What is the meaning of human life? This is a philosophical question that people still cannot give an exact and correct answer. Why is this happening? That's right, for everyone the meaning of life lies in different concepts.
It is worth noting that the last century gave us a huge number of talented people who lived and worked not only in the USSR, but also abroad. At that time, very few states cooperated with our country. The country's leadership conducted a more closed policy from external problems and interventions. Fortunately or unfortunately, there were exceptions, for example, the activities of the great architect and engineer Albert Kahn in 1920-1930.
Who knows this person? Probably not many. But the contribution that he made to the development of the power of the USSR during the period of industrialization is enormous. His designs have been used for many years after death. Who is this person? The creator of the military-industrial complex of the Soviet Union or an ordinary engineer working under the guidance of Soviet masters. So let's get it right.
The first years of life, childhood and youth Albert
To answer the question of who Albert Kahn is, you need to start with his infancy and childhood. The boy was born in a small German town called Raunen in 1869. He was Jewish by nationality. Albert's father's name is Joseph - in his youth he was ordained a rabbi. These are people in Judaism who have the academic title denoting qualifications in the interpretation of the Torah and Talmud. It is worth saying that Joseph was an incredible dreamer. Soon after the birth of the first son, the parents made a serious and difficult decision to leave Germany for another country called Luxembourg. Photo of Albert Kahn below.
As a child, Albert was a creative child. He devoted a lot of time to playing the piano. Moreover, he was very interested in drawing. These skills were instilled in him by his mother. The boy was the eldest son in the family, so he became independent and serious quite early. In his 21-22 years, he provided 1/3 with seven money, even helped his brother graduate from the university.
Emigration to the USA
Albert Kahn - who is it? Right, an outstanding American architect, Detroit builder, but how did he end up in the United States of America? Let's get it right. Albert Kahn, whose photographs are presented in the article, created many unique architectural structures.
When the boy was 11 years old, in 1880 his whole family moved to the United States, trying to improve their lives. The destination was the growing city of Detroit, because at that time the construction, industrial and architectural boom began there. Albert Kahn had a large family, brothers and sisters were born quite often. That is why his family was experiencing serious financial difficulties, because of which the boy could not finish school.
Then life seemed unpromising. No one could have thought that a small, skinny teenager, moreover, a color blind, drop out of school, would become a great architect. Instead of studying, he had to get a job in the successful construction and architectural firm of Mason. His position can be called as an "errand boy." At first, he did the most boring and dirty work, but still spent a lot of time next to architects and engineers. Having no education, only thanks to an incredible desire, hard work and intelligence, he gradually became acquainted with the construction business. At first, Albert Kahn became the chief draftsman, and soon - the main architect-designer of the company.
With the money of the companies where he worked, a young and talented engineer went to study at the University of Europe. There, he met a young man, Henry Bacon, who also knew the architectural world. Together they visited France, Belgium, Germany and Italy. In 1896, Kahn founded the company with George Nettleton and Alexander Trowbridge. Unfortunately, soon, colleagues died. Albert had to run the company on his own. In 1902, together with the mechanical brothers Julius and Moritz, he created his own company, Albert Kan Incorporated. They were ready to conquer America and the world.
Architect family
So, let's talk a little about his family. As we said, it was really big, all in all Albert had 7 brothers and sisters. He was the eldest son, so all responsibility for welfare was not only on the shoulders of his parents, but also on him:
- Mother. His mother's name was Rosalia. The woman had a really strong character, the difficulties that often happened in the family could not break her, they only hardened her even more. She was madly in love with art and music.
- Father. As already mentioned, Albert’s father was a rabbi. His name was Joseph. In America, he was engaged in the sale of sewing machines, constantly traveling around the cities of the country.
- Julius. Brother of an architect with whom he had a good relationship. Albert paid the youth to study at the famous University of Michigan.
- Moritz. Another brother. The three of them created a successful architectural firm. It is worth noting that during cooperation with the USSR Moritz was in Moscow. It was he who led most of the negotiations.
Unfortunately, information about the rest of the family was hardly preserved. One is known that the Kang family totaled more than 100 people. Unfortunately, even his relatives did not know what Albert did for the world, and in particular for the Soviet Union. Almost nothing is known about personal life. One thing is clear, in 1909 a man married a pretty American.
Career Success in the United States
A lot of articles and books have been written about Albert's success and life. Unfortunately, few ordinary people now know his name. Glory is such a thing that flies by unnoticed. Hundreds of thousands of people can worship you, and after 10-15 years no one will even remember your name. Albert Kahn, whose photo can be seen in our article, was an outstanding personality.
As soon as in 1902 Albert's own company appeared, he was fully engaged in work. All the projects he created gave up prematurely, because each work absorbed a piece of the heart of a pragmatic architect. Thanks to his incredible mental and administrative skills, the young and talented designer developed a technology that allowed him to create a huge enterprise project in a few months and also quickly build it.
It is worth noting that according to the projects of Albert Kahn, a huge number of buildings and factories in Detroit were created. After all, it is no coincidence that he is called the builder of this city. By the way, a man never forgot about his origin. With the raised funds for the Jewish community, he erected the magnificent monumental buildings of the Beth El synagogues, Temple Beth El, the unique and unusual in shape, the classical Shaarey Zedek synagogue.
In the 1910-1920th year in Detroit, Henry Ford's automobile business developed at a stunning pace. It was this man who first introduced the system of constant production flow. In addition, he established mass production of budget and mass cars. For a successful businessman, large workshops were simply necessary, the projects of which Albert took up. The Jewish architect became the developer of the greatest plant plan in Highland Park (Michigan).
