City walk on the economic history of the Callmann family in Weimar

For a long period of the 19th century, the Callmann family belonged to one of the most respected families of the bourgeois upper class. First and foremost was August Callmann, who came to Weimar from Rudolstadt within the 1920s and established himself at Burgplatz 3 with his uncle Julius Elkan. It was August Callmann who was to establish the family in the Thuringian city for the long term. Research on the Callmanns did not begin until the late 1970s, when historian Eva Schmidt was able to pick up the first trace of the family in Weimar. Unfortunately, nothing further is known about August Callmann's residence at the time.

The fact that August Callmann had come from Rudolstadt to Weimar had professional reasons. The banker Julius Elkan, who had already made a name for himself in the Weimar banking business, offered his nephew the opportunity to apprentice with him so that he could carefully familiarize himself with the world of finance. When Julius Elkan died in 1839, August Callmann continued to run the only banking house in the city at that time for another decade. He did not do this alone, however, but had a business partner in Hermann Moritz, who was married to Elkan's daughter, and who took over responsibility for the business on his own after Callmann's departure. The latter gained a great deal of experience during that time and gained such a strong reputation that he decided to open his own banking business in 1854, which he later expanded with another branch in neighboring Jena. In the most central position in Weimar's city center at Markt 21, the Callmann family finally manifested itself in the cityscape.

For just under a decade, August Callmann struggled in vain to gain citizenship in Weimar. His position as an authorized signatory in the Elkan company secured him a long-lasting existence in the city, in which he was able to quickly establish himself through numerous business connections and personal acquaintances. By obtaining citizenship, August Callmann wanted to feel even closer ties to the Thuringian city. Callmann's wish was denied under the indication at present, whereupon he renewed his demand a year later, only to receive a negative response again. General reasons against the emancipation of Jews*Jewesses, the easy substitutability of a capable manager for the Elkans banking house and the general dispensability of the business were put forward, whereupon the refusal was a done deal in May 1942. Seven years later, after the bourgeois-democratic revolution, August Callmann tried for a third time to obtain citizenship, for which he referred to the "Basic Rights of Germans" enacted on December 21, 1848. Now Calmann finally succeeded and could find himself as a registered citizen in the citizen book from September 18, 1849.

August Callmann was married during his lifetime in Weimar to Caecilie Hirschberg, who was twenty years younger. This marriage produced a total of seven children, four daughters and three sons, of whom only the male descendants continued the family business, as was customary at the time. The eldest son Isidor Arnold took over the bank branch. Later he left and handed over the business responsibility to the younger brothers Otto and Georg Callmann. The success of the next generation of Callmanns was evident at the end of the 19th century, when the branch was able to move into a new building opposite the Weimar Theater in what is now Dingelstedt Street.

Otto and Georg Callmann, after successfully continuing their father's banking business, also appeared as company founders. Thus, they founded the wagon factory in January 1898. The Weimarische Zeitung of January 25, 1898, stated: "Today, the Aktien-Gesellschaft Waggonfabrik Weimar was constituted with a provisional share capital of half a million marks. Participants are the banking firm A. Callmann in Weimar and major industrialists from outside the city." With a plot of land of approximately three hectares in the north of Weimar and the establishment of the factory, the Callmanns made the main contribution to the new foundation. In addition, they held 75 percent of the shares at the beginning.

Unfortunately, the success did not last long: Already in the year 1900, the abrupt end of business of the Callmann era was ushered in. Ultimately, this is symbolic of the death of smaller banks that did not want to follow the trend of merging different banks. The collapse of the bank was one of the first major economic crashes that Weimar had experienced up to that point. Many Weimar tradesmen struggled hard in the wake of this downfall and found themselves in economic dire straits. Nevertheless, the Callmanns' reputation was not ruined by this crash, which is why they were not generally spoken of in negative terms. After the takeover, about which not much is known - except that the Aktiengesellschaft für Eisenbahnen und Militärbedarf was founded in it in 1901 -, the wagon factory became one of the largest industrial enterprises in all of Weimar.