts having failed, he was on the point of moving to Berlin when Johann Georg Lohmann died suddenly on 9 February 1892 and he was chosen to succeed him as Director of Norddeutscher Lloyd from 1 April 1892. Initially two Vice Presidents were to assist him; after two years both had retired and until his own death in 1909, he worked with Geo Plate, the head of the Board of Directors and the man who had proposed his name. In 1899 his title became General Director and Plate's, President.
In 1905, Wiegand was offered the position of State Secretary for the Colonies, but refused it; Chancellor von Bülow
considered having Kaiser Wilhelm II order him to accept.
He died of kidney disease at a spa at the age of 53.
, which were widely emulated, and the and sister ships, the first four funnel liner
s. He also presided over a great expansion of the company's routes, through both direct services and subsidiaries, especially in the Far East and Australasia. For a time at least, the company dominated its rival, the Hamburg-America Line. Despite a serious financial downturn beginning in 1907, Wiegand was also able to preside over most of the building of a vast new headquarters, the largest building in Bremen, for which the foundation stone for the last section was laid that year to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary; it was completed after his death, in 1910.
Both to further NDL's business interests and because he remained convinced that Bremen needed industry, he founded several industrial plants, in particular Atlas Elektronik
(founded in 1902 as Norddeutsche Maschinen- und Armaturenfabrik), developed the company's repair and manufacturing facilities including a basin for testing hull models, was a prime mover in developing the industrial harbour and set up the Norddeutsche Hütte there in 1907 as the nucleus of a steel plant, and developed coal fields in partnership with Krupp
. The industries that NDL developed under him were known in Bremen as the "Wiegand industries", and included companies that were important to Germany's interests abroad, such as Deutsche Südseephosphat AG, headquartered in Bremen and founded in 1908.
. However, the company remained slow in adopting other innovations, notably turbine propulsion, as it had been to introduce twin-screw propulsion.
Norddeutscher Lloyd and Hamburg-America were locked in competition throughout Wiegand's tenure. However, he remained on friendly terms with Albert Ballin
, head of the rival company. In 1905 he wrote to him:
Wiegand was, however, reluctant to let NDL become part of J. P. Morgan
's International Mercantile Marine combine along with Hamburg-America, as urged by Ballin and Kaiser Wilhelm II; the Kaiser described him as ein eigensinniger Friese (an obstinate Frisian
) for his initial refusal, but he eventually agreed to the plan. Throughout his career, he saw German business and German patriotism as linked, writing in a letter of "die Verbindung kaufmännischer Solidität und nationaler Denkungsart" (the connection between being a solid business person and thinking in a national manner). He attempted to keep the press from reporting on the Kaiser's inflammatory "Hun speech" on the occasion of the German force shipping out of Bremerhaven to suppress the Boxer rebellion
in China, and deeply regretted not having told the Kaiser in advance that he was misinformed about the extent of atrocities there.
He gave public recognition to the NDL workers for their contributions to the company, on one occasion at a banquet aboard the Imperial yacht Hohenzollern
noting to the Kaiser that the company could not have achieved what it was being praised for without the workers, and naming specific examples. According to his memoirs, the Chancellor thanked him privately for giving the Kaiser a different view of the German worker than he was used to. During his tenure he expanded the Seamen's Pension Fund, founded a Lloyd Widows' and Orphans' Fund, and in 1900 in memory of his wife established the Elisabeth Wiegand-Stiftung (Elisabeth Wiegand Foundation) in aid of needy current and former NDL employees and their dependents.
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
, died 29 March 1909 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe) was the General Director of the Norddeutscher Lloyd
Norddeutscher Lloyd
Norddeutsche Lloyd was a German shipping company. It was founded by Hermann Henrich Meier and Eduard Crüsemann in Bremen on February 20, 1857. It developed into one of the most important German shipping companies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was instrumental in the economic...
shipping company during a period of great expansion.
Life and career
Wiegand's father had come to Bremen from the Upper Weser region and owned a profitable nursery and landscaping business. A teacher persuaded him to allow his son to study at the gymnasiumGymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
and then go to university. He studied law at the universities of Erlangen, Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
, Berlin
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
and Strassburg
University of Strasbourg
The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....
, passed the bar
Bar examination
A bar examination is an examination conducted at regular intervals to determine whether a candidate is qualified to practice law in a given jurisdiction.-Brazil:...
at Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
and earned a Doctor of Law
Doctor of law
Doctor of Law or Doctor of Laws is a doctoral degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country, and includes degrees such as the LL.D., Ph.D., J.D., J.S.D., and Dr. iur.-Argentina:...
degree by examination at Göttingen in 1879, and went into practice as a lawyer in Bremen that same year. He was interested in transport and in 1878 had taken the state examination in Colmar
Colmar
Colmar is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It is the capital of the department. Colmar is also the seat of the highest jurisdiction in Alsace, the appellate court....
and become a referendary as the first step to a career with the railway. In his first case for Norddeutscher Lloyd in 1884, he demonstrated an excellent mastery of maritime and business law; in 1889 he became the company's general counsel. Beginning at the end of that decade, he tried repeatedly to persuade businessmen in Bremen to promote industry, which the city lacked. In particular he attempted to make Bremen the base of operations for American development of electric tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s in Germany through the Ludwig Loewe company of Berlin. These efforts having failed, he was on the point of moving to Berlin when Johann Georg Lohmann died suddenly on 9 February 1892 and he was chosen to succeed him as Director of Norddeutscher Lloyd from 1 April 1892. Initially two Vice Presidents were to assist him; after two years both had retired and until his own death in 1909, he worked with Geo Plate, the head of the Board of Directors and the man who had proposed his name. In 1899 his title became General Director and Plate's, President.
