Albert Kahn: biography, personal life, achievements, photos

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

What is the meaning of human life? This is a philosophical question to which people still cannot give an exact and correct answer. Why is this happening? That's right, for everyone the meaning of life lies in different concepts.

It is worth noting that the last century gave us a huge number of talented people who lived and worked not only in the USSR, but also abroad. At that time, very few states cooperated with our country. The country's leadership pursued a more closed policy from external problems and interventions. Fortunately or unfortunately, there were exceptions, such as the activities of the great architect and engineer Albert Kahn in the 1920s and 1930s.

Who knows this person? Probably not many. But the contribution that he made to the development of the power of the USSR during the period of industrialization is colossal. His developments were used for many years after his death. Who is this person? The creator of the military-industrial complex of the Soviet Union or an ordinary engineer working under the guidance ofSoviet masters. So, let's figure it out.

Albert's early years, childhood and youth

To answer the question of who Albert Kahn is, one must start from his infancy and childhood. The boy was born in a small German town called Raunen in 1869. He was Jewish by nationality. Albert's father's name is Joseph - in his youth he was ordained a rabbi. These are people in Judaism who have an academic title denoting qualifications in the interpretation of the Torah and the Talmud. It is worth saying that Joseph was an incredible dreamer. Shortly after the birth of their first son, the parents made a serious and difficult decision to leave Germany for another country called Luxembourg. Albert Kahn photo below.

As a child, Albert was a creative child. He devoted much of his time to playing the piano. Moreover, he was very interested in drawing. These skills were instilled in him by his mother. The boy was the eldest son in the family, so he became independent and serious quite early. At 21-22, he provided 1/3 of his family with money, even helped his brother graduate from university.

Emigration to the USA

Albert Kahn - who is this? That's right, an outstanding American architect, builder of Detroit, but how did he end up in the United States of America? Let's figure it out. Albert Kahn, whose photographs are presented in the article, created many unique architectural structures.

When the boy was 11 years old, in 1880 his whole family moved to the United States, trying to improveown life. The destination was the growing city of Detroit, because at that time there began a construction, industrial and architectural boom. Albert Kahn had a large family, brothers and sisters were born quite often. That is why his family experienced serious financial difficulties, because of which the boy could not finish school.

Life seemed unpromising then. No one would have thought that a small, skinny teenager, moreover, a color-blind dropout from school, would become a great architect. Instead of studying, he had to get a job at Mason's successful construction and architectural firm. His position can be called as "errand boy". At first, he did the most boring and dirty work, but he still spent a lot of time next to architects and engineers. Having no education, only thanks to an incredible desire, diligence and intelligence, he gradually got acquainted with the construction business. First, Albert Kahn became the chief draftsman and soon became the company's chief architect-designer.

With the money of the firms where he worked, a young and talented engineer went to study at a European university. There he met a young man, Henry Bacon, who also explored the architectural world. Together they visited France, Belgium, Germany and Italy. Kahn founded the firm in 1896 with George Nettleton and Alexander Trowbridge. Unfortunately, soon, colleagues died. Albert had to run the company on his own. In 1902, together with the mechanic brothers Julius and Moritz, he created his own company, Albert Kahn Incorporated. They were ready to conquer America and the world.

Architect Family

So let's talk a little about his family. As we have already said, she was really big, in total Albert had 7 brothers and sisters. He was the eldest son, so the entire responsibility for the well-being was not only on the shoulders of the parents, but also on him:

1. Mother. His mother's name was Rosalia. The woman had a really strong character, the difficulties that often happened in the family could not break her, they only tempered her even more. She was madly in love with art and music.
2. Father. As already mentioned, Albert's father was a rabbi. His name was Joseph. In America, he was selling sewing machines, constantly traveling around the cities of the country.
3. Julius. The architect's brother, with whom he had a good relationship. Albert paid the young man to study at the famous University of Michigan.
4. Moritz. Another brother. The three of them created a successful architectural firm. It is worth noting that during the cooperation with the USSR, Moritz was in Moscow. It was he who led most of the negotiations.

