Who we are
Where we
come from

Emil Possehl

The Possehl Foundation is named after the Lübeck entrepreneur and senator Emil Possehl (1850-1919). As his marriage remained childless, he bequeathed his business, L. Possehl & Co. GmbH, to the Possehl Foundation. To this day, the foundation is the sole shareholder of what is now Germany's largest SME investment company with global operations. For over 100 years, the Possehl Foundation has been based in Beckergrube in Lübeck's Old Town, just like the company founded in 1847.

"My greatest wish is that the fruits of my life's work should benefit my beloved hometown, the free and Hanseatic city of Lübeck." Emil Possehl

In the first seven decades of its existence, the Possehl Foundation usually only discussed a few applications a year - today, over 500 applications for funding are submitted each year. The economic success of the Possehl Group has been the basis for the foundation's work for over 100 years. If the Group did not operate successfully, it would not be possible to support social organisations, disadvantaged people, art, science, sport, the UNESCO World Heritage Site or young people in Lübeck to such an extent.

Further information

The founder

An ardent patriot

Emil Possehl was born in the Beckergrube in Lübeck in 1850, as the first son of the merchant Ludwig Possehl. The company L. Possehl & Co. also carried on its iron, steel and coal trading business from the family home. To this day the company and the foundation are based here. Emil Possehl joined his father’s business in 1873 and within a few years had become Europe's biggest ore trader. By acquiring manufacturing and processing businesses in Russia, Sweden and Norway, the Lübeck merchant became an industrialist with connections extending from Europe to overseas. In 1901 he was elected to the Lübeck Senate and the portrait shows him in the senatorial regalia of the time.

Since he and his wife had no children, he bequeathed all his business assets to the Possehl Foundation. The German Empire and Wilhelmine society had a defining influence on Emil Possehl’s personality. As an entrepreneur he was modern and far-sighted, indeed progressive, but his view of history was nostalgic and based on a patriotic world-view, and his entrepreneurial success was intended to serve his fatherland and hometown. His political convictions were not emotional in nature, however, but rather based on commercial pragmatism and always served his own business interests too. This is the background to his decision to make the Possehl Foundation the sole owner of his company: a foundation that sponsors “all that is good and beautiful” in Lübeck, but as sole shareholder also ensures that control over the management of the company is maintained in perpetuity. Over the past century, the Group has survived two world wars, an economic crisis and the associated inflation. Today it is a successful international group with over 200 operating companies and around 13,000 employees worldwide. It is the Foundation's principal asset, whose income enables the Foundation to finance its activities for Lübeck.

The history of the foundation

History and challenges of the Possehl Foundation since 1919

The Possehl Foundation was established by decree of the Lübeck Senate on 17 May 1919. In the years before the National Socialists seized power in 1933, the activities of the Possehl Foundation were limited by the company’s changing financial fortunes. Politically and economically this was a time of great upheaval, and the Foundation did not have much room for manoeuvre; but it did not go under like most of the endowments and charitable foundations of the period. The first substantial grants were recorded in 1927. After 1933 the Possehl Foundation was degraded to a vehicle for Nazi social policies. Its articles of association were amended and “elections” were replaced with “nominations” by the mayor of Lübeck. In the economic revival after the war the Possehl Group also flourished. This is the period in which the Foundation emancipated itself from the direct influence of the town. This relationship is one which requires continuous adjustment to this day. Almost two thirds of all the funding distributed since 1950 – some €390 million – were spent in the past decade. Since its inception, the biggest questions confronting the Possehl Foundation have concerned the relationship between the Foundation and the state, between the work of a charity and the responsibilities of the welfare state.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the Possehl Foundation, historian Axel Schildt has analysed the history of the foundation. "POSSEHL - Geschichte und Charakter einer Stiftung" was published by Murmann-Verlag in May 2019.