Emil Moritz Rathenau (11 December 1838 – 20 June 1915) was a German entrepreneur, industrialist, mechanical engineer. He was a leading figure in the early European electrical industry and founder of AEG .
104-531: Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG ( German for 'General electricity company JSC '; AEG ) was a German producer of electrical equipment . It was established in 1883 by Emil Rathenau as the Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität in Berlin . The company's initial focus was driven by electrical lighting, as in 1881, Rathenau had acquired the rights to
208-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
312-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
416-425: A wingspan of 17.5 m (57 ft 5 in); was powered by an eight-cylinder engine producing 75 hp; unloaded weight was 850 kg; and could attain a speed of 65 km/h (40 mph). From 1912, the construction of airplanes proceeded in mixed wood and steel tube construction with fabric covering. One of the planes designed and built was a Riesenflugzeug ("giant aircraft") AEG R.I . This aircraft
520-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
624-509: A collapse, prompting Rathenau to sell up in 1873. A Grand Tour of Central and Eastern Europe took him to Vienna Science Exhibition, Philadelphia, and Paris. In 1881, he attended the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris and saw Thomas Alva Edison 's invention of the light bulb for the first time. Realizing the potential of electricity, he acquired the rights to manufacture products based on Edison's patents with
728-719: A company owned by the Liebermann family. After four and half unhappy years he received a large inheritance following the death of his grandfather, Josef Liebermann. This enabled him to gain a technical training in Hanover and Zurich , and then an appointment as a technical adviser for Borsig , a Berlin-based manufacturer for the railway sector . However he did not remain there long, and spent some time in England expanding his experience. Upon his return to Berlin, in 1866 he married Mathilde Nachmann [ de ] , daughter of
832-599: A factor. The site at Brunnenstraße in the former Berlin district of Wedding was also sold, as were the firms AEG-Fabrik Essen and Bauknecht . AEG played an important role in the history of the German railways; the company was involved in the development and manufacture of the electrical parts of almost all German electric locomotive series and contributed to the introduction of electrical power in German railways. Additionally many steam locomotives were made in AEG factories. In 1931
936-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
1040-837: A guarantee by the federal government. Not only was AEG-Telefunken AG affected, but also its subsidiaries Küppersbusch AG in Gelsenkirchen , Hermann Zanker Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG in Tübingen and Carl Neff GmbH in Bretten . The Alno-Möbelwerke GmbH & Co. KG in Pfullendorf was taken over by the minority shareholders, and separated from the group. The suppliers to AEG were affected and some filed for bankruptcy—including Becher & Co. Möbelfabriken KG in Bühlertann —with lack of continuity of company policy
1144-673: A hydro electric power plant in Lauffen am Neckar to Frankfurt , where it lit 1000 light bulbs and drove an artificial waterfall at the International Electrotechnical Exhibition in Frankfurt am Main . This success marked one of beginnings of the general use of alternating current for electrification in Germany, and showed that distance transmission of electric power could be economically useful. In
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#17327865619821248-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
1352-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
1456-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
1560-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
1664-637: Is also licensed to various brand partners under the Electrolux Global Brand Licensing program. In 1883, Emil Rathenau founded Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität in Berlin. In 1888, it was renamed as Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft . Initially producing electrical equipment (such as light bulbs, motors and generators), the company soon became involved in AC electric transmission systems. In 1907, Peter Behrens
1768-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
1872-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
1976-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
2080-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
2184-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
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#17327865619822288-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
2392-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
2496-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
2600-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
2704-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
2808-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
