Charlottenhütte
The Charlottenhütte was an ironworks near Niederschelden in what is now the city of Siegens in the district of the same name . The plant was located between Niederschelden and Niederschelderhütte on the border with Rhineland-Palatinate and Sieg , south of today's federal highway 62, and was one of the largest smelters in Siegerland .
history
In 1856, the Kreutz siblings from Siegen were granted a concession to build an ironworks with two coke-powered blast furnaces in the Niederscheld district. Eight years later the "Aktiengesellschaft Charlottenhütte" was founded and the first blast furnace was blown. The Charlottenhütte was the first coke-operated ironworks in the Siegerland. The second blast furnace was built in 1866 and was blown for the first time a year later. By 1900 the company was expanded to include a steel foundry, a hammer mill and processing workshops. In 1905 the heavy plate mill and the new administration building of the smelter were built. In 1866 just under 8,500 tons of pig iron were produced, production multiplied by 1900. This was also due to the strong growth in iron ore mining. The share capital rose from 125,000 thalers in 1864 to 1.5 million marks in 1899.
Over the years, the company acquired several mines for its own ore supply and other companies, most of which are located in the vicinity. These were, for example, the Brüderbund mine near Eiserfeld in 1898/99 or the Eiserner Hütte and the Eisernhardter Tiefbau mine in 1911 . In 1914, the ironworks and Geisweider Eisenwerke acquired 50% of the Grevenbrücker Kalkwerke. In 1911 the Charlottenhütte had a capital of 4,047,000 marks. In the business year 1912/13, the smelter's turnover rose to a provisional record of 16 million marks. From October 1914 the blast furnaces of the Charlottenhütte were running at full capacity due to the war. During the war, pig iron production rose from 53,000 t in 1914 to 77,000 t in 1918. Due to the smelter's positive profit development, it rose to the top group in the German coal and steel industry in the war years.
Due to the German manganese shortage during the First World War , Siegerland ores were in great demand because of their high manganese content. Towards the end of 1916 a new process was made public at the Charlottenhütte to get more manganese free from the ore to be smelted and thus to reduce the manganese shortage. These and other technical innovations as well as acquisitions or stakes in other plants allowed the Charlottenhütte to grow steadily and become more important.
In April 1915, the future industrialist Friedrich Flick became a member of the smelter's board. In that year the smelter in Niederschelden and Eisern employed a total of 953 workers, and 630 miners were employed in the two mines. With profits made during the war, he financed a "policy of expansion" at the smelter; the purchase of ore mines and smelting works in the area allowed the company to grow rapidly. In 1916, Flick was able to convince the board of the Cologne-Müsener Bergwerk-Verein, which held the Kreuztaler Hütte and the Stahlberg mine near Müsen , of the merger of the two companies, whereby the Charlottenhütte, as a supposedly smaller company at the time, played the role of the host company. The share capital of the hut increased to 6.25 million marks. In addition, the Neunkirchen trade union Knappschaftsglück and the Louise mine near Nieder-Ohmen (Vogelsberg) as well as the Sieghütter Eisenwerk AG in Siegen were acquired. By 1918 the share capital of the hut doubled. Further affiliations were u. a .:
- 1917: Eichener Walzwerk und Verzinkerei AG including the plant in Attendorn
- 1918: Thin sheet rolling mill Ax, Schleifenbaum and Mattner, Siegen; Rolling mill in Weidenau ; Wernsberg mine near Brachbach ; Siegener Eisenbahnbedarf AG in Dreis-Tiefenbach with a punching plant in Eintracht in Siegen
- 1920: Neue Haardt union , Weidenau
These developments were a thorn in the side of large Ruhr companies such as Thyssen or Klöckner . In 1919, Flick became general director of the Charlottenhütte, also because of his services for the purchase of the Cologne-Müsener Bergwerk-Verein. In 1920 Flick had to refrain from further expansions of the hut, for which he received a share package and thus the majority of the shares in Charlottenhütte. Through further, secretly carried out purchases, the smelter acquired a say and a majority in important mining companies in Upper Silesia. Rapidly rising inflation came in handy with these purchases.
In June 1926, as the largest Siegerland company at the time, the Charlottenhütte became the property of Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG . The steel works went to the " Mitteldeutsche Stahlwerke ", or "Mittelstahl" for short. In the new group, Flick was responsible for managing Mittelstahl and the Upper Silesian holdings. Contrary to the Versailles Treaty , he expanded his shareholding in the Polish part of Upper Silesia , also in close cooperation with the imperial government. Towards the end of December 1931, the Charlottenhütte was on the verge of insolvency due to the economic situation . In 1934, the Charlottenhütte was incorporated into the Siegerland Hüttenwerke within the AG . In 1942 the heavy plate rolling mill in Niedereldt was shut down . In 1966, due to a lack of sales, the decision was made to shut down the last blast furnace in the Charlottenhütte. In 1968/69 the plant was then leased or sold to Stahlwerke Südwestfalen AG in Geisweid .
Today the remaining buildings of the Charlottenhütte are used industrially by various companies.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Aktien-Gesellschaft Charlottenhütte
- ↑ Winfried Ranke / Gottfried Korff: Hauberg and Eisen - Agriculture and Industry in Siegerland around 1900 , Verlag Schirmer / Mosel, Munich 1980.
literature
- Kim Christian Priemel: Flick - A corporate history from the German Empire to the Federal Republic , Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2007. ISBN 978-3-8353-0219-8
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 50 ′ 31 ″ N , 7 ° 58 ′ 9 ″ E