Unfortunately, almost no information has been preserved about the rest of the family. One thing is known that the Kan family numbered more than 100 people. Unfortunately, even his relatives did not know what Albert had done for the world, and in particular for the Soviet Union. Almost nothing is known about his personal life. One thing is clear, in 1909 a man married a pretty American woman.

Career success in the United States of America

About success and lifeAlbert wrote many articles and books. Unfortunately, few ordinary people now know his name. Fame is such a thing that flies by unnoticed. Hundreds of thousands of people can worship you, and in 10-15 years no one will even remember your name. Albert Kahn, whose photo can be seen in our article, was an outstanding personality.

As soon as Albert's own firm appeared in 1902, he was fully engaged in work. All the projects he created were delivered ahead of schedule, because each work absorbed a piece of the heart of a pragmatic architect. Thanks to his incredible mental and administrative skills, the young and talented designer developed a technology that allowed him to design a huge enterprise in a few months and build it just as quickly.

It is worth noting that a huge number of buildings and factories in Detroit were created according to the designs of Albert Kahn. After all, it is not by chance that he is called the builder of this city. By the way, the man never forgot about his origin. With the funds raised for the Jewish community, he built the magnificent monumental buildings of the synagogues Beth El, Temple Beth El, the unique and unusual in form, the classical Shaarey Zedek synagogue.

In the 1910s and 1920s, Henry Ford's automobile business developed at a staggering pace in Detroit. It was this man who first introduced the system of constant production flow. In addition, he set up mass production of budget and mass cars. For a young businessman to be successful, he simply needsthere were large workshops, the projects of which Albert took up. Jewish architect designs the greatest plant plan in Highland Park, Michigan.

The building had 4 floors. Almost every corner of it was illuminated by sunlight or daylight, thanks to the extensive use of glass. It is worth noting that it was here that the conveyor was first installed. Soon, according to the project of Albert, another enterprise was created for businessman Henry - the Ford Rouge plant in Dearborn (a suburb of Detroit). This building became the main center of the US automotive industry. It is worth noting that this plant was the highest step in the development of industrial architecture. He brought majesty and monumentality to the landscape of the American city of Detroit.

Albert Kahn and the industrialization of the USSR: the beginning of work with the Soviet Union

Recall that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed in the early 1920s. What was at that time in our country? That's right, complete devastation, hunger, poverty after the bloody Civil War, a huge lag behind the West and America.

At that time, the Bolsheviks were trying to create an ideal communist society in Germany, Italy, Poland and Hungary. What came of it? That's right, the Soviet Union lost large territories in Ukraine. Then the leaders of the country realized that instead of power in the West, they need to think about how to create a normal state for a tired people.

Most Soviet specialistspossessed outdated skills, so the country needed serious help from foreigners. In the 1920s, there were three trading organizations cooperating with the USSR that were familiar with modern Western technology: Westorg in Germany, Arkos in England, and Amtorg in the United States. Julius Hammer was in charge of the last company in 1924. He was the father of the then world-famous Armand Hammer, a Russian Jew who was the founder of the Communist Party of the United States.

It was through Julius that the USSR established ties with Henry Ford, whose tractors and cars were supplied to the country and were very popular. Our engineers deftly adopted the skills of the Americans. A representative of the Henry Ford company, who arrived in 1928, was surprised to find out that without a special license under the Krasny Putilovets brand, a group of mechanical engineers assembled secretly brought and disassembled tractors from America. Unfortunately, the assemblers did not know the secrets of creating individual parts, so the equipment was produced with serious defects.

Albert Kahn and the industrialization of the USSR: the flowering of relations with the Soviet Union

In 1930, the construction of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant was completed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It was then that an agreement was signed with Albert. The contract was issued for three years and marked the beginning of cooperation between Albert Kahn and the USSR. Between 1930 and 1932, 521 enterprises were built in Russia, for example:

1. Tractor factories in Stalingrad, Chelyabinsk, Kharkov,Tomsk.



2. Aircraft factories in Kramatorsk and Tomsk.
3. Automotive factories in Chelyabinsk, Moscow, Stalingrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara.
4. Forging shops in Chelyabinsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Kolomna, Luberetsk, Magnitogorsk, Nizhny Tagil, Stalingrad.
5. Machine-tool factories in Kaluga, Novosibirsk, Upper Solda.

