Wannieck founded Friedrich Wannieck & Co. in 1864. He was also chairman of the
Prague Iron Company and the First
Brno Engineering Company, both major producers of capital goods in the
Habsburg empire. He was also president of the organisation and publishing house
Verein "Deutsches Haus" ("German House" Association) in Brno. This was a
nationalist association for German inhabitants of the city, who knew it by the name of
Brünn and felt encircled by the overwhelming
Czech population of
South Moravia (Goodrick-Clarke 1985: 37). In 1888 the
Verein "Deutsches Haus" published an historical work entitled
Der altdeutsche Volksstamm der Quaden [The Ancient German Quadi Tribe] by
Heinrich Kirchmayr. Wannieck was impressed by the parallels between List's
clairvoyant account of the Quadi and the academic study of Kirchmayr. Between Wannieck and List there developed a regular correspondence that laid the basis of a lasting friendship. The
Verein "Deutsches Haus" later published three of List's works in its own book-series of nationalist studies of history and literature (
ibid.). Wannieck's munificence eventually led to the foundation of the
Guido-von-List-Gesellschaft (
Guido von List Society) twenty years later. Around 1905, he and his son Friedrich Oskar were among the signatories to the initial announcement endorsing the formation of the Society. This came to fruition with an official founding ceremony in 1908. The Society's assets came mostly from the Wanniecks, who put up more than 3000 crowns at the inauguration (
ibid., 43-44). ==Family==