12.10.1868  born, christened 18.10.1868

1870 –

Father: Carl Friedrich Horch (31.01.1841 – 20.04.1922)

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Mother: Helene Horch, geb. Michel (11.01.1846 – 02.07.1874)

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Carl Friedrich Horch married am 22.01.1875 his 2nd wife Helene Knebel and had 2 more children with her: 

- Ernst Horch (09.02.1878 – 09.10.1951)

- Auguste Horch (16.11.1880 – 02.04.1953)   

 

August Horch went to the Volksschule in Winningen from 1874 – 1882

1880 --

Blacksmith's apprenticeship in his fathers workshop 1882 – 1884

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1884 Travelled via Heidelberg, Unterach am Attersee, Auspitz bei Brünn, Neusatz (Hungary), Großwardein (Hungary), Budapest, Bolek bei Belgrad (Serbia), Radujevac (Serbia);

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Returned home to Winningen end May1888 

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29.06.1888 Applikation at the Technical Centre in Mittweida

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13.8.1888 Start of studies

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21.10.1891 Successful completion of studies

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1891/1892: Designer of cranes and steam engines at the Iron works Spierling in Rostock

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1892/1896 Designer of petrol motors in the Machine maker "Grob & Co." in Leipzig 

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Juni 1896: Joined the company „Benz & Co. Rheinische Gasmotorenfabrik“ Mannheim plant manager assistant in gas engine construction

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Oktober 1896: Operations manager of motor car construction

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1897: First independent motor construction – a 2-cylinder-boxer „Contra“-Motor, dwhich was the first Benz multi-cylinder construction to drive the Benz Tonneau from 1898 and the first Benz racing car in 1899.

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05.10.1897: Marriage to Anneliese Schultz

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15.10.1899: Left the company "Benz & Co."

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14.11.1899: Registration of the new company of August Horch in the Cologne Commercial Register under No. 1587 under the name "Repair workshop for motor vehicles and machines of all kinds August Horch & Cie." Cologne-Ehrenfeld, Venloer Street 295

1900 --

1900: Planned 2 versions of his own motor car construction

• 4,8-5 BHP and 3 speed gearbox (30 – 32 km/h)

• 9-10 BHP and 4 speed gearbox (50 – 55 km/h)

 

Juli 1900: August Horch tested his own patent solution, a tear-off linkeage for Bosch-Ignitions on his new shock-free motor on the test bench (DRP 132982)

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November 1900: Successful trial operation of the first chassis with "shock-free" 4,8-5 BHP single-cylinder-engine and belt drive

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23.12.1900: First exit of the first car, a Phaeton for 4 people

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Januar 1901: Horch employs 15 people in his company

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07.02.1901: First sales catalogue with 10 planned versions

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August 1901: Testing of the Horch type No. 2 with standing 10-12 hp two-cylinder engine and cardan drive. Horch was one of the first designers to do so.

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1. März 1902: The workshop is getting too small, Salli Herz leaves the company. Moritz Bauer in Gera buys the company from Horch. Horch remains director.

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03. bis 07.03.1902: Relocation of the manufacturing plants to Plauen

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14.03.1902: Signing of the contract for the rental in the textile factory of F. W. Kramer in Reichenbach, Obere Dunkelgasse

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17.03.1902: Relocation of the entire production facilities to Reichenbach, hiring of 30 workers

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31.08.1902: Production of the two-cylinder type 10-12 hp

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November 1902: Start of 2 four-cylinder constructions

• 22-25 PS With laterally standing inlet and outlet valves

• 14-17 PS, In interchangeable-controlled version

 

16. Mai 1903: Test drive of the first Horch four-cylinder in Vogtland

 

1903: Start of tests with chrome-nickel steel in gearboxes together with the Bismarckhütte (Upper Silesia). Implemented as standard since 1904/5 as one of the first manufacturers in Germany

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15. bis 21.10.1903: First exhibition of two tonneaus with 10-12 hp (two-cylinder) and 14-17 hp (four-cylinder) in the Leipzig Crystal Palace

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1903: Workforce 72 employees

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02.10.1903: At a meeting of the members of the Thuringian-Saxon Automobile Club, Horch learned of the interest of Zwickau companies in building a Zwickau automotive industry

 

15.04.1904: August Horch announced the move to Zwickau at the general meeting

 

24.04.1904: Purchase of the canvas weaving shop "Wächter & Zeuner in Zwickau - Weißenborn, Crimmitschauer Str. 49

 

08.05.1904: First sporting listening success in the reliability trip Berlin-Leipzig-Berlin (2 of 4 gold medals awarded)

 

10.05.1904: Foundation of the "A. Horch & Cie. Motorwagenwerke AG” in Zwickau with a share capital of 110,000,- RM

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01.10.1904: Accountant Jakob Holler became proxy and greatest opponent of August Horch. Only automobiles with four-cylinder engines in the versions 14-17 hp, 18-22 hp and 22-25 hp were manufactured

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01.10.1904: Entry of Hermann Lange as chief designer into the company. In the following period, Lange became the most important technician of the company alongside Horch

1905 --

1905: New model – Horch 23/40 hp, largest Horch engine with ball bearing and opposite arrangement of the inlet and outlet valves

 

06. to 13.06.1906: A Horch 11/22 hp, smallest car of all participants, driven by the Zwickau lawyer Dr. Rudolf Stöss became the overall winner of the II. Herkomer competition

 

1907: Presentation of a new six-cylinder car that turned out to be a flop.

