Dynamite Nobel

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Coordinates: 50 ° 49 '11.1 "  N , 7 ° 8' 59.2"  E

Dynamit Nobel AG

logo
legal form Joint stock company , former
founding June 21, 1865
resolution 2004
Reason for dissolution sale
Seat Troisdorf , Germany
management Jürg Oleas (last chairman of the board)
Number of employees 13,000 (as of 2003)
sales 2.5 billion euros (last year 2003)

The Dynamit Nobel AG was a German chemical and defense companies , whose head office is last in Troisdorf was. In 2004 the company was sold in various parts to various companies by the former parent company MG technologies (now GEA Group AG ). In the last annual financial statement for 2003, Dynamit Nobel showed a turnover of 2.5 billion euros and employed around 13,000 people. From January 1, 2003 until it was sold on July 31, 2004, the company was headed by Jürg Oleas as CEO, who also held this position at the parent company.

Today there are two independent companies under the name Dynamit Nobel, Dynamit Nobel GmbH Explosivstoff- und Systemtechnik (DNES) in Leverkusen and Dynamit Nobel Defense GmbH in Burbach.

history

1865 to 1918

The Dynamit Nobel AG dates back to the 21 June 1865 by the Swedish chemist and industrialist Alfred Nobel in Hamburg started company Alfred Nobel u. Co back. Initially, explosives based on nitroglycerin were produced in the Krümmel dynamite factory in Geesthacht near Hamburg. This factory was the first nitroglycerin factory outside of Sweden.

Alfred Nobel
Share over RM 100 in Dynamit AG, formerly Alfred Nobel & Co. from August 1928

Nobel pursued the plan to produce nitroglycerin in many locations in Europe, since the transport of the explosives was an extremely risky undertaking because of its impact sensitivity. Since handling nitroglycerin was found to be very dangerous, Nobel began developing a safety explosive called dynamite . Even during the testing phase, there was a serious explosion in 1866, in which the plant in Krümmel was almost completely destroyed. Shortly afterwards, however, he achieved the breakthrough by mixing nitroglycerin with diatomaceous earth , making it less sensitive to impacts. In October 1867 he had the new explosive, which was also marketed under the name Nobel's safety explosive powder , patented. In order to better supply the main customers, the mines of the Ruhr area , the company took over the explosives factory Kaiser & Edelmann in Manfort in 1874 (a district of Leverkusen since 1930 ), which was destroyed by an explosion in 1870. Nobel was involved in its reconstruction in 1872 and had temporarily managed production there. Because of the neighboring train station, it was called the Schlebusch plant . In 1876 Nobel's company was converted into a stock corporation and from then on was called Dynamit AG, formerly Alfred Nobel & Co (also abbreviated as DAG ). Now the production of armaments was started and the DAG soon rose to become the largest producer of powder and ammunition in the German Reich .

Under the leadership of DAG, the largest powder producers joined, as in other European countries, in 1884 to a cartel together, the powder group I was called. By 1889, all of the larger powder producers in the German Reich joined this association, which was intended to prevent competition among one another through price agreements and cooperation. In the period that followed, there was close cooperation with the British powder cartel Nobel Dynamite Trust Coy and then the joint formation of the so-called “ general cartel ” of German and British powder factories. The arms race prior to World War I enabled powder producers to make enormous profits, which the cartel structure increased. In addition, the states gave massive support to arms development and production during this period. The DAG plant in Saarwellingen opened in 1910.

Since company founder Nobel remained childless, he decreed that the Nobel Foundation named after him should be set up with his assets , which happened in 1900. The most important task of the foundation is the annual awarding of the Nobel Prizes . The foundation is financed to the present day from the interest and the proceeds from the initially held company investments, which were sold shortly after Nobel's death, so that the DAG, which is listed on the Berlin stock exchange, was then completely in free float.

By the beginning of the First World War, DAG grew to become the largest European explosives manufacturer by taking over smaller competitors. During the war, the DAG also used prisoners of war in its plants - predominantly Russian prisoners of war in the 1912 by the Sprengstoffwerke Dr. R. Nahnsen & Co. AG took over the Dömitz plant .

