This tall, dark stone obelisk at Lublin’s Lipowa cemetery commemorates Adolf Frick, a brewer whose interests extended rather beyond producing beer. Alongside his brother Juliusz, he ran the A. i J. Frick brewery, but he also helped establish financial institutions and get a theatre built. Apparently running a brewery wasn’t considered quite enough to be getting on with, although it seems a very sensible place to start.
Born in 1846, Frick was one of the figures behind the establishment of the Lublin Industrialists’ Loan Fund in 1884. This provided credit to local businesses, helping finance the investment and everyday expenditure needed to keep them operating. His work formed part of the wider contribution made by Lublin’s Protestant business community to the city’s industrial development. Beer was involved, reassuringly, but so were mills, factories and the less immediately exciting business of making the finances work.
Adolf and Juliusz were also instrumental in the creation of the theatre now named after Juliusz Osterwa. It opened in 1886, giving Lublin a substantial new venue for performances. There’s something rather appealing about brewers helping to provide both the beer and the cultural facilities, although I imagine the financial arrangements were slightly more complicated than putting a collection tin on the bar.
Frick died in 1891, aged just 45, and the brewery also ceased operating that year. His memorial stands among the trees in the Protestant cemetery, its inscription recording his role in founding the loan fund. By 45, he had helped run a brewery, establish a loan fund and get a theatre built. I’m increasingly pleased if I complete a task without first needing a little sit down.