Heinrich von Drasche-Wartinberg

Heinrich von Drasche-Wartinberg was an Austrian industrialist.

Life

After the death of his uncle Alois Miesbach in 1857, Drasche inherited a brickyard located in the south of Vienna. During the next decades he built up Austria-Hungary's leading brick producing enterprise which today still exists under the name of Wienerberger. Around 1830, Heinrich's father Alois established the first continuously firing kilns for bricks and introduced subsequently new types of bricks. While Drasche had big influence onto the building industry in Austria-Hungary and was ennobled by Franz Joseph I, his workers had to bear with comparatively bad labour conditions. Because of that, Drasche was one of the main targets of the sociocritical reports of Viktor Adler.
When Drasche died in 1880, his son Richard took over the company.

Aftermaths

A couple of localities in the south of Vienna are named after Drasche, for example the Draschestraße in Inzersdorf. The two châteaux that had been in the possession of Drasche were damaged by bombings in the Second World War and knocked down in 1965 when the motorway A 23 "Südosttangente" was built. The former palace garden is used today as a public park under the name of Draschepark. The St. Nicholas' Church in the centre of Inzersdorf harbours a funerary chapel where Drasche and his family are buried.