The building had 4 floors. Almost every corner of it was lit by sunlight or daylight, thanks to the widespread use of glass. It is worth noting that it was here that the conveyor was first installed. Soon, according to Albert’s project, another enterprise was created for businessman Henry - the Ford Rouge factory in Dearborn (near Detroit). This building has become a major hub for the US automotive industry. It is worth noting that this plant was the highest step in the development of industrial architecture. He introduced grandeur and monumentality into the landscape of the American city of Detroit.
Albert Kahn and the industrialization of the USSR: the beginning of work with the Soviet Union
Recall that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed in the early 1920s. What was there in our country at that time? That's right, complete devastation, hunger, poverty after a bloody Civil War, a huge lag behind the West and America.
At that time, the Bolsheviks tried to create an ideal communist society in Germany, Italy, Poland and Hungary. What came of this? That's right, the Soviet Union lost large territories in Ukraine. Then the country's leaders realized that instead of power in the West, they need to think about how to create a normal state for tired people.
Most Soviet specialists had outdated skills, so the country needed serious help from foreigners. In the 1920s, three trade organizations cooperated with the USSR that were familiar with modern Western technologies: Vestorg in Germany, Arkos in England and Amtorg in the United States. At the head of the last company in 1924 was Julius Hammer. He was the father of the then famous world-wide Armand Hammer, a Russian Jew who was the founder of the United States Communist Party.
It was through Julius that the USSR established relations with Henry Ford, whose tractors and cars were delivered to the country and were very popular. Our engineers deftly adopted the skills of the Americans. Arriving in 1928, a representative of the company Henry Ford was surprised to find out that without a special license under the brand name "Red Putilovets" a group of mechanical engineers assembled secretly brought and dismantled into parts from America. Unfortunately, the assemblers did not know the secrets of creating individual parts, so the equipment was produced with serious defects.
Albert Kahn and the industrialization of the USSR: the heyday of relations with the Soviet Union
In 1930, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics completed the construction of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. It was then that an agreement was signed with Albert. The contract was drawn up for three years and marked the beginning of cooperation between Albert Kahn and the USSR. In the period from 1930 to 1932, 521 enterprises were built in Russia, for example:
- Tractor plants in Stalingrad, Chelyabinsk, Kharkov, Tomsk.
- Aircraft factories in Kramatorsk and Tomsk.
- Automobile factories in Chelyabinsk, Moscow, Stalingrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara.
- Forging shops in Chelyabinsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Kolomna, Lyubertsy, Magnitogorsk, Nizhny Tagil, Stalingrad.
- Machine-tool plants in Kaluga, Novosibirsk, Upper Solda.
Soon, Albert opened a branch of his company in Moscow. He was led by brother Moritz. He brought 25 talented engineers from America with him. All enterprises had an incredible staff turnover, which the American really did not like. People did not stay at work for more than 2-3 months, new people immediately came to their place. No one could have guessed that the fluid was created artificially, so in a few years, 4000 Russian engineers learned to work using Albert Kahn’s technology.
Why was it difficult for foreigners in the USSR?
In the Soviet Union, all information about the work of foreigners was strictly classified; they found out that Albert Kahn should be in the leading places in the history of Soviet industrialization only after the USSR collapsed. Only now on the Internet can you see small clippings from American biographical articles about the architect, which describe the activities of a talented designer and its significance for Soviet industry.
Collaborating with the Soviet Union was quite dangerous. Municipal enterprises with mining permits began to be handed over to foreigners. In most cases, this ended with a bullet in the back of the head or back in the basements of the Cheka. Many foreigners were convinced that they were working with deceivers. They lost money, fortunately, they saved their lives.
Some engineers working for Henry Ford and the architect Albert Kahn said it was incredibly difficult to get out of the USSR, there was a backward legal system, brutal secret police and big housing problems. Why did Kang agree to cooperate with Russia?
- New market. Any successful undertaking, loving his job, always wants to open new horizons for his work.
- People needed to earn money. At that time in the USA and in the Western European countries there was a period of the Great Depression. Thousands of people lost their jobs, left without money. At that time, unemployment in foreign countries reached the level of 25-30%. In the USSR they were promised free housing, three meals a day and a salary that was 2-3 times more than in their homeland. That is why people went to Russia, dreaming of a better life for themselves and their family.
The death of the great architect and engineer
Many say that the USSR and Albert Kahn are a conspiracy against peace. Indeed, very few people knew about their cooperation. Only the craftsmen working in the factories had information about who actually built them.
Albert Kahn has done incredible things for Russia. It was according to his projects that the entire Urals was built up with military and domestic factories, which could quickly, without restructuring, switch to the production of tanks, instead of tractors. Without these enterprises, it would be very difficult for the Soviet Union to defeat Hitler Germany in World War II.
Albert Kahn passed away in 1942. Unfortunately, he never saw how much his plants, technologies and skills were useful to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. When the United States entered the war, a talented architect gave all the available forces and capabilities of his designers and mechanics to the work of the military industry of America.
He worked a lot. During this period of his life, Albert spent most of his time at work, working without rest and days off. It was in his office that he died, falling to a pile of projects and a drawing board. His brother Moritz Kahn died 4 years earlier - in 1938.
What did the USSR say about the architect after his death?
At the end of the biography of Albert Kahn it is worth mentioning how they treated him in the USSR.
After the victory over Nazi Germany, Soviet historians, under the influence of the country's leaders, began to quickly rewrite the history of their state. It was then that the participation of foreign experts in the formation of the military complex of the Soviet Union was downgraded dozens of times.
Albert Kahn and his engineers were equated with ordinary employees who worked under the guidance of "the most intelligent specialists of the USSR." It is worth saying that the official government of our state did not express its condolences to the widow of Kang. Many who knew Albert and Moritz in Russia could not even write a letter to relatives, fearing for their lives and families.
