A. Zuntz sel. Wwe.

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The facade of the Zuntz coffee roasting plant in Bonn-Südstadt, Königstrasse 78, still preserved
The coffee shop on Spittelmarkt in Berlin, 1909: on the ground floor under the left of the two facade gables of the building in the right half of the picture

A. Zuntz sel. Wwe. Was a coffee roasting and trading company based in Bonn and later Berlin . The company, founded in 1837, developed from its headquarters in Bonn to the largest coffee roasting company in Germany and an important supplier of consumer goods with a brand known throughout Germany and existed for almost 150 years. After the National Socialists seized power , the company was Aryanized . In World War II, large parts of the existing buildings were destroyed; In the post-war period , the Dallmayr Group took over the company and continues the brand to this day.

history

Amschel Herz Zuntz (1778–1814) had his cousin Rechel , b. Hess married. She was the daughter of Nathan David Hess (1756–1837), who had been running a coffee and grocery store in Bonn in Judengasse (today: Tempelstrasse ) since 1783 . Amschel Zuntz died a year after the wedding, the couple's child was born after his death. The widow moved with her son, Leopold , to their parents' house in Bonn. After the father died in 1837, Rechel, who was not remarried, took over the father's business and ran the company under A. Zuntz seel. Wb. , Which means "the Witib of the blessed Amschel Zuntz" when written out . The company was soon changed to A. Zuntz sel. Wwe. The brand was usually called "blessed widow" in dialect. Rechel Zuntz was registered as a “specialty dealer” on the Bonn trade list.

In 1840 the company was moved from Judengasse to Hundsgasse 14 (today: Belderberg). Coffee roasting soon became the company's primary purpose. In the early 1850s, Zuntz developed a new coffee specialty, "candied coffee". During the roasting process, sugar was added, which caramelized on the beans. The company's economic situation remained difficult until the end of the 1860s. The founder died in 1874; her son had already taken over the management of the business beforehand. He died a few months after his mother.

expansion

Under the sons of Leopold Zuntz, Albert (1849–1881) and Josef (1858–1901), the company expanded nationwide. A branch was opened in Berlin in 1879 and in Hamburg in 1889. In 1887, Zuntz received a patent for the production of a coffee concentrate. Zuntz received a silver medal at the food exhibition in Amsterdam in 1887 and another award at the culinary arts exhibition in Leipzig in 1883. From the 1890s onwards, the company had various purveyors to the court on its stationery: from Duke Ernst of Saxe-Coburg , Duke Georg of Saxe-Meiningen , Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and the emperor and king . Advertisements were advertised with a recommendation from Justus von Liebig .

Under Josef Zuntz, his younger brothers David (1861–1913) and Richard (1863–1910) as well as his sons-in-law Louis Sondermann and Albert Bing (1853–1931) became involved in the company. In 1891 the company headquarters was relocated to Bonn-Poppelsdorf in Grünen Weg 78 (today Königsstraße). Not only was a new roastery and administration building built here, but also a plant for the preparation of tea blends from goods imported from India and Ceylon . The building complex in neo-Gothic style was designed by the architect Anton Zengeler . In 1980, after long disputes about conservation issues and subsequent use, the site was converted into a complex with luxury apartments (“Chateau Gothique”), with only the facade and two halls of the administrative building remaining, which are listed. Large roasting plants were also set up in the branches in Hamburg and Berlin. Sales centers were set up all over the German Empire , delivering Zuntz products to a large number of luxury food specialty stores (coffee and confectionery).

Shortly before the turn of the century, the coffee roaster began setting up branches with attached coffee shops after having had great success at the world exhibition in Berlin-Treptow in 1896 with a striking bar pavilion in an Arabic style. The first coffee shop in Berlin was set up on Spittelmarkt in 1898 . By the outbreak of the First World War , around 30 such coffee shops were built (also in Potsdam, Dresden, Hanover and Cologne), which made the brand even better known.

Interwar period

After the war, the grandchildren of Leopold Zuntz, Albert (1889–1954) and August († 1967) took over the management. While Albert took over the now smaller business in Bonn, August expanded the business in Berlin. He invested in wholesaling activities and also started making pastries. On his behalf, Julius Gipkens created the brand's logo in 1925: the portrait of a Biedermeier lady with a boot hat , reminiscent of Rechel Zuntz. A suitably dressed actress was also used in advertising campaigns, the opening of coffee shops and coffee shops in the Bonn region. The role was played by Maria Floßdorf from the late 1940s to around 1965. At the end of the 1920s, further branches were opened in Hanover, Dresden and Antwerp. In 1934 the sales network consisted of eleven branches, 1930 sales outlets with 17 coffee shops and 2200 seats. In 1925, Marcus Kruss (1872–1962) was joined by August as a second partner in the Berlin business. The two partners emerged as art patrons , Kruss promoted the Brücke artists and collected works by Emil Nolde , Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Erich Heckel . During the National Socialist era he hid his collection in a Zuntz warehouse, after the war he bequeathed it to the Bavarian State Painting Collections; today it is in the State Gallery of Modern Art .