2912-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
3016-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
3120-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
3224-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
AEG (German company) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3328-502: The Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (General Electricity Incorporated) abbreviated AEG . On 19 February 1884 Rathenau and the magistrate of Berlin signed an agreement on the electrification of the city. While he financed the deal, Rathenau's private company was also permitted to use public streets to lay electricity lines. The city received 10% of the income for giving its authorization, and
3432-568: The Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
3536-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
3640-480: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
3744-671: The European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ),
3848-473: The Frankfurt banker Isaak Nachmann (1816–1870). Also in 1865 he joined an old school friend in taking over a small machine building factory in Berlin. In 1865, Rathenau was a partner in a factory, during which time (while traveling abroad) he recognized the possibilities of the then newly emerging electrical technology. The dramatic victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War was ensued by
3952-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
4056-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
4160-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
4264-656: The Second World War , AEG worked with the Nazi Party and benefited from forced labour from concentration camps. After the war, its headquarters moved to Frankfurt am Main . In 1967, AEG joined with its subsidiary Telefunken AG , creating Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AEG-Telefunken . In 1985, Daimler-Benz purchased the AEG-Telefunken Aktiengesellschaft (which was renamed to AEG Aktiengesellschaft ) and wholly integrated
AEG (German company) - Misplaced Pages Continue
4368-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
4472-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
4576-513: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
4680-469: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
4784-487: The 1920s AEG became a global supplier of electrical know-how and equipment. In 1923, for example, it provided most of the essential materials and a team of engineers to oversee the electrification of British-ruled Palestine. British firms, at the time, could not compete with the prices of AEG The activity of the company soon extended to all areas of electrical power engineering, including electric lighting, electric power, electric railways, electro-chemical plants, as well as
4888-437: The 1970s, resulting in the sale of some assets. In 1983, the consumer electronics division Telefunken Fernseh und Rundfunk GmbH was sold. In 1985, the company re-took the name AEG and the remainder of the company was acquired by Daimler-Benz ; the parts that remained were primarily related to electric power distribution and electric motor technology. Under Daimler-Benz ownership, the former AEG companies eventually became part of
4992-488: The 320 built, as the sole surviving World War One German multi-engine bomber. During the Second World War AEG produced machines for reconnaissance purposes, including a helicopter platform driven by an AC motor. This was a tethered craft that could not fly freely; the power supply was carried by three cables from the ground. The machine reached an altitude of 300 m. AEG bought Kühlstein in 1902, founding
5096-463: The Berlin rail network, but there was no rail connection between the two plants. In 1895 an underground railway link between the two plots was built in a tunnel 270 meters long. The tunnel was built by Siemens & Halske (S & H) (later to become Siemens ) under the direction of C. Schwebel and Wilhelm Lauter who were also connected in the building of what is now the Spree tunnel Stralau used by
5200-723: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
5304-748: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
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#17327865619825408-483: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
5512-451: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
5616-681: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
5720-547: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
5824-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
5928-424: The Nazis, especially in promoting re-armament of the Wehrmacht , Luftwaffe , and Kriegsmarine . During the war itself, they were to use large numbers of forced labourers as well as concentration camp prisoners, under inhuman conditions of work. AEG worked extensively with the Nazi party in Poland. AEG was forced to relinquish Kabelwerk Krakow, a cable manufacturing plant, to the Nazi party . Kabelwerk Krakow