Soon, Albert opened a branch of his firm in Moscow. It was led by brother Moritz. He brought with him 25 talented engineers from America. At all enterprises there was an incredible turnover of personnel, which the American did not like very much. People did not stay at work for more than 2-3 months, new ones immediately came to their place. No one could have guessed that the turnover was artificially created, so in a few years 4,000 Russian engineers learned to work using Albert Kahn's technologies.

Why was it difficult for foreigners in the USSR?

In the Soviet Union, all information about the work of foreigners was strictly classified, that Albert Kahn in the history of Soviet industrialization should be in the leading places, they learned only after the collapse of the USSR. Only now on the Internet you can see small clippings from American biographical articles about the architect, which describe the activities of a talented designer and its significance for Soviet industry.

Cooperating with the Soviet Union was quite dangerous. Foreigners began to hand over municipal enterprises with a permit for the extraction of minerals. ATin most cases, this ended with a bullet in the back of the head or back in the cellars of the Cheka. Many foreigners were convinced that they were working with deceivers. They were losing money, fortunately saving lives.

Some engineers working for Henry Ford and architect Albert Kahn said that it was incredibly difficult to get out of the USSR, with a backward legal system, brutal secret police and big housing problems. Why did Kahn agree to cooperate with Russia?

1. New market. Any successful entrepreneur who loves his job always wants to open new horizons for his creativity.
2. People needed money. At that time, the United States and Western European countries were in the period of the Great Depression. Thousands of people lost their jobs, left without money. At that time, unemployment in foreign countries reached the level of 25-30%. In the USSR, they were promised free housing, three meals a day and a salary that was 2-3 times more than in their homeland. That is why people went to Russia dreaming of a better life for themselves and their families.

Death of a great architect and engineer

Many people say that the USSR and Albert Kahn are a conspiracy against the world. After all, very few people knew about their cooperation. Only craftsmen working in factories had information about who actually built them.

Albert Kahn has done incredible things for Russia. It was according to his projects that the entire Urals was built up with military and domestic factories, which could quickly, without restructuring, switch to the production of tanks, instead of tractors. Without these enterprises, it would be very difficult for the Soviet Union to winNazi Germany in World War II.

Albert Kahn died in 1942. More unfortunately, he never saw how much his factories, technologies and skills were useful to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. When the United States of America entered the war, a talented architect gave all the strength and capabilities of his designers and mechanics to the work of America's military industry.

He worked very hard. During this period of his life, Albert spent most of his time at work, working without rest and days off. It was in his office that he died, slumped on a stack of blueprints and a drawing board. His brother Moritz Kahn died 4 years earlier in 1938.

What did they say in the USSR about the architect after his death?

At the end of Albert Kahn's biography, it is worth saying how he was treated in the USSR.

After the victory over Nazi Germany, Soviet historians, under the influence of the country's leaders, began to quickly rewrite the history of their state. It was then that the participation of foreign specialists in the formation of the military complex of the Soviet Union was underestimated dozens of times.

Albert Kahn and his engineers were compared to ordinary employees who worked under the guidance of "the smartest specialists in the USSR." It is worth saying that the official government of our state did not express its condolences to the widow Kan. Many who knew Albert and Moritz in Russia could not even write a letter to their relatives, fearing for their lives and families.

Thoughts of Albert's contemporaries about the great architect

When a talented architect, family man, kind and successful man passed away, the world was shocked. Touching letters were sent to Albert's relatives from all European countries, cities of America, in which people expressed their condolences. After all, many knew what this man did for industrial architecture, the industry not only of the United States of America and the Soviet Union, but of the whole world.

Henry Ford wrote that Albert Kahn was one of the greatest people he knew in his entire life. The fruits of his creation remain in every point of the earth. He had an exquisite taste.

Viktor Vesnin, a famous Soviet architect, later recalled that Albert Kahn rendered us an irreplaceable service in designing a huge number of enterprises and helped us adapt to the American experience in the field of industrial construction.