Otto Wolff - Theme Revolution
At the heart of Otto Wolff's large library, which contains around 10,000 volumes, is the literature on German (mainly Prussian) and French history. Especially for the revolutions of 1789, 1830 and 1848 there are many pieces available, including rare ones. The next largest section is devoted to economic books. Wolff divided his library into 25 subject groups. This list was retained in the UCL. The library stands closed under the shelfmark "WOLF", followed by Wolff's name, e.g. "F" for the literary group "Friedrich the Great". In addition to books, the collection includes autographs and miniature prints in 11 separate folders. These have been catalogued in a separate UCL project and added to the library's catalogue. The Otto Wolff Library was donated to the UCL Cologne in 1940.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON OTTO WOLFF (1881-1940)
Otto Wolff was born in Bonn on 8 April 1881. His father Johann Peter Wolff (1845-1892) was organist at the Stiftskirche. Wolff completed a commercial apprenticeship. After his military service he went to Cologne and first worked as a representative for the scrap dealer Pelzer. At the age of 23, he went into business for himself and expanded very successfully with the "Otto Wolff OHG". The University of Cologne appointed the industrial magnate an honorary senator on 25 June 1938. Otto Wolff not only distinguished himself as a passionate and systematic collector of books, but in 1932 he also wrote the work: "Die Geschäfte des Herrn Ouvrard: Aus dem Leben eines genialen Spekulanten" (The Business of Mr. Ouvrard: From the Life of a Genius Speculator), a narrative set in the time of the French Revolution, a historical period favoured by Wolff. Wolff, who had known the USB Cologne since the 1920s, had been in frequent contact with the then director Hermann Corsten since 1933. During a visit in 1939, he promised to leave his library to the building after his death. Since Otto Wolff died in Berlin on 22 January 1940, this agreement came into effect only a few months later.
With Ottmar Strauß as a partner, Wolff founded the iron wholesaler Otto Wolff OHG in 1904. This company broke new ground in the scrap metal trade. The company bought industrial plants in order to recycle them. By 1912, the company already had branches in Berlin and Leipzig. The First World War did not lead to a slump. The expansion even progressed, as the business could be extended to all branches of the iron trade. Wolff became a shareholder in steel and ironworks. The inflation years of the interwar years brought losses, but the company was able to recover from them in the early 1930s.
Otto Wolff's interest in French history and his relationship with France did not come about by chance. In 1919, the French had accepted the German government's proposal to appoint Otto Wolff as head of the reparations programme for France. This attracted the hatred of the National Socialists, who subsequently sought to denounce Wolff as an "allied agent" and to ruin his business. In the end they did not succeed, because the Cologne entrepreneur deliberately got himself into such high debt abroad because he knew that the settlement of these debts would only have to be made in full. The provisions of the reparation treaties (Dawes Plan, Young Plan) stipulated that the entire amount would have been due, a sum for which the foreign currency of the German Reichsbank would not have been sufficient at the time. From 1923 onwards, Wolff was committed to contractually promoting the resumption of business relations with France.
After Otto Wolff's death, his son Otto Wolff von Amerongen took over the business.
The role of the group during the Nazi period, in particular the departure of Ottmar Strauß, who died completely impoverished in exile in Switzerland, is depicted in the 2005 WDR documentary "The Legacy of the Fathers - How the Otto Wolff Group Became Aryan". In 1990 the Otto Wolff Group was sold. However, it continues to exist in part as a separate entity under the umbrella of ThyssenKrupp.
ON THE ACQUISITION HISTORY OF THE WOLFF LIBRARY
Otto Wolff's verbal promise to Director Hermann Corsten was binding. His library, with the exception of the approximately 1300 volumes remaining in his Cologne flat, was in Berlin at the time of his death. It was donated to the city of Cologne. In August 1940, a Berlin notary's office commissioned with Wolff's estate arranged for 113 boxes to be sent. The accompanying letter was sent to Erich Kuphal, then director of the archives of the city of Cologne. The latter supported Corsten in a joint letter to the Lord Mayor of Cologne, which prefaced the USB's guiding principle regarding acquisitions of collections, namely: "That the USB, for reasons of principle, attaches importance to obtaining all books accruing to the city (...)". The rector and the mayor agreed. In July 1941, work began on putting the books together. Two years later, however, the volumes, as well as the entire stock of the USB, had to be removed from storage for protection against bombing.
CHOSEN LITERATURE (German)
- Quarg, Gunter: Otto Wolff (1881-1940), in: Kölner Sammler und ihre Bücherkollektionen in der Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek;
- Bellot, Josef: Die Bibliothek des Großkaufmanns Otto Wolff in der Universitätsbibliothek Köln. Köln, 1955. Signatur: RHFOL2154
- Lange, Gisela: Literatur zur Unternehmensgeschichte aus der Sammlung Otto Wolff. Köln, 2014. Schriften der Universitäts- und Stadtbibliothek Köln, 24;
- Danylow, Peter (Hg.): Otto Wolff: ein Unternehmen zwischen Wirtschaft und Politik. München, 2005. Signatur: 32A1268
- Otto Wolff im Pressearchiv "Pressemappe 20. Jahrhundert" der ZBW Leibniz Informationszentrum Wirtschaft.