August Wildhagen

August Carl Theodor Wildhagen was born on 18 October 1856 in Rübeland am Brocken (Harz district) and, after finishing school, completed an apprenticeship at the Harz Ironworks. He moved to Kitzingen in 1884, first to 816/818 Wörthstraße (Wörthstraße 25), then to Mühlbergstraße 1, and on 25 August 1884, together with his father-in-law, the banker Kommerzienrat Georg Bachmann, he founded the firm A. Wildhagen & Co., which took over the distribution of Klaus’s ‘Fine Swiss Sweets’ throughout Germany on its own account. Three years later, the brothers acquired their own factory premises in Kitzingen, where they began producing the sweets themselves – which, until then, had only been manufactured in Switzerland. In 1905, together with his brother Hermann, he founded Pfirschinger Mineralwerke, which was the first German factory to produce bleaching earth for oils and fats.

August Wildhagen was granted citizenship of the town of Kitzingen on 3 May 1900. On 12 May 1911, he was awarded the honorary title of Kommerzienrat. The application, drafted by Mayor Ludwig Graff and addressed to the Royal Government of Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg, states:

“Mr August Wildhagen runs a confectionery factory here with his brother Hermann, which has been thriving for years and is a great boon to the local population. In addition to confectionery itself, this factory also produces menthol lozenges. Mr August Wildhagen transferred this production from Switzerland to Bavaria. Furthermore, Messrs August and Hermann Wildhagen have established a completely new production facility here through the construction of the so-called Pfirschinger Mineralwerke. Through these works, the company extracts earth in Lower Bavaria, in the municipality of Pfirsching, Eggenfelden district, which is chemically processed at the local factory and used for the purification of oils and other purposes. These products are mainly sold abroad in large quantities. In total, the company will employ approximately 210 to 220 workers per year. Mr August Wildhagen has

distinguished himself on numerous occasions through his charitable work. Last year, for instance, he donated 5,000 marks towards the construction of a public swimming pool here, he has pledged a further 3,000 marks towards its operation; furthermore, he has authorised the municipal council to purchase the privately-owned Winterhafen on the Main at his own expense on behalf of the town, with a view to reviving shipping on the Main in this locality. As chairman of the Men’s Association of the Red Cross, he carries out fruitful work for the Red Cross, and finally, he has rendered outstanding services as a poultry breeder and expert in matters relating to poultry breeding. On behalf of the German Empire, as we are informed, he organised the German Poultry Exhibition in Brussels at the World’s Fair with great success. Only recently, on behalf of the German Colonial Office, he drew up an expert report on poultry breeding in the German colonies; he has also produced several designs for large-scale poultry breeding facilities, which have frequently been recognised in the specialist press and by the state authorities. He has been awarded Prussian and foreign (Russian, Spanish and Belgian) orders for this work.

These wide-ranging industrial and charitable activities make Mr August Wildhagen a worthy candidate for the highest honour.”

Kommerzienrat August Wildhagen was chairman of the Kitzing branch of the Bavarian Canal and Shipping Association, a patron of the Main canalisation project, of aviation, and of poultry breeding (Wildhagen was one of Germany’s leading breeders of pedigree poultry), the Luitpoldbad, as well as the Medical Corps and the Red Cross, to whose war hospital he made a substantial donation of 10,000 marks and donated several ambulances. He possessed a high degree of social awareness and was always generous towards the poor and disadvantaged, supporting various charitable organisations to the best of his ability. For instance, after the end of the war in 1920, he donated a considerable sum of money towards the construction of new housing for those in need.

August Wildhagen was also interested in and actively involved in politics. As a representative of a non-partisan association of all economic groups in Kitzingen, which had given itself the name ‘Bürgerblock’, he was elected to the town council on 7 December 1924, where he played an important role until his death on 25 December 1932. His obituary read: “With August Wildhagen’s passing, a true German man of the old school has left us. His life was one of service to his people – for this he will be remembered with gratitude, even beyond the grave.” Wildhagen was laid to rest in the old cemetery in Kitzingen. With his passing, Kitzingen lost one of its most distinctive figures.

Sources:

• File of the city magistrate of Kitzingen: I/A/8/02: Decorations and decorations of honour, 1871 - 1904.

• File of the city magistrate of Kitzingen: I/A/8/22: Honours, 1905 - 1914.

• Civil rights files: No. 210: Wildhagen, Hermann Julius, 1893. No. 227: Wildhagen, August, factory owner, 1900. No. 308: Wildhagen, Richard, merchant, 1914.

• Council minutes since 1945

• Falkenstein, Stephanie: The Wildhagenvilla. A contribution to the residential and living culture of the Gründerzeit in Kitzingen. Publication series of the Städtisches Museum Kitzingen Volume 11, Kitzingen 2016.