Buch, Englisch, Band 6 (en), 133 Seiten, GB, Format (B × H): 158 mm x 220 mm
Reihe: Mäzene für Wissenschaft
- englische Ausgabe -
Buch, Englisch, Band 6 (en), 133 Seiten, GB, Format (B × H): 158 mm x 220 mm
Reihe: Mäzene für Wissenschaft
ISBN: 978-3-937816-80-7
Verlag: Hamburg University Press - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky
His was an unprecedented rise to the top: from the thirteenth child of a poor Jewish emigrant agent to the "sovereign of shipping" and "friend" of the Kaiser. It is hardly surprising that Alfred Ballin was one of the foremost figures of Wilhelmine Empire. From the beginning, he attracted attention at Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Aktien-Gesellschaft, known as Hapag for short. Under its manager Ballin, Hapag became the largest shipping line in the world. From 1907 until his tragic death on November 9th 1918, Ballin belonged to the board of trustees of the Hamburg Scientific Fondation, to which he also contributed in a special way. Ballin's biography sketches the unusual life of this man, who personified perhaps more than any of his comtemporaries the prominence and power of the second German Empire but at the same time also experienced its limits and weaknesses.
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Contents
Publisher’s preface. p. 4
Foreword by the Chairman of the Executive Board of Hapag-Lloyd AG. p. 5
1. Prologue. p. 7
2. Early years. p. 10
Parents and childhood. p. 10
Starting into business on his own. p. 11
Marriage. p. 16
Personality. p. 18
3. Albert Ballin and the rise of Hapag. p.24
Hapag before Albert Ballin. p. 24
The first German top manager. p. 25
Shipbuilding policy. p. 31
Hapag as supplier of tourism services. p. 43
Emigrant halls. p. 47
Expansion of Hapag’s liner network. p. 56
Shipping diplomacy. p. 61
4. Albert Ballin and politics. p.72
“Little Potsdam” and Hamfelde. p. 72
Albert Ballin and the Kaiser. p. 74
Albert Ballin and his political influence. p. 80
Albert Ballin and the Admiral. p. 82
Albert Ballin and “big politics”. p. 84
5. Albert Ballin and the “great seminal Catastrophe of the 20th Century“. p.90
Economic expansion and military confrontation. p. 90
Albert Ballin in July 1914. p. 92
Hapag in the first world war. p. 94
Political influence in wartime Berlin. p. 97
Albert Ballin’s attitudes to the war aims of the German Empire. p. 100
Albert Ballin’s attitudes to submarine warfare. p.102
Peace via Wilson. p. 104
The end. p. 107
6. Epilogue. p. 117
7.Appendices. p. 121
Family tree (excerpt). p. 121
Albert Ballin and Hapag. p. 122
8. Sources, literature and photo credits. p. 124
9. Name index. p. 130
Foreword by the Chairman of the Executive Board of Hapag-Lloyd AG
Albert Ballin’s name stands for an unprecedented success story in business: under his management, Hapag grew into the largest shipping company in the world, and Hamburg became the gateway to this world. Ballin’s generous and farsighted sponsoring activities, on the other hand, are less well known. The “top manager” who represented his company so impressively in public was very discrete with his sponsoring of worthy causes. Success counted for more than publicity for Ballin, who was particularly fond of linking financial support with practical assistance. His commitment on behalf of the Hamburg Scientific Foundation was typical in this respect: Ballin was not only a generous financial promoter, but also helped to organise the large ethnological Pacific Expedition.
In this combination lay Ballin’s strength: he was a pragmatic visionary and could intuitively respond to trends of the time as well as turn them to profitable ends. While he developed new business areas with a visionary spirit, he also attended to every detail of his “overall work of art Hapag”. He thus made history. He invented the modern cruise in 1891 and then expanded Hapag also into the pioneering company in tourism and was even involved in civil aviation. Hapag achieved its global success thanks above all to the service it offered, in all classes: even poor emigrants were always taken seriously as customers and attracted with offers of passages. Millions of Europeans set off from Hapag’s internationally acclaimed emigrant town in the Port of Hamburg to start a new life overseas.
The director general, one of the first German managers, devoted himself so wholeheartedly to his life’s work that it was stated: “He was Hapag, and Hapag was him.” For Ballin, that meant above all a sense of responsibil- ity: the visionary was never a gambler. The Hapag balance sheets of his era impressively confirm the sound financial foundation of even the most am- bitious projects of the company at any time.
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Ballin had a wide-ranging sense of responsibility. He regarded Hapag as an integral component of its home country as well as integrated in a world economy with interconnections that he understood far better than most politicians of his time. He was a successful shipping diplomat who for decades at the head of large international conferences and joint ventures managed to solve even the most controversial problems constructively. Ballin also tried finally to transfer this successful model to politics: he made great efforts to advocate German-British rapprochement from 1908, but failed tragically because of the military-political establishment.
Vision just as much as pragmatism were also typical of the social involvement of the head of Hapag. For example, in 1911 with his discrete commitment he played a decisive part in ensuring the financing of Lüneburg Heath Nature Park. In 1909 he had already joined the Jordsand Association and supported the exemplary environmental protection project by helping fi- nance the purchase of Hallig Norderoog. Ballin was also a particularly gen- erous and forward-looking patron of science: he was, for example, one of the financial backers making possible the beginnings of the presentday Max Planck Society.
Albert Ballin embodied what is regarded as typically “Hanseatic”: cos- mopolitanism, open-mindedness and dynamism, coupled with down-to- earth realism and business acumen. He left an enduring mark on our company as well as his home city Hamburg, and indeed his name has been regarded internationally as the embodiment and hallmark of excellence of German shipping. But Ballin’s far-sightedness, dedication and influence went well beyond the realm of business. The commitment of the great man from Hamburg also lives on in the Hamburg Scientific Foundation, in
which he was a member of the board of trustees.
Michael Behrendt
