Breitenstein

Rafael and Bruno Breitenstein - brothers as local managers of the Verla mill 1922-1950.

Rafael Breitenstein was the superintendent of the Verla mill in 1922 and his brother Bruno Breitenstein was the longest-serving superintendent of the Verla groundwood and board mill from 1923 to 1950.

Master of Science in Technology Fredrik Rafael “Riffa” Breitenstein 1886-1977

Rafael Breitenstein was born in the village of Vernitsa in the municipality of Pyhäjärvi in the Vyborg Province on 26 January 1886. His father was the agronomist Wilhelm Robert Breitenstein and his mother Alexandrine née Buttenhoff. Rafael married in 1927 to Ebba Eleonora, née Huikarinen. The following year, they had their first child, Birgit, and then the following year their son Stig was born. In 1933, the family's youngest child, Wilhelm, was born.

Rafael took Finnish Matriculation Examination in 1903 and then obtained an engineering degree from the Technical University of Dresden in 1907. He continued his studies in Dresden until 1908. In the same year, he started working at the Hovinmaa paper mill. The following year, he moved to the Kissakoski paper mill, where he first worked as an operating engineer from 1909 to 1915 and then as a technical director until 1919. Rafael came to the Verla mill in 1920 as a technical assistant to the superintendent Hjalmar Andersin. Rafael worked as the superintendent of the Verla mill in 1922 and after that he left in early 1923 to become the technical director of the Tampere Roofing Felt and Paper Mill Ltd and held this position until 1934. At that time, he acquired a majority stake in the board mill of Näsijärvi Ltd. and served as its managing director from 1934 to 1971.

Breitenstein also held positions of responsibility on the board of the Finnish Paperboard Association from 1942 to 1970 and as the chairman of the board of Näsijärvi Ltd. from 1954 onwards. He also held board positions at the Waste Centre. He was also a member of the Finnish Association of Paper Engineers from 1914 and a member of the Tekniska Föreningen i Finland, an organisation of Swedish-speaking engineers and architects in Finland, from 1921 onwards.

Breitenstein was known as a skilled professional, especially in the paperboard industry. He has been described as an attentive and sympathetic person.

Sources:
Diplomi-insinöörit ja arkkitehdit matrikkeli 1973.
Ylioppilasmatrikkeli 1900-1907
Suomen paperi- ja puutavaralehti 31.1.1936.
Hufvudstadsbladet 26.1.1946.

Agronomist Bruno Arthur Breitenstein 1880-1958

Bruno Breitenstein worked as the superintendent of the Verla mill from 1923 to 1950. He was born in the village of Vernitsa in the municipality of Pyhäjärvi in the Vyborg Province on 16 May 1880. His father was the agronomist Wilhelm Robert Breitenstein and his mother Alexandrine née Buttenhoff. Bruno married Laelia née Buttenhoff and the couple's first child, Marita, was born in 1911, a couple of years later in 1913, Erna was born, and their youngest child, Walter, was born in 1918.

Bruno graduated from the Swedish-language Lyceum in Vyborg in 1900. After this, he studied at the Mustiala Institute of Agriculture, where he graduated as an agronomist in 1905. Later, he made several study trips to Sweden, Denmark and Germany. In 1903–05, he took care of the Kiiskilä manor. From 1905 to 1916, he owned the Tervajoki manor near Vyborg and in 1917 the Thusbyborg manor. After selling these manors, he went to the Kissakoski mill on 21 September 1918. From Kissakoski, the agronomist moved to Verla as a superintendent on 1 February 1923. He stayed at Verla for a long time and served as the mill's local manager until 1950. In October 1933, he was also appointed chief agronomist of the agricultural department of Kymi Company. He was interested in Ayrshire breeding. At the beginning of 1950, Bruno went back to Kissakoski, as a local manager. He retired in 1954.

In her doctoral dissertation, Ahvenisto says that "Kymi Company needed agricultural expertise, as several farms had come under its authority in connection with forest acquisitions, and farming continued on some of them. The goal was often to produce food for their own factory locations." "However, his (Breitenstein's) actual main occupation in the agricultural department of Kymi was more in line with his education, and Verla was an excellent place to work in relation to the farms owned by the company. The village remembers that Bruno's 'favourite child' was the Ojasela farm, located just a few kilometres away from Verla, where 'Finnish record bulls', among other things, were raised."

"He has been a personality that will be remembered, colourful, original, autocratic, a 'natural patron', a position which was given to him perhaps on the one hand as a legacy and habit of old, but also out of respect for his personality."

Sources:
Kymin henkilöstökortisto, UPM keskusarkisto
Ahvenisto Inkeri, Tehdas yhdistää ja erottaa, 2008.
www.krohnfamily.org