Adolph von Hansemann (27 July 1826 – 9 December 1903) was an Imperial German businessman and banker.

Life

Born in Aachen in 1826 to German banker and railroad entrepreneur David Hansemann, Adolph Hansemann developed an early interest in business administration. He left home for

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

in 1841. He was a partner in his brother Gustav's textile factory in

Eupen Eupen (, ; ; formerly ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border ( Aachen), from the Dutch border (Maastricht) and from the " High Fe ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, until leaving to help manage his father's

Disconto-Gesellschaft The Disconto-Gesellschaft (full name: Direktion der Disconto-Gesellschaft), with headquarters in Berlin, was founded in 1851. It was, until its 1929 merger into Deutsche Bank, one of the largest German banking organizations. History It was fou ...

in 1857. After his father's death in 1864, Adolph Hansemann continued to develop it by himself, expanding it into the largest private bank in the German Empire and one of the most famous in Europe. Along with Gerson von Bleichroeder, he arranged the financing for the

Royal Prussian Army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the cor ...

during the 1870 Franco-Prussian War; for his services, he was elevated to the peerage by

Kaiser Wilhelm I William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the f ...

and appended the ''von'' to his name. As a board member at

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krupp ...

and chairman of the

Gelsenkirchen Mining Company Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies ...

(''Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG''), he participated in the growth of coal and steel industries in the Ruhr valley. Like his father, he was also involved with the German railroads, including the Lehrte line, as well as lines in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

. Taking advantage of Bethel Strousberg's exposure there, Hansemann's greatest coup was working with Bleichroeder to purchase Strousberg's railways throughout Germany at a fraction of their real value. He was an advocate of Germany's imperial expansion. He funded Johann Cesar VI. Godeffroy's

Sea Trade Society The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

(''Seehandels-Gesellschaft'') plantations and with

Wilhelm Solf Wilhelm Heinrich Solf (5 October 1862 – 6 February 1936) was a German scholar, diplomat, jurist and statesman. Early life Solf was born into a wealthy and liberal family in Berlin. He attended secondary schools in Anklam, western Pomerania, an ...

worked towards the establishment of

German Samoa German Samoa (german: Deutsch-Samoa) was a German protectorate from 1900 to 1920, consisting of the islands of Upolu, Savai'i, Apolima and Manono, now wholly within the independent state of Samoa, formerly ''Western Samoa''. Samoa was the ...

. In May 1884, Von Hansemann, and a syndicate of German bankers formed the New Guinea Consortium (''Neuguinea-Konsortium'', later ''Neuguinea-Kompanie'') and

Astrolabe Company The Astrolabe Company (german: Astrolabe-Compagnie) was a German "colonial society" (''Kolonialgesellschaft'') in Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, which existed from 1891 to 1896. On 27 October 1891 it was founded with a capital of 2.4 million marks. Involved ...

(''Astrolabe-Compagnie'') which led to the establishment of

Kaiser-Wilhelmsland Kaiser-Wilhelmsland ("Emperor William's Land") formed part of German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neuguinea), the South Pacific protectorate of the German Empire. Named in honour of Wilhelm I, who reigned as German Emperor () from 1871 to 1888, ...

and

German New Guinea German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...

in the South Pacific. This syndicate was created with the knowledge and blessing of the German chancellor, Count

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...

, and with secrecy and speed an expedition was fitted out under Dr

Otto Finsch Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch (8 August 1839, Warmbrunn – 31 January 1917, Braunschweig) was a German ethnographer, naturalist and colonial explorer. He is known for a two-volume monograph on the parrots of the world which earned him a doctorat ...

, an ornithologist and explorer. His task was to select land for plantation development on the north-east coast of New Guinea and establish trading posts.Linke, R 2006, The influence of German surveying on the development of New Guinea,
Association of Surveyors of PNG
Accessed 25 January 2014. His Disconto Society funded the Central Line in

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mo ...

and the Shantung Railroad in the German concession of Kiaochau, China. Construction of his Otavi Railroad in

German South-West Africa German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...

coincided with the

Herero genocide The Herero and Namaqua genocide or the Herero and Nama genocide was a campaign of ethnic extermination and collective punishment waged by the German Empire against the Herero (Ovaherero) and the Nama in German South West Africa (now Namibia). ...

there. By this time Adolph von Hansemann was one of the richest men in the German Empire. Between 1887 and 1896, he modernized the

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, w ...

resort of

Sassnitz Sassnitz (, before 1993 in german: Saßnitz) is a town on the Jasmund peninsula, Rügen Island, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The population as of 2012 was 9,498. Sassnitz is a well-known seaside resort and port town, a ...

, the site of his castle Dwasieden, at his own expense. He also maintained a villa in Berlin and another at Lissa and purchased extensive tracts of land for his heirs. He married Ottilie von Kusserow ''( :de:Ottilie von Hansemann)'', daughter of the

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

Lt. Gen. Ferdinand von Kusserow, early advocate of women's rights, and sister of

Heinrich von Kusserow Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of p ...

''( :de:Heinrich von Kusserow)'', who became the first head of colonial affairs for the

German Foreign Office , logo = DEgov-AA-Logo en.svg , logo_width = 260 px , image = Auswaertiges Amt Berlin Eingang.jpg , picture_width = 300px , image_caption = Entrance to the Foreign Office building , headquarters = Werderscher Mark ...

. Adolph's children were

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

and Davide Eveline von Hansemann. In October 1903, he died at work at his desk; according to his secretary, his last words were, "Well, tomorrow we work on."

Sources

* Däbritz, Walther: ''David Hansemann und Adolph von Hansemann''. Scherpe, Krefeld 1954. German. * Kleeberg, John M
''The Disconto-Gesellschaft and German Industrialization: a critical examination of the career of a German Universal Bank, 1851–1914''
1988. Accessed 9 September 2010. * Lindemann, Ralf: ''Das weiße Schloss am Meer –

Schloss Dwasieden ''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house. Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cogn ...

auf der Insel Rügen''. Reprint Verlag Rügen, 2. Auflage, Bergen 2007. German. * Mckillop, Bob & al
''End of the Line: a History of Railways in Papua New Guinea''
University of Papua New Guinea Press, 1997. Accessed 9 September 2010. * Overlach, Theodore Wm
''Foreign Financial Control in China''
Ayer Publishing, 1976. Accessed 9 September 2010.

External links

Biography
by the Historical Association of

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

(in German)
Schloss Dwasieden in the book ''The White Castle by the Sea''
(in German) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hansemann, Adolph von 1826 births 1903 deaths People from Aachen People from the Rhine Province German untitled nobility German Empire politicians People of former German colonies German bankers