1918 to 1945

Loading of explosives in the Krümmel dynamite plant around 1900
Production facilities at the Krümmel plant around 1900
Dynamit AG laboratory around 1900
Former administration building of the Krümmel dynamite factory

After the end of the war, parts of the production facilities were dismantled and, with the entry into force of the Versailles Treaty, the company was initially prohibited from producing armaments. From then on, it mainly produced mine explosives , detonators , primers as well as hunting and sports ammunition ( shotgun ammunition / shot ). Forgoing the production of lucrative armaments meant major financial losses for the DAG, so that some plants had to be closed and production capacity reduced. The company endeavored to reduce its dependence on armaments through the production of basic and intermediate chemical products. From the BASF belonging Chemische Werke GmbH Lorraine the former in 1925 Egestorffsche Zündhütchenfabrik in Empelde taken at Hannover, but ceased production there in 1928 and in 1938 as part of the upgrade of the Armed Forces started again. In the 1920s, DAG worked closely with Siegener Dynamitfabrik AG and Rheinisch-Westfälische Sprengstoff-AG Cologne - Troisdorf (RWS). The latter was already producing celluloid in its Troisdorf plant from 1905 , a plastic developed on the basis of the explosive cellulose nitrate ("gun cotton") , and in 1923 began manufacturing plastic molded parts from celluloid. RWS later founded Rheinische Spritzguß-Werk GmbH (today Dynamit Nobel Kunststoff GmbH ) in Cologne for this purpose .

At the beginning of 1931, DAG, RWS, Deutsche Sprengstoff-AG Hamburg, Rheinische Dynamitfabrik Opladen , Westdeutsche Sprengstoffwerke, Siegener Dynamit-Fabrik (both based in Cologne) and the Dresdner Dynamitfabrik merged to form the new Dynamit AG with headquarters in Troisdorf. Together with IG Farben , which was founded in 1925 and in which the Cologne-Rottweil AG based in Cologne ( United Cologne-Rottweiler Pulverfabriken AG until 1919 ) was absorbed, a cartel emerged that almost had a monopoly in the German Empire of the Weimar Republic Explosives production.

After the seizure of power of the NSDAP and their desire for a strong German defense industry was the Reichswehr (1935 Wehrmacht greater production capacity required for ammunition). To this end, DAG founded Deutsche Sprengchemie GmbH in 1934 together with Westfälisch-Anhaltischen Sprengstoff-AG ( WASAG , part of the IG Farben Group) , which, with the support of the state-owned Verwertungsgesellschaft für Montan-Industrie mbH (short: Montan GmbH), created new explosives and ammunition factories built on state land (→ Montan scheme ). Deutsche Sprengchemie GmbH later became a sole subsidiary of WASAG. The DAG continued the same activities in the company for the utilization of chemical products mbH (abbreviated: Verwertchemie ). This operated more than 30 factories, including in Hessisch Lichtenau , Empelde and Allendorf (today Stadtallendorf ). At that time, the Allendorf plant was the largest manufacturer of TNT in Europe. Over 15,000 slave laborers and concentration camp prisoners had to work there during the Second World War . In 1938 another plant for the production of nitrocellulose was built in Aschau am Inn , which after the war became the property of WASAG as part of the unbundling of IG Farben AG .

1945 to 1992

After the Second World War, the DAG began again with the production of plastics, defense technology and ammunition in the western part of Germany. The plants located in the Soviet occupation zone were expropriated and partially dismantled. From 1953, the DAG tried to develop organic intermediate substances in order to build up another civilian pillar in addition to plastics. After the decision to rearm the Federal Republic of Germany in 1957, the Gesellschaft zur Verwertungschemischerprodukte mbH, which had survived the war and, as before, was provided with land by the now federal industrial management company (IVG), began producing armaments again at the Liebenau plant recorded. At the beginning of the 1960s, the company regained market leadership in powder production in Germany. The takeover of the ammunition manufacturer Gustav Genschow & Co. AG from Karlsruhe in 1963 also contributed to this . With it Dynamit Nobel was now the largest ammunition producer for both military and civil purposes in Germany. In addition, the production of mines was mainly driven forward. So were 1958 in Liebenau with license of the Swedish company LIAB about 2 million pieces of anti-tank mines type DM-11 produced. In addition, the DAG, together with Bölkow and Dornier, also participated in research projects of the then Ministry for Nuclear Energy (now the Federal Ministry for Education and Research ) on possible German missile armament.

