Franz Hesselberger was the second oldest of the five children (Else, Erich, Stefanie and Dorothea) of the leather goods wholesaler Julius Hesselberger and his wife Berta, née Gutmann. Julius Hesselberger came from an important hop merchant family from
Dittenheim, about 30 kilometers east of the Hesselberg in Middle Franconia. On June 22, 1903, he was appointed a Kommerzienrat. Julius and his brother Isador founded the company Gebrüder Hesselberger in Biederstein, a district of Munich's Schwabing neighborhood, in 1869. To the north of the site was Biederstein Castle. The business dealt in leather and leather goods, importing raw materials, initially from India, and later also from Asia, America and Africa. The Gebrüder Hesselberger company also began tanning and producing leather goods itself in its own factory at Biederstein 7 in
Munich (now Isarring 11) in 1889. Extensions were constructed by Heilmann & Littmann. A new administration and canteen building was built in 1917. The factory had the latest leather processing machines, which were driven by a 260 hp steam engine from the MAN company and was capable of processing 60,000 large cattle hides and 30,000 skins annually in the 400 pits. For the approximately 250 workers, there was a canteen, a workers' sick support association, baths and residential buildings. In addition to the tannery, the leather was processed on site.
Social Ascent After the death of his uncle Isidor on May 23, 1901, Hesselberger became a partner in the company. When Julius Hesselberger died on March 15, 1904, Franz took over management of the company together with brother Erich and cousin Max Alfons. A court-sworn expert for tanning and red tanning, he also sat on the
supervisory board of the shoe factory Silberstein & Neumann AG in Schweinfurt and was a member of the admission board for securities at the Munich stock exchange. The company Gebrüder Hesselberger was one of the founding members of the Munich and Upper Bavaria district association of the Federation of Industrialists. Franz Hesselberger owned considerable real estate in Munich, including, in addition to the manufacturing site at Biederstein 7, a retail store in the city center at Burgstraße 15, and properties at Brienner Strasse 48 and Osterwaldstrasse 8. On August 14, 1908, Franz Hesselberger married Ilse Minna Rosa Wertheim (born April 11, 1888) in Frankfurt am Main, a granddaughter of the founder of the German sewing machine factory Joseph Wertheim. Franz Hesselberger he leased an estate in 1901 and acquired the overall hunting rights. In September 1910 their son Heinz Julius was born, three years later, on October 13, 1913, their daughter Gertraud, called Trudy, was born. On January 7, 1918, he was appointed a Kommerzienrat. The family was engaged in philanthropy. Shortly after the death of his mother, Julius Hesselberger sent 500 Reichsmark in cash to the First Mayor of Munich, Wilhelm Ritter von Borscht, in March 1902, asking him to use the sum "in the spirit of our deceased mother (...) without distinction of denomination (...) for the poor of the city gefl." On the anniversary two years later, the sum of 1000 Reichsmark was again made available to the mayor. Hesselberger established the Gebrüder Hesselberger Kriegswohlfahrtsstiftung (Hesselberger Brothers War Welfare Foundation), which was endowed with a capital stock of 250,000 Reichsmarks for the purpose of supporting needy war invalids as well as widows and orphans of war victims and donated 6000 Reichsmarks for the naming of a room in the Prinz-Ludwig-Heim. In addition, he founded the Gebrüder Hesselberger Wohlfahrtsstiftung (Hesselberger Brothers Welfare Foundation) to support the employees and officials of their factory. In 1918, he donated 50,000 Reichsmark to the Deutsches Museum, of which he was a committee member. Hesselberger also made a generous donation to the "Chemisches Laboratorium des Staates" (Chemical Laboratory of the State).[23] In addition, he was a member of the
Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science[24] and the Geographical Society of Munich[25]. Together with other local companies as well as the Verein zur Verbesserung der Wohnungsverhältnisse in München e.V. (today: Gemeinnütziger Wohnungsverein München 1899 e.V.), the Gebrüder Hesselberger company founded a non-profit society in 1918 with a capital stock of one million Reichsmark for the construction of workers' housing in the Alte Heide.[26] During World War I, Franz Hesselberger set up a club hospital at Karolinenplatz 5a for 40 to 45 wounded men. Hesselberger was also a member of the "Vereinslazarett". The workers of the leather factory Gebrüder Hesselberger participated in the munitions workers' strike organized by Kurt Eisner at the end of January 1918.[28] As a large industrialist, Hesselberger was concerned about the threat of violence against himself and his family and in 1919, he brought his children to his mother Berta at his estate "Hirschlehen"[29] in Berchtesgaden and hid in an unknown place. His wife went temporarily to her sister in Frankfurt am Main.[30] The Hesselbergers' apartment on Karolinenplatz was then searched unsuccessfully for weapons by revolutionaries - despite the hunting weapons kept there. In addition, on the night of May 6, 1919, the cellar of the Prinz-Georg-Palais was the scene of a massacre perpetrated by the Freikorps Bayreuth on members of the Catholic journeymen's association St. Joseph.[31] When the situation calmed down a few days later, Hesselberger returned to Munich with his family. In 1921, Hesselberger was seriously injured in a car accident which killed his passenger, a local master locksmith[32] The Hesselberger family then covered the education costs for his daughter.[33]
Rotary Club When the Rotary Club of Munich was founded on November 2, 1928, as the third oldest German club, Franz Hesselberger was among the founding members. Despite his move to
Sauerlach, Hesselberger continued to regularly attend Rotary meetings at the
Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten. On April 4, 1933, at the instigation of Wilhelm Arendts, he was expelled from the Rotary Club of Munich along with 13 other members, all of whom were Jewish except for
Thomas Mann. With a red pen, the names of those expelled were crossed off the attendance list of the weekly Rotary meeting. == Nazi era ==