A. Batschari

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ABC Tufuma cigarette box

Under batschari or Batschari or ABC (for A ugust B atschari C igarettes ) firmierte a German cigarette factory , which in 1899 by August Batschari (1854-1923) in Baden-Baden was established. Along with Garbáty and Manoli, Batschari is one of the cigarette factories that focused on ambitious advertising in the early 20th century and commissioned famous graphic designers such as Hans Rudi Erdt , Ivo Puhonny , Lucian Bernhard and Ludwig Hohlwein . Today, the old ones are enamel signs , cigarette boxes, posters , advertising brands and advertising ads from Batschari popular collector's items.

Company history

Mercedes advertisement by Hans Rudi Erdt , 1914
Mercedes cigarette box

After attending elementary school, August Batschari got a job as a clerk at the Baden-Baden cigar and cigarette dealer Heinrich Rheinboldt . The products that were sold in a rented “boutique” at the Baden-Baden “Conversationshaus” were manufactured by Rheinboldt in a small tobacco factory . Since cigarettes became more and more popular since the middle of the 19th century, Batschari devoted himself entirely to cigarette production. When he married Rheinboldt's daughter Anna (1852–1922) in 1880, his father-in-law left cigarette production to him as a means of livelihood, while cigar production was later transferred to Rheinboldt's sons. Batschari was successful, its production soon exceeded the "craft" standard of a manufactory and became a factory. When he moved into his newly built office building at Balzenbergstrasse 64 in 1899, he was already producing 110,000 cigarettes a day. Even this company became too small after a few years. In the new factory between Balzenbergstrasse and Mozartstrasse, built between 1906–1907, 1.5 million cigarettes were produced every day in the years before the First World War. The commissioning of this factory marked the beginning of its industrial phase for the spa town. Batschari had set up sales outlets in all major European cities; there was even a branch in New York on the corner of Madison Avenue and 46th Street. Branch plants were set up in Bingen , Mainz and Worms (all three in the then Grand Duchy of Hesse ).

In accordance with the social expectations of successful entrepreneurs, August Batschari used his private assets to support charitable, above all cultural, purposes. He made a donation towards the construction costs for the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden . In 1911 he had the "Waldhaus Batschari" built, a stone shelter and lookout hut at Korbmattfelsen on today's Panoramaweg Baden-Baden , which he donated to the city of Baden-Baden. He donated the Batschari Prize for the Iffezheim horse race in the amount of 50,000 marks . In return, he received various public awards: Due to the high quality of his products, he was awarded the title of purveyor to the court of Baden , and in 1923 - shortly before his death - the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg made him an honorary senator . He was buried in the main cemetery in Baden-Baden.

The ownership structure after his death is confusing. Because of economic difficulties, probably caused mainly by high inflation , several parts of the company were converted into stock corporations by raising outside capital . B. parallel

  • A. Batschari Cigarettenfabrik AG in Baden-Baden, founded in 1923 ,
  • A. Batschari Zigarettenfabrik Saarbrücken AG, founded in 1924 in Saarbrücken
  • and Batscharis Tabakfabrik AG in Rastatt, founded in 1923 .

In addition, this group of companies continued to have family ties with Rheinboldthaus AG in Baden-Baden, which was also founded in 1923 as the successor to the father-in-law's cigar factory. Alfred Offer in Baden-Baden and the Kehler banker August Rincker are named as the main owners of Rheinboldthaus AG and its predecessor company, and Ms. Marianne Batschari nee as a member of the supervisory board . Hoffmann . Robert Batschari was chairman of the board of the Baden-Baden A. Batschari Cigarettenfabrik AG , on whose supervisory board besides Ms. Margot Batschari geb. Beck also sat Joseph Rheinboldt , former Baden finance minister and at that time German consul general in Zurich. The Rastatt company was the successor to E. Batschari & Co. GmbH in Kork near Kehl , the purpose of the company was described as "Manufacture of tobacco products and the trade in and tobacco products - the production of cigarettes and trade in them is excluded". The family was represented on the supervisory board by Robert Batschari. The Saarbrücker Aktiengesellschaft probably emerged from an older branch or branch, the formal independence of which was probably economically advantageous against the background that the Saar area had no longer belonged to Germany since 1920. Ms. Margot Batschari and Erich Batschari (both in Baden-Baden) and the Dutch company NV A. Batschari's Sigarettenfabrik in The Hague are named as founders, with Robert Batschari on the board.

Even before the global economic crisis broke out, the economic problems worsened. Among other things because of the immense tobacco tax increases and the resulting tax debts, Batschari's existence was threatened. The Baden state deferred tax debts out of economic consideration - Batschari was the largest employer in Baden-Baden, insolvency would have meant the loss of deferred taxes as well as less tax revenue and higher expenses for welfare (unemployment benefits) in the future. Shortly before the final collapse, the Reemtsma group bought at least the Baden-Baden company in the spring of 1929, despite the high debt burden, in order to eliminate an important competitor. Reemtsma only consented to the continuation of the Baden-Baden production site with considerable financial concessions from the state, but a little later the company was even thoroughly modernized. From the beginning, the economic difficulties of Batschari and the state subsidies had been hidden from the public, the eventual exposure of the events in the press triggered the Reemtsma scandal , which was also known at the time as the Batschari-Reemtsma affair .

The branch in Mainz last traded as A. Batschari Cigarettenfabrik Mainz GmbH and was renamed A. Batschari Handelsgesellschaft mbH in 1931 when the company's headquarters were relocated to (Hamburg-) Altona- Bahrenfeld - which meant the abandonment of its own production and the entrepreneurial relationship with it as well Resident Reemtsma Group is verifiable.

Batschari produced as a branch of the Reemtsma Group until 1948, and in 1962 Batschari was transferred to the “Haus Neuerburg” cigarette factory , which shut down the same year. The preserved factory building in Baden-Baden housed the military clothing office V of the Bundeswehr for many years until 2004 and was then converted into a hotel.

Brands of the Batschari cigarette factory

Advertisement for Mercedes cigarettes (1914)
  • Mercedes (advertising slogan: Dear lighter, dear Mercedes )
    This brand was offered by Reemtsma and Haus Neuerburg until 1965.
  • Sleipner
  • Cyprienne
  • radium
  • senator
  • Tacos
  • Tufuma

literature

Web links

Commons : A. Batschari  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.ebay.de/itm/sehr-schoene-alte-Art-Deco-Blechdose-A-Batschari-Zigaretttendose-/170963317535
  2. ↑ Hamburg State Archives , holdings 424-111 (Altona District Court), signature D d 915 (A. Batschari Cigarettenfabrik Mainz GmbH, Mainz, AG Mainz HRB 230), running time 1919-1936 ( online )
  3. ↑ http://batschari8.arcona.de/

Coordinates: 48 ° 46 ′ 9.5 ″  N , 8 ° 13 ′ 57.6 ″  E