Szekeres József: Ganz Ábrahám 1814-1867. A Ganz gyárak alapítójának életrajza (Budapest, 1967)
Angol nyelvű rövid életrajz
al careers, with, men rising i'rom obscurity to great fame, to mention only the names of Schuckert, Westinghouse, Krupp, McCormick, Armstrong, Worthington, Bessemer and Opel. And, as Ganz rose to the height of his career, his fellows in other countries, some of them like him wandering craftsmen, also reached the zenith of industrial power. These years, after the last fetters of feudalism had been thrown off, ushered in the rapid expansion of mechanised production, and mushrooming of vast industrial pLants marked a new era of human progress. To be sure, the economic and political conditions favoured the ideas of Abraham Ganz, but it took his individual talents, his ingenuity to avail himself of the existing opportunities, so that this country too, as a result of his success, fell into the stride of world progress. The latest creation of István Széchenyi, the Rolling Mill, had been in operation since September 16th, 1841. Ganz was first employed in the foundry of the plant, and his skill soon made him foreman in the shop where he worked. The products of the Rolling Mill had already earned national fame and a number of prizes awarded,at the industrial exhibitions arranged at Kossuth’s initiative, The factory directors had great confidence in the young craftsman who had already set aside a part of his wages with the idea of making his dreams of independence come true. But his career took an adverse- tum in 18íf3» and it seemed for many weeks that he had come to a dead end. While experimenting with a new method of founding,,he lost one eye and seriously impaired the sight of the other . Nevertheless, by the end of 1844, the sum of his savings rose to, 6,ooo forints,,and he decided to make a new step towards financial independence. It was for the eleventh time, that, on the 2oth of January, 18451 the city councilor János Túmböck opened the auction of the No. 336 Királyhegy Street real estate of the Buda district Víziváros, the property of the bankrupt miller Fleischbauer. But the upset price of the modest edifice was so high that the Buda burghers refused to bid. It looked that this auction, too, will fail when a young nan of about thirty years, clad like a Hungarian but speaking German, made a serious offer. The Buda patx-isians 141