At the end of the 1950s , Friedrich Flick , who had already been a member of the supervisory board in pre-war times, began to buy up DAG with sometimes rude methods against small shareholders. With the support of the Bremen stock speculator Hermann Krages , he acquired the majority of shares in the company until 1958 and became chairman of the supervisory board , partly through complicated stock exchanges with Feldmühle AG , in which Flick was also involved. Now Flick, who now owned 82 percent of the shares, made use of a controversial regulation of the Transformation Tax Act , which expired on December 31, 1959, in order to urge small shareholders against compensation from the company (similar to today's exclusion of minority shareholders ). After protests by shareholder groups against the regulation introduced in the Third Reich , the Federal Constitutional Court finally decided in favor of Flicks.

With reference to the positively perceived company founder, the company Dynamit-Actien-Gesellschaft, formerly Alfred Nobel & Co. was changed to Dynamit Nobel AG in 1959 . From 1962 onwards, under pressure from the Jewish Claims Conference, the company, which was now part of the Flick Group, negotiated compensation for the 1,300 (Jewish) slave laborers who were forced to work in the Troisdorf plant in 1944 and 1945. The agreement on a payment of five million DM (5000 DM per victim) was personally blocked by Friedrich Flick, so that no payments were made until his death in 1972. In January 1970 he had a final declaration published on this subject in which he “... is  unable to see that humanitarian or moral reasons could justify a payment. “Flick always pointed out that a payment contradicts his pledges of innocence in the Flick process and could be seen as a late admission of guilt and that in addition to him, the Swiss Dieter Bührle ( Oerlikon-Bührle ) holds an 18 percent stake in the DAG.

After the armed forces had been equipped with the DM-11 anti-tank mine at the end of the 1960s, the Liebenau plant was ceded to the Dutch ammunition manufacturer Eurometaal in 1977 , in which Dynamit Nobel held a one-third stake. The later major mining projects were implemented in Troisdorf and Burbach-Würgendorf .

In 1986 the Flick Group was bought up by the Deutsche Bank for around five billion  DM , restructured and partially sold again or brought on the stock exchange. Deutsche Bank finally agreed to compensation for the forced laborers of Dynamit Nobel AG within the framework of the conditions drawn up in the 1960s. As part of a restructuring, Dynamit Nobel AG was merged with Feldmühle AG, which also belongs to the Flick Group, and Buderus AG to form Feldmühle Nobel AG in 1985 . After the grandchildren of Friedrich Flick ( Friedrich Christian Flick and his brother Gert-Rudolf Flick ) failed in their attempt to buy back Feldmühle Nobel AG in 1988 , the Swedish company Stora Kopparbergs bergslag (since 1998 Stora Enso ) took over the company. In the following year, the planned sale of parts of the company to Metallgesellschaft (today GEA ) became known. After a positive merger control procedure by the European Commission, the Dynamit Nobel AG and Buderus parts of the company were taken over by Metallgesellschaft Industriebeteiligungen AG, a subsidiary of Metallgesellschaft, on January 1, 1992 , while the forestry division (the former Feldmühle AG ) under the name Feldmühle Nobel AG stayed with Stora. As early as 1988, the Gesellschaft zur Verwertungschemischerprodukte mbH , which had previously only been run as a participation, and Dynamit Nobel concluded a domination and profit transfer agreement. The subsidiary was finally merged with another subsidiary, Dynamit Nobel Explosivstoff- und Systemtechnik GmbH , in 1990 .

1992 until it was broken up in 2004

Rockwood Inc. logo

In the early 1990s the company in the fields of chemical raw materials, chemical intermediates, plastics and fiber raw materials, specialty chemicals (silicon was wafer ) and plastics processing (particularly PVC ) enabled. Around a quarter of sales continued to be attributable to the traditional explosives division and the defense technology division, which, however, proved to be heavily dependent on armaments projects by the Bundeswehr. In 1992 Cerasiv GmbH and Chemetall GmbH were taken over. In 1994 Sachtleben Chemie GmbH and Chemson GmbH were added.

In 1996, the was Hoechst belonging CeramTec AG acquires and with the Cerasiv GmbH for CeramTec Innovative Ceramic Engineering AG merged. In 1997 Dynamit Nobel took over Phoenix Kunststoff GmbH to strengthen its plastics division . In 1999 Dynamit Nobel and the chemical company Solvadis were merged to form the MG chemical group . Chemetall GmbH's portfolio of activities (chemical specialties) has been continuously optimized, as demonstrated by the acquisitions of Cyprus Foote (1998) and Brent (1999) and the separation of Chemson GmbH (1999) and the electroplating business (2000) (today: Coventya GmbH ). In 2001, Orica took over the field of commercial explosives from “Dynamit Nobel Explosivstoff und Systemtechnik GmbH” (DNES) . In 2002, the Swiss RUAG took over Dynamit Nobel Ammotec GmbH, which had previously been spun off from Dynamit Nobel Explosivstoff und Systemtechnik . In this company, the business with small caliber ammunition was bundled. The break-up of the group began with the sale of the former core business.

