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German entrepreneur (1900–1972) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Franz Josef Kohl-Weigand (born December 26, 1900, in Ludwigshafen am Rhein as Franz Josef Kohl; died March 15, 1972, in St. Ingbert) was a German businessman, art collector and philanthropist.
Franz Josef Kohl was the first child of Heinrich Kohl, a bank director and supporter of Palatine local history research in Ludwigshafen. He grew up in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. In 1930, he married Auguste Weigand, daughter of the St. Ingbert entrepreneur Ernst Weigand (hardware). Kohl moved to St. Ingbert and took the surname Kohl-Weigand.[1] A year later, Kohl-Weigand joined the management of the company. After World War II, together with his brother-in-law Fritz Saeftel, he led the reconstruction of the "Otto Weigand & Sohn" company, building new office buildings, workers' housing and warehouses. Kohl-Weigand was also involved in regional history and local history research, chairing the St. Ingbert Heimat- und Verkehrsverein for many years.[citation needed]
Franz Josef Kohl-Weigand was buried at the Old Cemetery in St. Ingbert on March 20, 1972.[citation needed]
Kohl-Weigand built up an art collection, which focused on the St. Ingbert artists Albert Weisgerber and Fritz Koelle as well as the Palatine artists Hans Purrmann, Max Slevogt[2][3] and Carl Johann Becker-Gundahl.[4][5][6] The collection was described as the "largest collection of German Impressionists in southwestern Germany". In the 1970s, Kohl-Weigand's company had accumulated substantial tax debts. After negotiations with the Saarland tax authorities, in which Franz-Josef Röder, Saarland's prime minister at the time, played a key role, Kohl-Weigand transferred most of his collection to the Saarland, thereby settling his tax debt. The collection was subsequently transferred to the Saarland Cultural Heritage Foundation. A further partial estate of the Kohl-Weigand collection is in the possession of the St. Ingbert city archive.
Provenance research projects have been undertaken to shed light on the origins of the artworks in the Kohl-Weigand collection, and some Nazi-looted artworks have been restituted to Jewish families who were persecuted under the Nazi regime.[7][8][9][10][11]
When Otto Weigand's son Ernst (1874-1949) joined the management of the company in 1902 the company was renamed "Otto Weigand & Sohn".[13] Ernst Weigand then invited his son-in-law into the business. Franz Josef Kohl-Weigand joined in 1931, and another son-in-law, Fritz Saeftel, joined the management in 1936. In 1941, the company had 61 employees, in 1956 it had 120 employees and in 1966 it reached 200 employees. With Kohl-Weigand's son Ernst Heinrich (1932-1988), the fourth and last generation joined the company in 1953, which experienced its slow downturn at the end of the 1960s. The company "Otto Weigand & Sohn" was dissolved in November 1994.[14]
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