Emil Rathenau

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Emil Moritz Rathenau was born on 11 December 1838 in Berlin, died 20 June 1915. He was a German entrepreneur, son of Moritz Rathenau , father of Walther Rathenau and Erich Rathenau. A German industrialist and a leading figure in the early European electrical industry.

1 Childhood
2 Career
3 Family life
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Childhood

Emil Rathenau was born 11 December 1838, a son of a wealthy Jewish merchant family in Berlin.

[edit] Career

In 1865, Rathenau was a partner in a factory, during which time, while travelling abroad, he recognized the possibilities of new electrical technology. In 1881, with the help of a bank group, he acquired the rights to manufacture products based on the patents of Thomas Alva Edison. In 1883 he formed the "German Edison Society for Applied Electricity" (Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität), which in 1887 formed into Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft "AEG ".

In 1903, Rathenau was appointed general manager of AEG. Together with his competitor and business partner Werner von Siemens, they formed the Telefunken Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie mbH. Rathenau held numerous positions on the supervisory board of Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft und der Elektrizitäts AG vorm. W. Lahmeyer & Co.

[edit] Family life

Rathenau was married in 1866 to Mathilde Nachmann, daughter of a Frankfurt banker. His son, Walter Rathenau, industrialist, politician and progressive economist, was assassinated In June 1922, by gangsters of the extreme Right.

[edit] References

Pohl, Manfred: Emil Rathenau and the AEG , Mainz: Publishing house v. Hase & Koehler, 1988, ISBN 3-7758-1190-7 , with numerous pictures and facsimiles
Dahlem, Markus: Case studies to the relationship of banks and large-scale enterprise in the German empire, 1871-1914.
The farbenfabriken before times Friedrich Bavarian & Co. in Leverkusen and the general electricity company
Information of the working group for critical enterprise and industrial history, Ruhr Univ. Bochum; 19. Bochum, 2004, P. 1-28
Literature by and over Emil Rathenau in the catalog of the DDB
Kurzbiographie Emil Rathenau (Dt. Hist. Museum)
On-line full text of Dahlem: Case studies