6032-432: The Nazis. The company benefited from the use of large numbers of forced labourers as well as concentration camp prisoners, under inhuman conditions of work. After WWII, the company lost its businesses in the eastern part of Germany. After a merger in 1967, the company was renamed Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AEG- Telefunken (from 1979 on only AEG-Telefunken ). The company experienced financial difficulties during
6136-531: The Russian occupied zone and were lost. The headquarters for the non-expropriated parts of the company was moved first to Hamburg and then finally to Frankfurt am Main , the headquarters in Berlin having been destroyed. In 1970, AEG-Telefunken had 178,000 employees worldwide, and was the 12th largest electrical company in the world. The company was burdened by, among other things, unsuccessful projects such as an automated baggage conveyor system at Frankfurt Airport and nuclear powerplant construction. In particular,
6240-489: The U-Bahn. By 1889 AEG were known as specialists in the construction of industrial portable drilling machines, some of these were driven by flexible shafts from electric motors. AEG also developed a toothed belt drive to reduce motor speed down to that required by machine tools. In 1903 the competing radio companies AEG and Siemens & Halske merged, forming a joint subsidiary named Telefunken . In 1907 architect Peter Behrens became an artistic adviser. Responsible for
6344-524: The company acquired Borsig and transferred the locomotive production to the AEG-Borsig works ( Borsig Lokomotiv-Werke GmbH ) from the Borsig plant in Tegel. In 1948 the plant became VEB Lokomotivbau Elektrotechnische Werke . In addition to numerous electric locomotives produced for the DR steam locomotive production continued until 1954. When the Federal Republic of Germany began implementing AC propulsion systems AEG found itself in competition with Brown, Boveri & Cie . The prototype DB Class E320
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#17327865619826448-409: The company in 1996 into Daimler-Benz AG (1998: DaimlerChrysler ). The remains of AEG became part of Adtranz (later Bombardier Transportation ) and Deutsche Aerospace (1998: DASA, today part of Airbus SE ). After acquiring the AEG household subsidiary AEG Hausgeräte GmbH in 1994, Electrolux obtained the rights to the AEG brand name in 2005, which it now uses on some of its products. The AEG name
6552-576: The construction of steam turbines, automobiles, cables and cable materials. In the first decades, the company had many factories in and around Berlin: A number of other notable events involving AEG occurred in this period: On 20 June 1915, founder Emil Rathenau died at age 77. AEG donated 60,000 Reichsmarks to the Nazi party after the Secret Meeting of 20 February 1933 at which the twin goals of complete power and national rearmament were explained by Hitler. They joined with other large companies, such as IG Farben , Thyssen and Krupp , in their support of
6656-402: The design of all products, advertising and architecture, he has since become considered as the world's first corporate designer. Behren's philosophy was to create a building which is solid, strong and simple in its structure. It is perfect for doing its job of producing large, heavy machinery. The dimensions of the building were chosen to allow turbines to be transported above other machinery. In
6760-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
6864-404: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
6968-400: The division Neue Automobil Gesellschaft (New Automobile Company), to make cars . AEG withdrew from car production in 1908. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within
7072-401: The early wartime Spreewerk P38s. In an effort to express regret for its use of Jewish slave labour in World War II , AEG joined with Rheinmetall , Siemens , Krupp , and I G Farben to pay DEM 75 million in reparations to the Jewish Claims Conference . In 1945, after the Second World War, the production in the factories in the western sectors of Berlin - what today is the building of
7176-435: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
7280-410: The electric light bulb at the International Exposition of Electricity in Paris. Using small power stations, his company introduced electrical lighting to cafés, restaurants, and theaters, despite the high costs and limitations. By the end of the 19th century, AEG had constructed 248 power stations, providing a total of 210,000 hp of electricity for lighting, tramways, and household devices. During
7384-456: The first power station went online to illuminate the 'Gendarmenmarkt' at night. Peter Becker, a German energy expert, called this Germany's first private-public partnership . The Berlin model became influential throughout the German Empire. In 1903, Rathenau was appointed general manager of AEG. Together with his competitor and business partner, they formed the Telefunken Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie mbH . He held numerous positions on
