WOLTMANN MEETS WILHELM VON BODDIEN
Like the owner of KPM Berlin, Jörg Woltmann, Wilhelm von Boddien also has a passion for old cultural assets and Prussian history. With his sponsoring association, he made the reconstruction of the Berlin Palace possible. An interview from our WEISS customer magazine No. 4 about risks worth taking and the traces we leave behind in life.
JÖRG WOLTMANN: Dear Mr. von Boddien, it has been fascinating for me to watch how you have campaigned over the past 30 years for the Berlin Palace to be rebuilt in its former glory. You have now been able to collect over 100 million euros in donations. What has driven you?
WILHELM VON BODDIEN: I fell in love with the idea of bringing the castle back in 1961. I was 19 years old at the time and visiting East Berlin. I stood on the parade ground where the Berlin Palace once stood and where the Palace of the Republic was later built. The dreariness there blew me away. Before reunification, I already had the palace as a hobby, a very intense hobby: at weekends, lunch at home was only served in the kitchen because the dining table was full of albums and pictures of the palace and I refused to put them away.
Jörg Woltmann and Wilhelm von Boddien in the historic ring kiln hall at KPM Berlin.
JÖRG WOLTMANN: If you are passionately committed to a cause, as you are to the Berlin Palace and I am to the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur, then the family has to go along with you. When I bought KPM, my wife said: if you think it's good for you and for Berlin, then go for it. She's known me long enough to know that it's hard to stop me from doing something. What was it like for you?
WILHELM VON BODDIEN: My wife also knows that I go through with what I start. And she has always backed me in this project. However, our children mocked me at first: "You with your stupid castle." But when they saw the castle simulation we built in 1994 for the first time, they suddenly said: "Maybe dad is right after all." That did a lot of good.
JÖRG WOLTMANN: The simulation made of fabric panels convinced many doubters of the project.
WILHELM VON BODDIEN: Yes, it showed people how beautiful the city could be with the castle. But this mock-up also gave me sleepless nights. I had to invest 300,000 Deutschmarks immediately in order to be able to build it at all, together with an exhibition inside, so that I could pay the craftsmen. But the Förderverein had no money at all and was therefore not creditworthy. I signed an immediately enforceable, directly enforceable personal guarantee with the bank. I didn't tell my wife about it at the time. Three of our five children were at university and a middle-class person like me doesn't have that much money. So my wife wondered why I sometimes sat upright in bed at night and talked stupidly - she didn't know what I was talking about. In hindsight, she forgave me for all that and supported me where she could. During this time, I learned how broad women's shoulders can be when you want to lean on them and cry.
JÖRG WOLTMANN: Trying to save an old cultural asset is a gamble.
WILHELM VON BODDIEN: Yes, and it has to be said that we both started an almost hopeless cause. I have known the wonderful institution that is KPM since my time in the Senate. Whenever I was at an official dinner in Berlin, it was always served on KPM tableware. But the manufactory was on its knees. There was an experimental phase of six or seven years during which KPM was repeatedly on the brink of insolvency. And then you stepped up and did the greatest missionary deed for me: you bought this Prussian icon and brought it back to life. And you did it with style and an admirable passion. You paid for KPM out of your own pocket. Because you wanted to give something back to society. That is something that has become rare today.
WILHELM VON BODDIEN Born in Stargard in Pomerania in 1942. After leaving school, von Boddien completed a commercial apprenticeship and joined his father's company in Bargteheide. In 1992, he founded the Berliner Schloss e.V. association, which is committed to the reconstruction of the palace on the Spree Island. In 1993/1994, he organized the exhibition "The Palace?" and had a simulation built on its old site. In 2004, he took over the management of the association. Von Boddien lives in Hamburg and has been awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class.
JÖRG WOLTMANN: Fortunately, there have not only been sleepless nights in recent years, but also countless wonderful moments. One special moment for me, for example, was when the Chinese Prime Minister visited KPM with Angela Merkel and I was able to show him around the manufactory. Although porcelain originally comes from China, he was very impressed by the history of KPM and what this manufactory in Berlin has created. What was a special moment of happiness for you?
WILHELM VON BODDIEN: When I was sitting in the Reichstag building on July 4, 2002 and the Bundestag finally decided that the palace would be built. Wolfgang Thierse, President of the Bundestag, and Norbert Lammert, who later became President of the Bundestag, and other politicians gave moving speeches at the time. The vote then took place and a two-thirds majority was achieved across all parties. That's when I knew: now we've done it. The rest was just the fight for money, and we were able to win that too.
JÖRG WOLTMANN: With the palace, you are not just rebuilding a beautiful building and our KPM tableware is not just design. We agree that it is important to save these historic cultural assets and pass them on to the next generation.
JÖRG WOLTMANN Born in Berlin in 1947. After leaving school, he completed an apprenticeship as a banker and studied business administration in Berlin. In 1979, Woltmann founded the private bank ABK Allgemeine Beamten Bank. In February 2006, he took over the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin as sole shareholder. Woltmann holds the Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon and was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of Berlin in 2015.
WILHELM VON BODDIEN: Raising children means giving them roots so that they can grow wings. We have an uprooted society at the moment. Everything is being called into question. Unlike analog media, the Internet no longer has any rules. This makes it all the more important to give support to people who are looking for stability. This also includes reflecting on the positive parts of our past, which we also have. If we don't do this, we shouldn't be surprised if young people can no longer find a basis, if they look for the wrong role models. And then we'll drive the whole thing up the wall.
JÖRG WOLTMANN: I have already had the honor and pleasure of visiting the Berlin Palace several times. It was very impressive. Anyone who had doubts will be thrilled. And I am proud that KPM can be a part of it.
WILHELM VON BODDIEN: Right in the entrance hall, the major donors are honored with a plaque in which a 30-centimeter porcelain medallion is embedded. It shows a profile relief of the donor from the side. These medallions are currently being modeled and fired in biscuit porcelain by KPM Berlin. In this way, the major donors find themselves in the unique building for which they have committed themselves. A highly exciting and, above all, stimulating affair that has spurred on the success of the donations. After all, everyone wants to leave a mark in their life.
JÖRG WOLTMANN: The official opening of the castle has been postponed due to coronavirus. Is there already a new date?
WILHELM VON BODDIEN: Unfortunately not. There were construction delays and the museums have not yet been able to move in. We are now planning a so-called soft opening in December. We are opening without any big fuss. Next summer, we want to hold a grand opening with the Federal Chancellor and the Federal President. However, no one can say for sure whether this will all work out, as it would be a major event. But Corona also had an advantage. I was able to collect donations for longer.
Text: Sandra Winkler
Pictures: Peter Rigaud