In 1905, Wiegand was offered the position of State Secretary for the Colonies, but refused it; Chancellor von Bülow
Bernhard von Bülow
Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin von Bülow , named in 1905 Prince von Bülow, was a German statesman who served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for three years and then as Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909.Bülow was described as possessing every quality except greatness...
considered having Kaiser Wilhelm II order him to accept.
He died of kidney disease at a spa at the age of 53.
Achievements
Wiegand overhauled and greatly expanded the NDL fleet, phasing out Lohmann's express liners and introducing the larger and faster Barbarossa classBarbarossa class ocean liner
The Barbarossa class was a class of ocean liners of North German Lloyd and the Hamburg America Line of the German Empire. Of the ten ships built between 1896 and 1902, six were built by AG Vulcan Stettin, three were built by Blohm & Voss, and one was built by F. Schichau; all were built in Germany...
, which were widely emulated, and the and sister ships, the first four funnel liner
Four funnel liner
A four funnel liner, four funnelled liner or four stacker is an ocean liner with four funnels. The SS Great Eastern, launched on January 31st 1858 , became the only ocean liner to ever sport five funnels. As one funnel was later removed, the Great Eastern, by default, became the first ocean liner...
s. He also presided over a great expansion of the company's routes, through both direct services and subsidiaries, especially in the Far East and Australasia. For a time at least, the company dominated its rival, the Hamburg-America Line. Despite a serious financial downturn beginning in 1907, Wiegand was also able to preside over most of the building of a vast new headquarters, the largest building in Bremen, for which the foundation stone for the last section was laid that year to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary; it was completed after his death, in 1910.
Both to further NDL's business interests and because he remained convinced that Bremen needed industry, he founded several industrial plants, in particular Atlas Elektronik
Atlas Elektronik
Atlas Elektronik GmbH is a naval/marine electronics and systems business based in Bremen, Germany. It is involved in the development of integrated sonar systems for submarines and heavyweight torpedoes....
(founded in 1902 as Norddeutsche Maschinen- und Armaturenfabrik), developed the company's repair and manufacturing facilities including a basin for testing hull models, was a prime mover in developing the industrial harbour and set up the Norddeutsche Hütte there in 1907 as the nucleus of a steel plant, and developed coal fields in partnership with Krupp
Krupp
The Krupp family , a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th...
. The industries that NDL developed under him were known in Bremen as the "Wiegand industries", and included companies that were important to Germany's interests abroad, such as Deutsche Südseephosphat AG, headquartered in Bremen and founded in 1908.
Business philosophy
Wiegand had a close and friendly relationship with the company's Head of Engineering, Max Walter, and adopted technical innovations rapidly where safety was concerned; for example, the telegraph was installed in 1899 on the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, and by 1913 most NDL steamers had it and also sonarSonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
. However, the company remained slow in adopting other innovations, notably turbine propulsion, as it had been to introduce twin-screw propulsion.
Norddeutscher Lloyd and Hamburg-America were locked in competition throughout Wiegand's tenure. However, he remained on friendly terms with Albert Ballin
Albert Ballin
Albert Ballin was a German businessman. He was born into a modest Jewish family of Hamburg with origins in Denmark.- Business :...
, head of the rival company. In 1905 he wrote to him:
In my view, the field of opportunities is large enough for us both that it leaves both companies sufficient room for expansion. That we have competed with each other and sought to reduce each other in particular areas, all annoyance and chagrin that now one and now the other of us has thereby experienced, has now, however, been forgotten in the end.There were several proposals for cooperation from both sides during the two men's tenures. At the end of his life, in autumn 1918, Ballin told a meeting of the Hamburg-America board that the only person he knew who could have helped them in the crisis of the losing war was the late Heinrich Wiegand.
Wiegand was, however, reluctant to let NDL become part of J. P. Morgan
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
's International Mercantile Marine combine along with Hamburg-America, as urged by Ballin and Kaiser Wilhelm II; the Kaiser described him as ein eigensinniger Friese (an obstinate Frisian
Frisians
The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...
) for his initial refusal, but he eventually agreed to the plan. Throughout his career, he saw German business and German patriotism as linked, writing in a letter of "die Verbindung kaufmännischer Solidität und nationaler Denkungsart" (the connection between being a solid business person and thinking in a national manner). He attempted to keep the press from reporting on the Kaiser's inflammatory "Hun speech" on the occasion of the German force shipping out of Bremerhaven to suppress the Boxer rebellion
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
in China, and deeply regretted not having told the Kaiser in advance that he was misinformed about the extent of atrocities there.
He gave public recognition to the NDL workers for their contributions to the company, on one occasion at a banquet aboard the Imperial yacht Hohenzollern
SMY Hohenzollern
SMY Hohenzollern was the name of several Yachts used by the German Emperors between 1878 and 1918, named after their House of Hohenzollern.- SMY Hohenzollern I :...
noting to the Kaiser that the company could not have achieved what it was being praised for without the workers, and naming specific examples. According to his memoirs, the Chancellor thanked him privately for giving the Kaiser a different view of the German worker than he was used to. During his tenure he expanded the Seamen's Pension Fund, founded a Lloyd Widows' and Orphans' Fund, and in 1900 in memory of his wife established the Elisabeth Wiegand-Stiftung (Elisabeth Wiegand Foundation) in aid of needy current and former NDL employees and their dependents.