In 2004 MG technologies AG sold its chemicals division as part of its concentration on plant engineering. The Dynamit Nobel AG was broken up and partly taken over by various companies.

The most recently appointed board of directors consisted of the following board members: Jürg Oleas, Klaus Edelmann, Alexander Loh, Jürgen Fäsel, Wolf-D. Griebler, Alfred Schulte, Ulf-Dieter Zimmermann and Gerd Weyer.

The American Rockwood Specialties Group took over (as of July 31, 2004) through its Luxembourg subsidiary Knight Lux 1 SARL for € 2.25 billion the majority in the form of the Dynamit Nobel specialty chemicals subsidiaries Sachtleben Chemie GmbH , Chemetall GmbH , CeramTec Innovative Ceramic Engineering AG and DNSC GmbH . Rockwood itself is a holding company for chemical companies that the financial investor Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. acquired. The Dynamit Nobel Kunststoff GmbH was for € 915 million from the Swedish 2004 Plastal Holding AB acquired; the DNES is now part of the French Novasep group, which was spun off from Rockwood.

The defense technology division was spun off into Dynamit Nobel Defense GmbH based in Würgendorf ( Burbach ). Today this company is a subsidiary of the state-owned Israeli defense technology company Rafael . The small-caliber ammunition business for the military, authorities, hunters and marksmen, as well as industrial components, was taken over by the Swiss RUAG in 2002 and merged with the ammunition areas. The former Dynamit Nobel brands RWS, Rottweil and Geco will be continued as RUAG Ammotec GmbH ( Fürth ).

The break-up of the group happened largely in agreement with the employee representatives, who were always involved in the sales negotiations. Although the general works council of the then mg technologies AG preferred to keep the chemicals division in the group, the solution that was ultimately implemented met with approval, as Rockwood Inc. pursued long-term interests and German jobs seemed secure.

Armaments projects after the Second World War

Armaments project Panzerfaust 3

From 1958 the Swedish anti-tank mine DM-11 of the company LIAB was produced under license at the Dynamit Nobel subsidiary Gesellschaft zur Verwertung chemischer Artikel mbH / Verwertchemie in Liebenau . The Bundeswehr procured more than 3 million copies. The AT-2 anti-tank mine was developed by Dynamit Nobel. In total, more than 1.3 million copies of this type have been produced. The Bundeswehr ordered 300,000 units for the light artillery missile system , which was in operation until 2000, around 640,000 mines for the Skorpion mine-throwing system and 226,000 units for the medium artillery missile system (MARS) . Between 1981 and 1986 the Bundeswehr invested 564.7 million DM in the mine project. In addition to the anti-tank mine AT-2, the identical, only slightly modified anti-personnel mine AP-2, an anti-material mine, a signal mine and a shallow water mine were developed. Dynamit Nobel marketed the Swedish anti-tank mine FFV 028SN company FFV and took over the conversion of 125,000 antipersonnel mines of the type DM-31, the 1962 to 1967 by the then the Quandt group belonging to industrial plants Karlsruhe (now IWKA AG were manufactured) , to an anti-tank mine under the Ottawa Convention. Here, however, the detonator was not modified sufficiently so that the mine could continue to be directed against people, although it is officially an anti-tank mine.

The new G11 assault rifle, equipped with caseless ammunition, was developed together with the weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch from 1968 to 1990, with Dynamit Nobel taking over the development of caseless ammunition. The project, which was carried forward to readiness for use, ultimately failed due to the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the resulting loss of the potential threat. Dynamit Nobel is the main contractor of the Panzerfaust 3 , which is manufactured under a contract from 1989 at Dynamit Nobel in Würgendorf, including ammunition and training cartridges, and which was gradually introduced as the primary anti-tank weapon for the infantry in the Bundeswehr and other armies. New variants are currently being produced for the Bundeswehr .

