User:Eli185.2/Philipp Fürchtegott Reemtsma

Philipp Fürchtegott Reemtsma (* December 22, 1893 in Osterholz-Scharmbeck; † December 11, 1959 in Hamburg) was a German entrepreneur and patron of the arts.

Philipp Fürchtegott Reemtsma came from the Reemtsma family. The son of the merchant and cigar manufacturer Bernhard Reemtsma and his wife Flora Fürchtegott née Zülch (1867-1931), he joined his father's company in Erfurt in 1917 with his brother Hermann Fürchtegott Reemtsma after suffering serious war injuries, where he was responsible for sales, advertising and finance. With consistent tobacco blends and advertising, he turned cigarettes into a branded product - with the support of his long-time advisor Hans Domizlaff from 1921 onwards. For him, a cigarette was "paper, one gram of tobacco and many millions in advertising".

After founding a public limited company, Philipp Fürchtegott Reemtsma moved the company headquarters to Altona-Bahrenfeld in 1923, which was still Prussian at the time. By taking over other companies and through mergers, he developed the company, now trading as Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH, into the most important German cigarette manufacturer, producing around three quarters of the more than 40 billion cigarettes produced in the pre-war period. In 1920, Reemtsma married a cousin on his mother's side, Gertrud Zülch (1898-1939), daughter of the cigarette manufacturer Hermann Fürchtegott Zülch (1862-1907). This marriage, which produced three sons who all died in the Second World War, was divorced in 1938. After her second marriage in the same year, Gertrud Zülch died by suicide in 1939. A year later, Reemtsma married another cousin, the daughter of the mayor of Allenstein, Karl Georg Zülch, who was also called Gertrud Zülch and was a cousin of his first wife. With his second wife Gertrud (1916-1996), Reemtsma had a daughter who died shortly after her birth and a son, Jan Philipp Reemtsma.

Villa Reemtsma in Othmarschen was completed in 1931 and was one of the most lavish private houses in Germany at the time. Reemtsma was also a patron of the arts. Between 1929 and 1945, he donated an annual sum of 28,000 Reichsmarks to the Nietzsche Archive, initially anonymously.

After the end of the Second World War, Reemtsma stood trial for bribing Hermann Göring. The trial led to a conviction in 1948. In the same year, he was exonerated by the denazification committee. He then took over the management of the company again, which by the end of the 1950s once more held the lion's share of the German cigarette market.

Philipp Fürchtegott Reemtsma was buried in the Nienstedten cemetery in Hamburg.

Literature

 * Erik Lindner: Die Reemtsmas. Geschichte einer deutschen Unternehmerfamilie. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 3-455-09563-1. Rezension von Alfred Reckendrees 2008 in H-Soz-Kult.
 * Erik Lindner: Die Reemtsmas. Geschichte einer deutschen Unternehmerfamilie. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 3-455-09563-1. Rezension von Alfred Reckendrees 2008 in H-Soz-Kult.

Weblinks

 * Zeitungsartikel über Philipp Fürchtegott Reemtsma in den Historischen Pressearchiven der ZBW
 * Rainer Oppermann: Philipp Fürchtegott Reemtsma: Ein Leben zwischen erfolgreicher Arbeit als Unternehmer und politischen Verfehlungen in der NS-Zeit. Trenthorst, 2018.
 * Heiner Wember: 11.12.1959 – Todestag von Philipp F. Reemtsma WDR „ZeitZeichen“ vom 11. Dezember 2019 (Podcast)
 * Heiner Wember: 11.12.1959 – Todestag von Philipp F. Reemtsma WDR „ZeitZeichen“ vom 11. Dezember 2019 (Podcast)