Emil Rathenau

Rathenau was born in Berlin, into a wealthy Jewish merchant family based on Viktoriastrasse by the Tiergarten, an old Jewish quarter of the city. His father Moritz Rathenau, was a grain trader who had moved to Berlin to set up business. His mother, Therese, was the daughter of Josef Liebermann, another businessman attracted to the growing opportunities of the burgeoning Prussian capital.[1] Emil was particularly close to his mother, whom he regularly visited until her death in 1894.[1] His parents families had met through the Gesellschaft der Freunde (Society of Friends), a cultural organisation played a central role amongst the prominent members Jewish community in Berlin.

Emil undertook an apprenticeship in Silesia, working for a company owned by the Liebermann family. After four and half unhappy years he received a large inheritance following the death his grandfather, Josef Liebermann. This enabled him to gain a technical training in Hanover and Zurich, and then an appointment as a technical adviser for Borsig, a Berlin-based manufacturer for the railway sector.[1] However he did not remain there long, and spent some time in England expanding his experience. Upon his return to Berlin, in 1866 he married Mathilde Nachmann, daughter of the Frankfurt banker Isaak Nachmann (1816–1870). Also in 1865 he joined an old school friend in taking over a small machine building factory in Berlin.[1]

In 1865, Rathenau was a partner in a factory, during which time (while traveling abroad) he recognized the possibilities of the then newly emerging electrical technology. The dramatic victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War was ensued by a collapse, prompting Rathenau to sell up in 1873.

A Grand Tour of Central and Eastern Europe took him to Vienna Science Exhibition, Philadelphia, and Paris. In 1881, he attended the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris and saw Thomas Alva Edison's invention of the light bulb for the first time.[2] Realizing the potential of electricity, he acquired the rights to manufacture products based on Edison's patents with the help of a bank group. By 1907 AEG had become the largest commercial company in the world. The bank advised him to partner with his competitor Werner von Siemens. Since both were followers of the idea of monopoly they signed a contract of trust (monopoly) where Siemens was producing and selling generators and Rathenau built power stations and laid cables. In 1883 he founded the "German Edison Corporation for Applied Electricity" (Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektrizität), which in 1887 changed into the Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (General Electricity Incorporated) abbreviated AEG.

On 19 February 1884 Rathenau and the magistrate of Berlin signed an agreement on the electrification of the city.[2] While he financed the deal, Rathenau's private company was also permitted to use public streets to lay electricity lines. The city received 10% of the income for giving its authorization. Peter Becker, a German energy expert has called this Germany's first private-public partnership and after the first power station went online to illuminate the 'Gendarmenmarkt' at night. The Berlin model became influential throughout the German Empire.[2]

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

One of his sons was Walther Rathenau, an industrialist, politician, and progressive economist who served as German Foreign Minister during the Weimar Republic. He was assassinated in Berlin in June 1922 by the right-wing terrorist group Organisation Consul. He had another son named Erich Rathenau and a daughter Edith.

• Rathenau

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Emil Rathenau.

• Pohl, Manfred (1988). Emil Rathenau and the AEG. Mainz: Hase & Koehler. ISBN 3-7758-1190-7.
• Dahlem, Markus. Case studies to the relationship of banks and large-scale enterprise in the German empire, 1871–1914.

• Newspaper clippings about Emil Rathenau in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW