Emil Kolben
Encyclopedia
Strančice
Strančice is a village and municipality in Prague-East District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. The municipality covers an area of and as of 2006 it had a population of 1728.-References:...
- September 3, 1943 in Terezín
Terezín
Terezín is the name of a former military fortress and adjacent walled garrison town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic.-Early history:...
) was an engineer and entrepreneur from Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
. The large engineering company ČKD
CKD
A knock-down kit is a kit containing the parts needed to assemble a product...
bears his name. He died in the concentration camp Theresienstadt.
Biography
Kolben was born into the German-speaking Jewish family of a small shopkeeper in the village of Strančice near PraguePrague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. He had nine siblings and from the age of 15 he was left to care for himself. After completing his secondary education in Prague, Kolben studied at the German Technical University in Prague. After finishing university he obtained a two-year stipend (named after František Josef Gerstner
František Josef Gerstner
František Josef Gerstner was a Bohemian physicist and engineer.Gerstner studied at the Jesuits gymnasium in Chomutov, after which he studied mathematics and astronomy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Prague between 1772 and 1777. In 1781, he started to study medicine in Vienna, but quickly decided...
) that allowed him to study abroad. In 1887 he travelled to Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and finally settled for five years in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
In the USA he first worked as an engineer for the Edison Machine Company in Schenectady, then as an assistant of Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
in Orange, New Jersey
Orange, New Jersey
The City of Orange is a city and township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 30,134...
and finally as the chief-engineer in Edison's laboratories. In 1889 he met Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
, who convinced him of a future for the alternate current. This resulted in conflicts with Edison.
In 1892 Kolben returned to Europe and for two years worked in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
for company Oerlikon as the chief-designer.
In 1896 he returned to Bohemia and, in the same year, set up a company named "Kolben a spol." in Vysočany, an industrial district of Prague. A 60 kW alternator was the first system constructed. With secured financial investment from a bank the company became a stock holding company in 1898. In 1899 it was renamed to "Elektrotechnická a. s.". In 1911 Kolben invited Edison to visit Prague.
The company produced large electrotechnis systems as hydro-electric power stations, locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s and machines. Used technologies and equipment were much above standards of the time - for example instead of using a centralized power source and mechanical transmitters the machines were fitted with electrical engines.
In 1921 the company merged with another engineering company "Českomoravská strojírna" into "Českomoravská-Kolben a. s.". In 1927 it merged with "A. s. strojírny" (formerly "Breitfeld & Daněk") into "Českomoravská-Kolben-Daněk", the ČKD
CKD
A knock-down kit is a kit containing the parts needed to assemble a product...
. Kolben had served as the director until 1939. The company produced a wide array of electrotechnic and engineering systems and also complete industrial plants. ČKD employed up to 15,000 people.
Kolben also founded two other companies: "Pražská továrna na káble" in Prague-Hostivař (power cables) and "Pražská elektroinstalační společnost" in Prague-Hloubětín (wiring systems). He published dozens of articles, mostly about electrotechnic and engineering.
Immediately after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Nazis (1939) Kolben was recalled from his position as the director (March 16) and later imprisoned in the concentration camp Theresienstadt. He died there abandoned and exhausted. Almost all members of his family were imprisoned; 26 of them were killed by the Germans. His grandson Jindřich (b. 1926) survived.
ČKD was heavily damaged during the last days of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It later employed up to 50,000 people and was known mainly for locomotives and tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s. Mismanagement and technological backwardness accumulated during previous decades resulted in bankruptcy in 1998 and a massive reduction in production.
Exhibition, Film, Radio
- The Kolben Family Story Prague, The Jewish Museum: Robert Guttmann Gallery, Prague 1, U Staré školy 3. From February 15 until April 15, 2007, open daily 9 a.m. – 4.30 p.m. except Saturdays and Jewish holidays. Exhibition curator: Dr. Arno Pařík
- Lampa Film Production, Prague, intends to make a film about Emil Kolben, contact: V. Hamáčková, Jewish Museum
- Familie Kolben: Eine Industriellenfamilie im Strudel der Zeit - 24-02-2007 - Radio Prag at www.radio.cz Familie Kolben: Eine Industriellenfamilie im Strudel der Zeit (German, by Andreas Wiedemann)