Valdemar Gætje (10 July 1850 - 13 May 1905) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

master baker and the first director of the Union of Danish Employers and Master Cradtsmen. He also played a central role in the foundation of

Alderstrøst Alderstrøst refers to two residential complexes built by Association of Craftsmen in Copenhagen to provide affordable housing for elderly, indigent members and their widows in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. The oldest is located ...

, a charity providing affordable accommodation for old craftsmen and their widows. He was a member of

Copenhagen City Council The Copenhagen City Council (Danish: ) is the municipal government of Copenhagen, Denmark, and has its seat at Copenhagen City Hall. The city council is Copenhagen's highest political authority and sets the framework for the committees' tasks ...

. His bakery was located at

Fælledvej Fælledvej ( lit. "Common Road") is a street in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It links the major shopping street Nørrebrogade in the west with the square Sankt Hans Torv in the east. History Fælledvej takes its name after t ...

10 in Nørrebro. The building has been demolished.

Early life

Gætje was born on 10 July 1830 in Copenhagen, the son of master baker Jørgen Ferdinand Gætje (1817-82) and Johanne Henriette Schrøder (1825-75). His father assisted Marie Schlötzer with the management of the bakery at

10 after the death of her husband Frederich Peter Schlötzer in 1836. Gætje's paternal grandfather, Jacob Gætje, a well-to-do tanner, purchased the property from her in 1841. On 26 July 1852, it passed to Gætje's father. Gætje trained as a baker in his father's bakery. He later worked for a couple of years as a baker in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

before returning to Copenhagen.

Career

In 1875, Gætje was licensed as a master baker and took over his father's bakery. In 1886, he was elected as alderman of the Bakers' Guild in Copenhagen. He remained in this position until 1903.

Other activities

Gætje was a member of Copenhagen City Council from 1895 to 1901. He served as president of the Association of Craftsmen in Copenhagen. In this capacity, he was strongly involved in the foundation of Alderstræst. He also served as chair of Håndværkerbanken. In 1899, he was appointed as the first director of the Union of Danish Employers and Master Craftsmen (''Dansk arbejdsgiver- og mesterforening'', later Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening). He was editor of the union's publication '' Arbejdsgiveren'' and frequently contributed artivles to it.

Personal life

Gætje married on 18 August 1875 in

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin language, Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Po ...

Louise Ernestine Wilhelmine Jantzen (1856-1923), daughter of master butcher Johann Christian Ludwig Jantzen (1826-95) and Florentine Louise Auguste Fliigge (1834–60). They had no biological children but adopted a girl, Kate Zuelzer. He was created a Knight in the Order of the Dannebrog in 1892. He died on 13 May 1905 and is buried in

Assistens Cemetery Assistens Cemetery ( da, Assistens Kirkegård) is the name of a number of cemeteries in Denmark. The common nominator is, as the first part of the name implies (Latin: ''assistens'' meaning assisting), an assisting cemetery for a town's churches. ...

. The headstone features a relief portrait of him. Louise Gætje continued the family's bakery after her husband's death. She had already prior to his death been strongly engaged in its management as he got still more involved in organisation work. The bakery was after her own death continued by their foster daughter Kate Zuelzer.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gætje, Valdemar Danish bakers Copenhagen City Council members People from Copenhagen Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog Burials at Assistens Cemetery (Copenhagen) 1805 births 1905 deaths