 

21.06.1909: August Horch left the Horch plants after differences and received severance pay of RM 20,000

 

16.07.1909: Horch founded August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH in Lessingstraße 51 in Zwickau with a share capital of 200,000,- RM

1910 --

25.04.1910: After 3 court trials for name abuse, initiated by the Horchwerke, the name was changed to "Audi Automobilwerke mbH"

 

24.08.1910: Completion of the 1. Audi car of the type 10/22 hp, victory in the Swedish reliability drive, the star drive of the Gaues Saxony and the Dresden mountain test drive

 

1911: Completion of the successor Audi Type B (10/28 hp). With this car, August Horch took part in the Austrian Alpine Cruise in 1911 and won a first prize

 

1912/13/14: The Audi factory team with the drivers Horch, Lange, Obruba and Graumüller won the Alpenwanderpreis with the 10/28 hp (1912) and in 1913 and 1914 with the new 14/35 hp after a three-time team victory. The Audi 14/35 hp went down in history as the Audi "Alp winner"

 

1913: August Horch acquired his new holiday home in Winningen, the Distelberger Hof (a former restaurant)

1915 --

20.12.1915: Foundation of "Audiwerke AG" with a share capital of 1.5 million Reichsmark

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1917: August Horch was part of the development team of the first German armoured car of the type "A 7 V"

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März 1917: August Horch became a member of the board of the "Association of German Motor Vehicle Manufacturers" (Entrepreneurs' Association of the Motor Vehicle Industry)

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1917: The hitherto childless Horch family adopts two orphans, Eberhard and Lieselotte Reichenbach

1920 --

21.06.1920: Horch left the Executive Board of Audiwerke and joins the Supervisory Board. He moved with his family to Berlin. In the following period, August Horch became "Public employee and sworn expert for motor vehicles of all kinds in the area of the IHK zu Berlin" and "Sworn expert for the Berlin Chamber and Regional Court". During the years of his work in Berlin, August Horch worked on a voluntary basis as a member of the race management for the 1. Avus race from 24. – 25. September 1921 in Berlin

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1923: Member of the Supervisory Board (since 19. January) of the "AUKA", which had been founded for the coordination of the motor show

 

1924: Member of the Commission for the construction of the new exhibition hall on Berlin's Kaiserdamm

 

1924: Head of the Standards Committee of German Industry (since 17. January)

1925 --

1925: Founding member of DEKRA (30. June)

 

17.06.1932: President of the Reich Association of Automotive Experts

 

26.05.1922: Awarding of the honorary doctorate by the Technical University of Braunschweig

 

19.02.1922: Horch's most important technical employee Hermann Lange died at the age of 55

 

11.07.1925: Participation in the Festcorso in the Audi Alpensieger in Munich for the 25th time. Foundation ceremony of the German Schnauferlclub, meeting with teacher Carl Benz

 

1928: J. S. Rasmussen took over the majority of shares of Audiwerke

1930 --

1929: Horch set up a large chicken farm for himself on the Distelberger Hof in Winningen (given in 1935)

 

1933: Engagement of Else Kolmar as a housekeeper and caregiver for the seriously ill Anneliese Horch

 

22.05.1933: August Horch appointed to the Supervisory Board of the newly founded Auto Union AG

1935 --

09.07.1935: Participation in the historic vehicle parade to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the city of Zwickau

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1936: August Horch became deputy chairman of the commission, which, under the leadership of Wunibald Kamm, set up a permanent historical motor vehicle exhibition at the Deutsches Museum Munich. In this function, Horch still procured valuable exhibition exhibits until the war years.

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10.1938: Horch's daughter married the Koblenz hotelier Heinz Henselder in Berlin's Litzelseekirche. The wedding ceremony was performed by the old friend of August Horch, the Weißenborn pastor i. R. Max Hahn

 

15.02.1939: Awarding of the honorary citizenship of the city of Zwickau to August Horch

 

1937: Publication of his autobiography "I built cars"

 

12.10.1943: Horch celebrated his 75th birthday. Birthday (appointment as Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board)

 

26.10.1943: Filming in the Berlin study for the "Film Archive of Personalities" (Horch spoke approx. 30 minutes of his life)

 

1943: Bombing of Horch in Berlin, relocation of objects to Saxony, quarters in Langenhessen

1945 --

Juli 1945: August Horch and Else Kolmar left Langenhessen via Schwarzenbach in the direction of Helmbrechts. Stay in Helmbrechts three months, then continue to Münchberg

 

03.10.1945: Accommodation in the villa of the manufacturer's family Schoedel in Münchberg, Kulmbacher Straße 137

 

17.12.1945: In an attempt to bring Horch's personal documents to the western zones, Else Kolmar landed in a raid on Zwickau main station in the Zwickau remand prison. The Zwickau criminal police refused to hand over the documents. These remain lost to this day

 

23.03.1946: Death of Anneliese Horch

 

25.03.1946: Death of Eberhard Horch

 

1947: At the instigation of the SED, a targeted reputational murder campaign against Horch in Zwickau with the consequence of the renaming of August-Horch- and Hardtstraße to Crimmitschauer Straße. The attempt to deprive Horch of honorary citizenship in Zwickau failed due to the resistance of the two bourgeois parties LDPD and CDU in the Zwickau city parliament.

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25.03.1948: August Horch and Else Kolmar were guests of honour at the conference of the German automotive industry in Cologne

 

1948: The ADAC named August Horch his 7th Honorary member

 

09.07.1948: Marriage August Horch and Else Kolmar

 

15.06.1949:  The home municipality of Winningen awarded August Horch the honorary citizenship

1950 --

Januar 1951: August Horch's sudden demise of health 

 

✚ 03.02.1951: Death in Münchberg

 

08.02.1951: Funeral in Winningen

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Taken from a compilation by Jürgen Pönisch and Peter Kirchberg

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