7488-652: The formation of the Städtischen Elektrizitätswerke (A.G.StEW) ("City electricity works company (Berlin)") on 8 May 1884. The original factory was located near Stettiner Bahnhof . In 1887 the company acquired land in the Berlin-Gesundbrunnen area on which the Weddingsche Maschinenfabrik (founded by Wilhelm Wedding ) was previously located. In the same year, in addition to a restructuring and expansion of
7592-967: The headquarters of DW (TV)Deutsche Welle - and Nuremberg , Stuttgart and Mulheim an der Ruhr resumed and further new works were erected, among others an Electric meter plant in Hameln . The steam and electric locomotive plant in Hennigsdorf ( Fabriken Hennigsdorf ) became a Volkseigener Betrieb (VEB) (people owned enterprise) as the Lokomotivbau Elektrotechnische Werke (LEW) ("electric locomotive works"). The cable plant ( Draht-, Kabel- und Metallwerk Oberspree ) and apparatus factory ( Apparatefabrik Treptow ) and other facilities also lay in East Germany and became Sowjetische Aktiengesellschaft (SAG) (Soviet joint stock companies). Over 90% of assets in Berlin lay in
7696-532: The help of a bank group. By 1907 AEG had become the largest commercial company in the world. The bank advised him to partner with his competitor Werner von Siemens . Since both were followers of the idea of monopoly they signed a contract of trust (monopoly) where Siemens was producing and selling generators and Rathenau built power stations and laid cables. In 1883 he founded the "German Edison Corporation for Applied Electricity" ( Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektrizität ), which in 1887 changed into
7800-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
7904-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
8008-524: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Emil Rathenau Rathenau was born in Berlin , into a wealthy Jewish merchant family based on Viktoriastrasse by the Tiergarten, an old Jewish quarter of the city. His father Moritz Rathenau , was a grain trader who had moved to Berlin to set up business. His mother, Therese,
8112-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
8216-452: The name Telefunken Computer GmbH with the company Nixdorf ) was sold to Siemens . The process computer ( TR 84 , TR 86 , AEG 60–10, AEG 80–20, AEG 80–60) continued as Geschäftsbereich Automatisierungstechnik (after 1980 as ATM Computer GmbH). In 1975 the former Telefunken Headquarter at Berlin- Charlottenburg , Ernst-Reuter-Platz 7 was sold. The building had been previously rented to Technische Universität Berlin . In 1976, to circumvent
8320-410: The newly named Adtranz in 1995, and the AEG name was no longer used. Electrolux , which had already acquired the household subsidiary AEG Hausgeräte GmbH in 1994, now own the rights to use and license the AEG brand. The company originated in 1882, when Emil Rathenau acquired licences to use some of Thomas Edison 's lamp patents in Germany. The Deutsche Edison Gesellschaft ("German Edison Company")
8424-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
8528-441: The nuclear power plant at Würgassen , the commissioning of which was delayed by several years due to technical problems cost AEG hundreds of millions of DM. As a result, the company paid its last dividend in 1972. The entertainment arm ( Telefunken Fernseh und Rundfunk GmbH ) headquartered in Hanover was sold. This was followed by the computer mainframe business ( TR 4 , TR 10 , TR 440 [ de ] ) (a partnership under
8632-434: The production range, the AEG name was adopted. In 1887 Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrowolsky joined the company as chief engineer, later becoming vice-director. His work on polyphase electric power led him to become the world's leading engineer in three-phase electric power systems at the end of the 1880s. In 1891 Miller and Dobrovolski demonstrated the transmission of electrical power over a distance of 175 km (109 mi) from
8736-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
8840-439: The requirement of equal participation of employees in the supervisory board, Dr. Walter Cipa (Dipl.-Geol.) (AEG boss from 1976 to 1980) created four further companies as wholly owned joint stock companies in addition to the two household appliance companies. (The numbers in parentheses refer to percentage of turnover in 1980) In 1979 Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AEG-Telefunken was renamed AEG-Telefunken AG by dropping
8944-611: The same year the Stadtbahn Halle/Saale (City railway Halle–Saale) opened the first electric tram system (of notable size) in Germany. Tropp Paul began his work for the AEG 1889/90 until 1893, and Franz Schwechten designed the facades of the Acker- und Hussitenstraße in 1894–95. In 1894 the site of the former Berlin Viehmarktgasse (cattle market alley) was purchased. This had a railroad siding connecting to
9048-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
9152-534: The supervisory board of Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft und der Elektrizitäts AG vorm. W. Lahmeyer & Co. In 1907, Rathenau established the German South West African Mining Syndicate in what is now Namibia and also established a research company to study irrigation problems. One of his sons was Walther Rathenau , an industrialist, politician, and progressive economist who served as German Foreign Minister during
