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Friedrich Wilhelm Retz

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Friedrich Wilhelm Retz
CitizenshipGerman
Occupation(s)Businessman, Diplomat Watchmaker
Known forFounder of Retz & Co.

Friedrich Wilhelm Retz (born March 29, 1845 in Neuenstadt; died June 16, 1923 in Yokohama) was a German entrepreneur in the early days of Meiji Era in Japan and honorary consul for Holland, Norway and Sweden.


Career overview

After a well-founded commercial training, which was combined with fluency in English and French, Friedrich Wilhelm Retz worked in Paris before 1870. However, at the beginning of the Franco-German War in 1870, he had to leave France and make himself available to the Prussian army. He was employed here for the entire duration of the war until 1871. After the war he returned to Paris. During this time, he was already preparing for a new professional challenge, which consisted of turning to well-developing markets with manufacturing companies from Switzerland. In doing so, he learned that the demand for watches in Japan was growing extraordinarily and offering business opportunities. So he decided to set up his own company in Japan for the sale of watches,

In October 1872 Friedrich Wilhelm Retz arrived in Japan and found a job relatively quickly at Eulogius Schwartz, who owned the watchmaking and jewelery company Schwartz & Co., which had its headquarters in Yokohama. After just two years, he founded his own company in 1874 under the name "F.Retz & Co.", also based in Yokohama. Immediately afterwards he began importing watches from the Swiss manufacture. The business developed well due to the demand in Japan and when Schwartz gave up his business in 1876, Retz took over his sales area in Yokohama. [1]During this time he lived in the district of "Nak-ku", a typical foreign residential area, which is also known in English as "The Bluff". In the meantime, Retz had a business and residential building made of stone. Around the year 1881 he began to expand his business and activities. To this end, he renamed his previous company "Retz, Gröhser & Co". During this time he became the general representative of the Actien beer brewery Coburg for Japan. [2]His brother Carl Ludwig Retz managed the brewery in Coburg as master brewer. A German-Japanese economic cooperation should develop from this. That is why Retz set up this branch of business in Yokohama with his partner Leon Jacuet. For sale, they opened a bar in the Nak-ku district in 1882 and, for a short time, the “Cave du Madoc” restaurant in another district of Yokohama. Another new line of business that Retz turned to around 1881 was steam shipping. Here he acted as an agent for the Austro-Hungarian Lloyds steam shipping company [3]. With this partnership he pursued the goal of being able to establish himself in the field of overseas export-import business between Hungary-Austria and Japan. The German consulate in Yokohama was one of his important supporters right from the start. Here he sought legal assistance and this institution was important to him in order not to lose official contact with Germany.

Since the branch of business developed well as a representative in the beer brewing business, from 1882 onwards the Löwenbrauerei Freiburg and in 1887 the Radbrauerei Aalen became contractual partners, Friedrich Wilhelm Retz planned together with his buddy Carl Ludwig around 1891 to set up his own brewery in Yokohama. However, the steps taken shortly after to open a malt house, as the starting point for this goal, already failed, as the Japanese beer manufacturer Brewery & Co. was pushing more and more onto the market. After further steps of expansion in other industries did not bring the expected success either, Retz separated from its partners in 1892 and returned to its original company name Retz & Co. This step was also connected with a change of residence within Yokohama, because when his wife returned to Japan, the previously used commercial building in the Nak-ku district became too small. The main business of the company was still in the area of ​​watches and jewelry. In 1891 he bought Fritz Denni's watch factory in La Caux-de-Fonds (Neuchâtel), Switzerland. Since Retz was now able to concentrate more clearly on the related branch focuses, he opened a branch of his company in Kobe in 1895. He put the management of the business area in the hands of Wilhelm Retz, the son of his brother Wilhelm. He promptly acquired a villa in In 1891 he bought Fritz Denni's watch factory in La Caux-de-Fonds (Neuchâtel), Switzerland. Since Retz was now able to concentrate more clearly on the related branch focuses, he opened a branch of his company in Kobe in 1895. He put the management of the business area in the hands of Wilhelm Retz, the son of his brother Wilhelm. He promptly acquired a villa in In 1891 he bought Fritz Denni's watch factory in La Caux-de-Fonds (Neuchâtel), Switzerland. Since Retz was now able to concentrate more clearly on the related branch focuses, he opened a branch of his company in Kobe in 1895. He put the management of the business area in the hands of Wilhelm Retz, the son of his brother Wilhelm. He promptly acquired a villa inKamakura , which now served the family as a second home, to escape the ever-growing city of Yokohama if necessary. They stayed here very often as a family. Nevertheless, Retz always remained an active member of the "Yokohama community". His special merits were that he was actively involved in the development of the German School of Yokohama for many years. In addition, he was one of the active members of the German Society for German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia (OAG), which was particularly important to him because of the communicative exchange and the opportunities to meet personalities from politics, business and international networks. [4]

With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, Friedrich Wilhelm Retz saw his responsibility in making a personal contribution to Japan. He supported the work of the Japanese Red Cross with financial means. During the war, Retz had Karl Anton von Hohenzollern (1868-1919) and Major Friedrich Bronsart von Schellendorf, who were German military observers in Japan(1864–1950), with whom he was friends, as guests in his house. For this financial aid he was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Organization of the Japanese Red Cross after the war. With the onset of quieter times for economic and trade relations, Retz took over responsibility for the consulates of Holland, Norway and Sweden in Japan in addition to his own business activities from February 1905. In recognition of his services in strengthening business relations between the countries, he received the distinction of "Ridder van Oranja-Nassau" in 1908 and, almost at the same time, the "Prussian Order of the Crown, 3rd Class" in recognition of his commitment to Germany.[5]

In the 1920s, Friedrich Wilhelm Retz fell ill and died on June 16, 1923 in Yokohama after a serious illness. [6] He was buried in the Yokohama Foreigners Cemetery.

Family

Friedrich Wilhelm Retz was married to the Hungarian citizen Adelheid nee Vanek (* 1854), who came from Budapest. She lived in Yokohama since 1874. The marriage resulted in four children: Adele Marie (* 1875), Luise (* 1876), Friedrich Wilhelm Karl (1880–1891) [7] and Paula Sophie (* 1882), all of whom were born in Yokohama. Shortly after the birth of the fourth child, Adelheid Retz, or Adele as she was called, traveled to Germany with the children in 1883. She stayed here for about 10 years and returned to Yokohama in 1892. His daughter Paula Sophie (1882–1964) married Richard Schmidt-Scharff (1871–1954), a businessman in Japan, in 1905.

Honors

In 1890 Retz was appointed knight of the Imperial Austrian Order of Franz Joseph . [8th]

Books

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