Bernhard Reemtsma
Bernhard Reemtsma (* 1857 ; † 1925 ) was a German entrepreneur and founder of Reemtsma AG
Life
Bernhard Reemtsma came from East Friesland and married Flora Fürchtegott Zülch, whose brother Hermann ran a cigar factory in Osterholz-Scharmbeck . As grocery wholesalers , the couple first made in Erfurt down. From 1894, Bernhard Reemtsma ran a tobacco wholesaler with production in Blankenburg (Harz) . In 1909 he acquired a stake in the Erfurt cigarette manufacturer "Dixi". In a six-room apartment at Erfurt Schillerstraße 25, seven women initially handcrafted the “Thuringian Gold” brand, which was only sold in the Erfurt area. A year later Reemtsma gave up his remaining businesses and took over the remaining shares of Dixi at the same time. The company moved into new premises on Schmidtstedter Strasse.
After the First World War , Reemtsma included his sons Philipp and Hermann in the management. In 1918 the company traded as "OHG Cigarettenfabrik Dixi, Inh. B. Reemtsma & Sons". Hermann developed a machine for the production of cigarettes and thus replaced the manual work, Philipp mainly took care of marketing and finances. In 1920 the company moved to the former Prussian rifle factory on Mainzerhofplatz in the Brühl district, which was vacant as a result of the Versailles Treaty .
Tobacco expert David Schnur and innovative brand technician Hans Domizlaff were won over to the company. In 1919 the name Dixi was given up and the first original Reemtsma brands, including “ R6 ” (1921), “ Harvest 23 ” (1924) and “Yellow Sort”, were introduced in Germany. Also in 1920, Wilhelm Deffke designed the well-known Reemtsma trademark in the Weimar Bauhaus style : a stylized Viking ship's bow with a red dot symbolizing the rising sun. The trademark was not only featured on all packages, but also shaped all advertising measures in the sense of a corporate design . Among other things, the company started as one of the first route advertisements on railway lines.
In 1921 B. Reemtsma & Sons converted their company into a stock corporation , "Reemtsma AG", thus laying the foundation for the later development into a large corporation. In 1922 the state canceled the lease for the production facilities in the former rifle factory. The company then moved to Altona - Bahrenfeld , which was still Prussian in 1923 . This was also due to tax reasons, as tobacco could be stored untaxed in the Hamburg free port until production began. In the mid-1930s, Reemtsma AG held around two thirds of German cigarette production in its hands.
After the final handover of management to his sons in 1923, Bernhard Reemtsma gradually retired from the company and died two years later.
literature
- Thuringian General (gn): Reemtsma: Smoke from yesterday Erfurt February 20, 2010
- Erik Lindner: The Reemtsmas. History of a German family of entrepreneurs , Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 3-455-09563-1
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Reemtsma, Bernhard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1857 |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1925 |