9256-528: The supplement "Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft", used since 1887. In February 1980, Heinz Dürr became board Chairman (until 1990). In August 1982 a restructuring plan, backed with federal guarantees of 600 million DM and new bank loans of 275 million DM, fell apart at the first disagreement between the banks. A banking consortium provided an administrative loan of DM 1.1 billion to the AEG Group until June 1983; 400 million of which only to be available on
9360-543: The technology developed in the past, in part, now enables Alstom to build the very successful Traxx series of locomotives. AEG also built the Hellenic Railways TRAINOSE Class 520 DMUs between 1989/1990/1991 and 1994/1995/1996. AEG manufactured a range of aircraft from 1912 to 1918. The first aircraft in 1912 was of wooden construction and modeled after the Wright brothers biplane. It had
9464-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
9568-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
9672-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
9776-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
9880-499: Was also contracted for the production of electrical equipment at Auschwitz concentration camp . AEG used slave labour from Camp No. 36 at the new sub-camp of Auschwitz III and also known as Monowitz , called "Arbeitslager Blechhammer ". Most of them would die in 1945 during the death marches and finally in Buchenwald . AEG was a major supplier of grips for P38 pistols manufactured by Walther Arms , Mauser , as well as on
9984-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
10088-431: Was appointed as artistic consultant to AEG. This led to the creation of the company's initial corporate identity , with products and advertising sharing common design features. The company expanded in the first half of the 20th century, and it is credited with a number of firsts and inventions in electrical engineering. During the same period, it entered the automobile and airplane markets. Electrical equipment for railways
10192-539: Was built with Krupp as dual voltage (15 kV and 25 kV AC) test machine, the technology ultimately leading to locomotives such as DB Class 120 and ICE 1 . Only after German reunification and the adoption of the LEW plant in Hennigsdorf did AEG's name return to whole locomotive manufacturing, but only for a short time. "AEG locomotives GmbH " became part of ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation (later ADtranz) and currently
10296-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
10400-482: Was founded in 1883 with the financial backing of banks and private individuals, with Emil Rathenau as company director. In 1884, Munich-born engineer Oskar von Miller (who later founded Deutsches Museum ) joined the executive board. The same year, the company entered negotiations with the Berlin Magistrat (the municipal body) to supply electricity to a large area from a central supply, which resulted in
10504-735: Was located in Krakow-Plaszow and used forced Jewish labor manufacturing cables from 1942 to 1944. In 1943, AEG began to relocate goods and evacuate workers. Goods were relocated to various places, including Berlin and Sudetenland . When installing electric and lighting systems for the Waffen-SS training grounds in Dębica , AEG used forced labor from Jews placed in the Pustkow labor camp located in south east Poland. During World War II , an AEG factory near Riga used female slave labour . AEG
10608-445: Was powered by four 260 hp (190 kW) Mercedes D.IVa engines linked to a combination leather cone and dog clutch . The first flight tests were satisfactory, but on 3 September 1918, the R.I broke up in the air killing its seven crewmen. The most successful in terms of production figures of all the AEG aircraft designs was that of the G.IV Grossflugzeuge ("large aircraft") heavy tactical bomber, of which one still survives of
10712-447: Was produced during this time, beginning a long history of supplying the German railways with electrical equipment. According to the 1930 Encyclopedia Britannica : "Prior to 1923 it was the largest electrical manufacturing concern in Germany and one of the most important industrial undertakings in the world." During the Second World War , AEG joined with other large companies such as IG Farben , Thyssen and Krupp in their support of
10816-647: Was the daughter of Josef Liebermann , another businessman attracted to the growing opportunities of the burgeoning Prussian capital. Emil was particularly close to his mother, whom he regularly visited until her death in 1894. His parents families had met through the Gesellschaft der Freunde [ de ] (Society of Friends), a cultural organisation played a central role amongst the prominent members Jewish community in Berlin [ de ] . Emil undertook an apprenticeship in Silesia , working for
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