Borchardt, Lucy

views updated

BORCHARDT, LUCY

BORCHARDT, LUCY (1878–1969), German shipping owner and operator. On the death of her husband Richard she became head of the Hamburg Fairplay Tug Company whose craft were known throughout the continent. From 1933 she devoted her energies and resources to enable Jews to escape from Germany. She herself left in 1938 and with her son Karl founded the Fairplay Towage and Shipping Company and the Borchardt Lines in London. With her son Jens she formed the Atid Navigation in Haifa which was liquidated in 1968. After having fallen out with her son Jens she established a competing line to Israel, the Lucy Borchardt Shipping Ltd. "Mother Borchardt," as she was known in shipping circles, took a special interest in the personal needs and welfare of her staff.

add. bibliography:

I. Lorenz, in: Zeitschrift fuer Hamburgische Geschichte, 83 (1997), 1, 445–72.

[Joachim O. Ronall]

More From encyclopedia.com