National Socialism and Aryanization

After the National Socialists seized power, the company was registered as Jewish property. Although the Jewish partner August Zuntz declared a silent partner without rights at the end of March 1933 and a third partner, NSDAP member Paul Kramer, was accepted and thus officially Aryanization took place, Zuntz branches were part of the Nazi regime's boycott of Jews on April 1, 1933. However, operations could continue and Zuntz initially managed the business in the background. On January 21, 1936, operating rules shaped by the National Socialists were introduced in the company, which required membership in the German Labor Front . In 1937, the company celebrated its 100th anniversary, in which no member of the Zuntz family was allowed to attend. At that time, Zuntz employed around 800 people.

A great-great-grandson of Leopold Zuntz, Richard Berg (* 1911, later name change to Rafael Tabor), who should have continued the family business as August Zuntz's successor in the fifth generation, emigrated to Palestine after the seizure of power , he later lived in Kibbutz Hasorea . August Zuntz fled to London shortly after the Reichskristallnacht in 1938, where he again built up a coffee business. Other family members were deported , were also able to flee or took their own lives.

During the Second World War , 40 percent of the company's real estate, including the company headquarters at Magdeburger Platz 4, was destroyed in Berlin. 14 of the 68 branches still existed at the end of the war. The warehouses had been looted.

After the Second World War

Resuming production after the war proved difficult as there was a lack of raw materials, coal and gas. Since the Bonn branch had not been confiscated, it could be repaired and used to produce a coffee substitute , the "Zuntz coffee substitute mixture", made from barley and chicory . Despite the efforts of the partners Marcus Kruss in Berlin and August Zuntz in London, it was no longer possible to put the company on a solid financial basis. In 1951 the Berlin part of the company had to be sold to the Dallmayr Group, which initially continued to operate it under the Zuntz brand. At the beginning of the 1960s, 300 people were employed again in Berlin and 80 in Bonn. Not far from the Kranzler , Café Zuntz was built in 1962 under Dallmayr management according to plans by Otto Block in the center on Kurfürstendamm 23/24. On the occasion of the opening, the composer Günter Neumann (1913–1972) wrote the chanson “Zuntz blessed widow 1962”. A short time later, Dallmayr also took over the parts of the company in Bonn, and the branch there closed in 1976.

See also

literature

  • Gabriele Wasser: The "Blessed Widow": History of a coffee roastery and the Hess and Zuntz families. (= Small Lehrhaus booklet. Booklet 2). Kleines Jüdisches Lehrhaus, Bonn 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-028394-9 .

Web links

Commons : A. Zuntz sel. Wwe.  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Josef Niesen: History of the Zuntz Coffee Roastery ( Memento from May 20, 2018 in the Internet Archive ). In: Historisches Bonn - Bönnsche Historie. January 21, 2015.
  2. ^ University of Bonn: Address book . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ List of monuments of the city of Bonn (as of March 15, 2019), p. 34, number A 482
  4. ^ Johannes Bidlingmaier: Sales policy and distribution: Karl Christian Behrens for his 60th birthday. (= Study series company and market ). Springer-Verlag , 2013, ISBN 978-3-663-02954-0 , p. 273.
  5. ↑ Zuntz advertising - the logo in the company brochure . Virtual Bridge Courtyard Museum
  6. ↑ Photo of the actress , Virtual Bridge Courtyard Museum
  7. ↑ Hans-P. Mollenhauer: From grandma's kitchen to prepackaged: From the nursery of the food industry. Gernsbach 1988, p. 129, quoted in: Ursula M. Becker: Coffee concentration: for the development and organization of the Hanseatic coffee trade. (= Contributions to the company's history . Volume 12). Dissertation University of Münster (Westphalia) 1996. Steiner , Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-515-07916-5 , p. 170.
  8. ↑ Thomas W. Gaehtgens: The citizen as a patron. Springer-Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-322-89382-6 , p. 37f.
  9. ^ Journal for the Study of Food and Beverage. Volume 41, Association of German Food Chemists, Julius Springer , 1921.
  10. ^ Ernst Heinrich, Klaus Konrad Weber: Berlin and its buildings. Volume 8: Buildings for trade and commerce. Part 2, Architects and Engineers Association in Berlin (ed.), W. Ernst & Sohn , 1980, ISBN 3-433-00825-6 , p. 95.

Coordinates: 50 ° 43 '35.6 "  N , 7 ° 5' 49.3"  E