Otto Verner (Otto Werner)

Otto Verner (Otto Werner)

For Verner Otto the Otto mail-order company founded by him became the proof of correctness of the vital philosophy which is coming down to the fact that you should not despair of any situation. And for Germany — one of characters of post-war growth when directories of Otto looked forward in each corner of the country.

Quite often attribute to Verner Otto the invention of trade according to directories though actually he only brought it to enormous scale.

Biography

In youth Verner thought not of career of the dealer at all, and of literary craft. But the father grocer could not resist to an economic crisis of the 1930th and pay for training of the son there was nothing. Otto was necessary to leave college and to try own hand in commerce: it opened small tobacco shop in the German seaport of Stettin (polsk. — Szczecin).

Verner Otto vividly was interested in economy and policy. The romantic in soul, it was a supporter of the left ideas though considered himself the national Bolshevik. He sympathized with views of Otto Shtrasser, one of leaders of the left wing of Nazi party supporting "moderate nationalism". Shtrasser was a key opponent of Adolf Hitler and threat to his authority. With arrival of the Fuhrer to the power it was excluded from a batch in the beginning, and then at all forced to run. The political failure of Shtrasser indirectly affected also^[1] fate^[1].

1934: Arrest, prison

In 1934 the twenty-five-year-old young man was arrested by Gestapo: future German magnate was accused of distribution of the prohibited leaflets on the German-Czech border. Two stories on antigovernmental subject which Otto tried to publish became an aggravating circumstance. The young man was sentenced to two years; he served sentence in the well-known Berlin prison Plyottsenzee.

Soon after release Verner Otto married, but neither he, nor the wife wished to remain in Berlin buzzing policy. Newlyweds dreamed to move to the small quiet place where for an anti-Nazi talk in kitchen term behind bars does not shine. The quiet town of Kulm in the western Prussia became such place. Here Otto tried to start the life anew: opened shop selling footwear, became the father twice. But external circumstances once again prevented his family happiness and career.

1943: An appeal on war, a contusion

In 1943 hated to the entrepreneur the Wehrmacht was called by Otto in the ranks. He met capitulation of Germany in military hospital with numerous wounds in the head.

However further fight for survival in the destroyed country was nearly heavier, than a contusion. Kulm — as well as the house, and a shoe bench of the former dealer — passed after war to Poland. Otto for the third time tried to start everything with a clean slate — this time in the town of Bad-Zegeberge that in several kilometers to the north from Hamburg.

Here Otto reached with two suitcases in hands: one — with stewed meat and packagings of air-dried meat, the second — with lots depreciated a reykhsmarok which were hardly enough for a res nova. Otto expected to arrange production of wooden boots: eventually, the tree was the only raw materials which in the post-war country was much. This deal was comprehended too by failure, and only a year later — because of flow of cheap wooden footwear from the South of Germany. But Otto did not despond.

The rule remained the motto of all his life: "It is not so terrible to stumble how to stand still, without doing to a step forward". "There is no such company which does not make mistakes — he liked to repeat. — Moreover, without errors it is impossible to do business. It is completely natural process".

1949: Company registration of mail trade

The turning point came in 1949 when by mistake threw the directory with goods of the German company Baur into a mailbox of the unemployed and almost become impoverished Verner Otto; on a twist of fate afterwards it will be included into Otto Group holding. That immediately caught the idea of mail trade in footwear and in August, 1949 registered Werner Otto Versandhandel company ("The company of mail trade of Verner Otto") in the Hamburg Ministry of Economy and Transport. The newly made firm occupied two tiny buildings in the suburb of Hamburg, and only three persons worked in it first.

1965: Entry into the market of the real estate

In the 1965th Otto entered the real estate market, having created developer ECE Projektmanagement GmbH & Co. As of 2012 it is one of the builders, largest in Europe, specializing in construction of shopping centers, centers of logistics and industrial buildings. In North America Verner Otto's companies Sagitta Group and Paramount Group own many skyscrapers of New York and Toronto.

1965: Opening of bank

In native Germany Otto in 1969 opened Hanseatic Bank. First the bank only issued the credits to buyers, but since 1975 passed to universal service. In 2004 within the program for concentration on main types of business the Otto group sold its 75 percent share to the French bank Societe Generale.

2011: Death

In December, 2011 in Berlin at the age of 102 years Verner Otto died.

Notes