Austrian Association for Chemical and Metallurgical Production
The Austrian Association for Chemical and Metallurgical Production , short association (Czech: Rakouský spolek pro chemickou a hutní výrobu , short Spolek ), was an Austrian or Czech industrial company in the Kingdom of Bohemia and Czechoslovakia . The center of economic activity was Aussig, now Ústí nad Labem . The company was based in Prague .
history
founding
In February 1856 the Austrian Society for Chemical and Metallurgical Production at Aussig ad Elbe was founded in Palais Schwarzenberg in Vienna . The chemist Christian Gustav Clemm (1814–1866) was entrusted with its management, but was dismissed as director of the Aussiger factory in 1859. Within a year, the production of chemical products was started on a purchased site near Aussig. The founders and partners were Bohemian and Austrian nobles who brought considerable amounts of capital into the company.
Clemm's successor was Max Schaffner , who held various positions in the company before the recognized chemist became CEO. Significant milestones in the company's history are associated with his name.
Market leadership
The company merged with Solvay and, under the name Spolek-Solvay , was the leading company in the chemical industry in Austria-Hungary from the mid-1880s, and was also able to operate successfully on the German market.
After the founding of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the influence of Živnostenská banka (commercial bank) on the Aussiger Verein, which now officially deleted the “Austrian” attribute in the company name. It was also the market leader in the Czechoslovak chemical industry and, thanks to its capital resources, cooperated not only with Solvay, but also with Ciba , IG Farben , Carbo Union and others. Before the German annexation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, the Aussiger Verein owned shares in 46 companies and was the majority owner of 30 of these companies.
Locations
The town of Aussig / Ústí nad Labem and its residents also benefited from the company's success. Further locations in Czechoslovakia were established, for example in the suburb of Neštěmice, in Hrušov , in Sokolov and Ostrava . For geostrategic reasons, some production areas were also relocated from northern Bohemia to the inland in the 1930s, with “ Spolana as” in Neratovice (for electrolytic applications) and “ Synthesia ” in Pardubice (production of organic bleaching agents) being established in 1938 .
Second World War
From 1938/39 the company in Aussig was controlled by the German IG Farben , with Hans Kugler playing an essential role. At the end of the Second World War, large parts of the plants in Aussig were destroyed by bombing raids.
nationalization
After the war, the company was nationalized and broken up into various chemical plants. It was renamed “Czechoslovak Chemical Works” (Československé chemické závody) or “Chemical Works Ústí nad Labem” (Ústecké chemické závody) .
successor
Today the successor is the company Spolchemie ( Spolek pro chemickou a hutní výrobu , akciová společnost ).
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ albert-gieseler.de: Austrian Association for the Production of Chemical and Metallurgical Products (accessed November 29, 2012)