Julius Kemna

Julius Kemna (December 8, 1837 in Barmen - June 8, 1898 in Wroclaw) was a German machine manufacturer and industrialist. He was the founder of Kemna Bau.

Kemna's father was Johann Abraham Kemna, a wine wholesaler from Barmen (1810-1898), his mother Wilhelmine van Hees (1814-1880). Kemna's family can be traced to the 15th century where they most probably lived in the feudal estate of Kemna . Kemna moved from Barmen to Silesia at a young age and initially worked in agriculture. In 1867, Kemna founded a workshop for "the construction of agricultural machinery". Julius Kemna married Philippine Lübbert (1847-1921), daughter of the merchant August Friedrich Lübbert and sister of Eduard Lübbert (well-known classical philologist and archaeologist) in Wroclaw in 1870. Philippine Kemna bore 3 sons, one of them Erich Kemna.

In 1871 Kemna began to distribute English steam threshing systems and in 1882 he started the production of road construction machines. In 1898, Julius Kemna passed away, leaving each of his employees 100 Mark for every year they had been in the company.

Julius Kemna recognized that the steam engine was revolutionary for industry as well as for agriculture and road construction. Kemna's many years of experience with English steam plough systems supported the rise of his company.

Following Julius Kemnas death, the company developed into a large-scale industrial enterprise at the turn of the century. Due to capacity expansions, about 900 workers were employed on a 52,000 m2 industrial site in 1905.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Julius Kemna's company became "the leading steam plough company on the European continent and invaded the monopoly position of English companies on the world market". In 1923, Kemna's company became the first company in Germany to launch a road roller with a crude oil engine (Deutz diesel engine).