On February 18, 2023, Wolfgang Karstedt would have turned 100 years old. As Otto Diersch’s son-in-law, he significantly shaped the fortunes of our growing group of companies since 1954. With his acquired commercial knowledge in wholesale and retail, his good command of English, his open and approachable manner in dealing with people, but above all with his strategic foresight, he drove the internationalization of mineral oil purchasing and thus also strengthened the independence of the family business. At that time, Otto Diersch increasingly focused on developing the new shipping and chemical sectors. Since 1953, Diersch Schröder has been operating at the current company location on Memeler Straße in Bremen’s Holzhafen. The initially two-story company building soon became insufficient, so the current office building was constructed in the early 1960s. Ingeborg and Wolfgang Karstedt not only gave life to their three sons Bernd, Axel, and Svend, but also ensured the sustainable continuity of Diersch Schröder as a family business.
“If it were that easy, others would be able to do it too”
was a popular saying by Wolfgang Karstedt. Even today, it is often heard in the hallways because it still shapes us: accepting challenges, finding flexible solutions, doing it better than others.
Wolfgang Karstedt, former Managing Director of the DS Group
In a personal conversation, the two remaining sons Bernd and Svend Karstedt give us a private insight into how they experienced their father Wolfgang Karstedt.
Bernd Karstedt, you joined the family business in the late 1970s. How did you perceive your father as a superior?
Bernd Karstedt: When I started in sales in 1979, I reported to Mr. Gerken. A good friend of our father had advised him not to take me directly under his wing. My father let me run freely, but was always there to support me with advice and action.
Did you still have points of contact?
Bernd Karstedt: Yes, we made many trips and were also internationally active together: Moscow – Russia, Caracas – Venezuela, Scandinavia, Kuwait, Algeria, South Africa, …
Do you have any special memories from all these trips that you’d like to share?
Bernd Karstedt (smiling): My father usually carried a three-pack of Underberg for the stomach during foreign trips. Even on trips to Arab countries. With the phrase: “This is my medicine for my heart,” he was allowed to take the stomach bitters with him.
Many trips mean many people – how was Wolfgang Karstedt in dealing with others?
Svend Karstedt: Our father was very good at dealing with people. He was a cheerful person and loved to laugh. Above all, it must be said that “Vattern” was very conscientious and a man with clear principles. A saying he coined was, for example: “First do your work – then drink and laugh.” – first the work, then everything else.
Besides you, were there people he exchanged ideas with?
Bernd Karstedt: He managed his business areas alone, when it came to new ideas and ways, he liked to exchange ideas with his advisors and quoted my grandfather: “… Willi, say something against it …”
And how was the relationship with his father-in-law and Diersch Schröder founder Otto Diersch?
Wolfgang Karstedt gave up his good job in the wine trade and entered the mineral oil trading business in 1954.
Svend Karstedt: The relationship was good – according to the motto: nothing strengthens one more than trust – Otto Diersch had once told him that should his marriage to his daughter not last, he would want Wolfgang as his successor. Both professionally and privately, our father was very straightforward, generous, and fairly correct.
Were there habits your father maintained or favorite foods?
Bernd Karstedt: Indeed: At exactly 12:45 PM, he would drive home for lunch with our mother. …
Svend Karstedt: … and return to the “office” – as he always called it – at 3 PM. Regarding food, he was very down-to-earth, as with everything else, and loved home-style cooking, such as Königsberger Klopse (Prussian meatballs).
When the weekend approached, was there time for leisure activities?
Svend Karstedt: Like all of us, our father was very enthusiastic about sports. As a young man, he successfully played hockey and tennis, and became the northwest German champion in doubles with his friend Hermann Segnitz. Due to his knee injury during the war, he later switched to golf. Our Saturday evenings always included watching Sportschau, and when a boxing match with Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) was broadcast at night, our mother would even set out cookies for us.
Bernd Karstedt remembers: He also coined the phrase: “As long as the youth are still playing sports, the world is still in order,” – he said this once when we were driving home one evening along the Osterdeich and saw young people playing football under floodlights on the adjacent sports fields. As a family, we founded the Otto Diersch Foundation in 2002 for Otto Diersch’s 100th anniversary, through which we are particularly committed to supporting youth and sports in Bremen and the surrounding area.
Thank you very much for our wonderful conversation.
