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 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 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 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 the Weimar Republic. He was assassinated in Berlin in June 1922 by the right-wing terrorist group Organisation Consul. He had another son named Erich Rathenau and a daughter Edith. Literature Armin Chodzinski: Kunst und Wirtschaft. Peter Behrens, Emil Rathenau und der dm drogerie markt. Kulturverlag Kadmos, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-8659-9030-3, S. 94–115. Markus Dahlem: Fallstudien zum Verhältnis von Banken und Großunternehmen im Deutschen Kaiserreich, 1871–1914. Die Farbenfabriken vormals Friedrich Bayer & Co. in Leverkusen und die Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft. (PDF; 218 kB) In: Akkumulation. Informationen des Arbeitskreises für kritische Unternehmens- und Industriegeschichte. Ruhr-Univ. Bochum; 19, Bochum, 2004, S. 1–28. Jesko Dahlmann: Das innovative Unternehmertum im Sinne Schumpeters: Theorie und Wirtschaftsgeschichte. Metropolis Verlag, Marburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-7316-1269-8, S. 141–191. Ursula Mader: Emil und Walther Rathenau in der elektrochemischen Industrie (1888–1907). Eine historische Studie (= Gesellschaft, Geschichte, Gegenwart, Band 20), Trafo-Verlag Weist, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89626-198-3. Manfred Pohl: Emil Rathenau und die AEG. Verlag von Hase & Koehler, Mainz 1988, ISBN 3-7758-1190-7, mit zahlreichen Bildern und Faksimiles See also Rathenau References Further reading External links German company founders German industrialists 19th-century German businesspeople