Criticism of armaments projects

Dynamit Nobel, like its successor company in the field of defense technology, Dynamit Nobel Defense GmbH , has repeatedly been sharply criticized for the mine systems it produces. Dynamit Nobel has delivered an estimated 3.2 million land mines since the Bundeswehr was founded. In 1992 the company advertised with the slogan “Dynamit Nobel - the first address for mines” in a trade magazine. There are still controversial anti-tank mines from the production of Dynamit Nobel in the holdings of the Bundeswehr , which are suspected of being used against people. This would be prohibited under the Ottawa Convention . In 2003 their number was 1.2 million.

Vinyl chloride poisoning in Troisdorf

Until the 1970s, Dynamit Nobel, the industrial city park on the former Troisdorf Heath, polymerized the monomer vinyl chloride (VC) to the plastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) at the Troisdorf site . At this time around 130 to 140 employees came into regular contact with this material, with an estimated 3,600 people having worked in this area over the years since production began in Troisdorf in the 1940s.

Contrary to current industrial hygiene requirements, the employees at Dynamit Nobel were exposed to the harmful and, as it later turned out, carcinogenic substance in some cases unprotected. They were considerably contaminated by escaping VC gas or when cleaning pressure vessels. Most of the other PVC producers at that time had already converted their production to systems that were less hazardous to health, something that Dynamit Nobel did not do for cost reasons. In addition, controls were regularly circumvented, sometimes manipulated or their results withheld, as a result of which the company, which is important for the region, regularly received postponements for the implementation of guidelines. The VC contamination at Dynamit Nobel was so high for years that the employees concerned complained of liver damage, reduction in blood cells ( anemia ) and circulatory disorders in the fingers, which led to acroosteolysis (death of the front phalanxes), as well as migraines and dizziness; as a long-term consequence there were also cancer diseases.

After the first 13 reports of serious illnesses in the spring of 1972, the trade inspectorate in Bonn ordered measures to improve the industrial hygiene conditions for Dynamit Nobel, but these were delayed by the company. As a result, the interest group of VC victims was founded , which initiated a lawsuit against the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for breach of official duty on behalf of 40 affected chemical workers and demanded compensation, similar to the thalidomide trial . The Troisdorf DKP local group filed a criminal complaint against the management board of Dynamit Nobel AG on suspicion of negligent bodily harm and death. Both initiatives were unsuccessful.

After more and more details of the scandal became public, there were protests from employees and citizens of Troisdorf. In 1975 the company management decided to close the PVC polymerisation plant there in order to avoid costly modernization and safety measures. Since the first reports of health hazards, the company has always tried to cover up the scandal. To do this, the company put journalists and publishers under massive pressure. In the years that followed, some of the contaminated employees died as a result of their illnesses without the Group paying any compensation.

literature

  • Bernd Klewitz: Dynamit Nobel's work slaves. Exploited and forgotten. Slave workers and concentration camp inmates in Europe's largest armaments factories during World War II. Engelbrecht, Schalkmühle 1986, ISBN 3-925211-02-0
  • Thomas Ramge : The Flicks. A German family story about money, power and politics. Campus-Verlag , Frankfurt 2004, ISBN 3-404-61593-X , pp. 157-162, 167-172

See also

Web links

Commons : Dynamit Nobel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Clemens Krümmel: Heal yourself - The Flick Collection is closed. In: taz , April 1, 2005 (supplement).
  2. ↑ Feldmühle Nobel is dismantled . In: Der Spiegel . No. 25 , 1991 ( online ).
  3. ↑ Merger control proceedings - Decision under Article 6 Paragraph 1b, Case No. IV / M.119 - Metallgesellschaft / Feldmühle. , accessed July 3, 2017 .
  4. ↑ MG buys American chemical company . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 98, April 28, 1998.
  5. ↑ Company news (de) . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 221, September 23, 1999.
  6. ↑ MG: Group profit grows in double digits . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 164, July 18, 2000.
  7. ↑ Chemical company bought . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 34, February 9, 2001.
  8. ↑ Dynamit Nobel cédé à Rockwood Specialties (fr) . In: L'usine nouvelle . No. 2914, April 22, 2004.
  9. ↑ Handelsblatt dated November 29, 2012: Germany is massively supplying Israel with weapons
  10. ↑ "We had a constructive dialogue." Interview with the group works council and supervisory board of MG technologies AG Reinhold Siegers in: Magazin Mitbestimmen der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung , April 2005. Read at: boeckler.de .
  11. ^ Nassauer, Otfried: Secret landmine exports from Germany. April 4, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Landmine Monitor Report Germany '99 by Mines Action Canada (MAC), Ottawa 1999 icbl.org (English); MAC website: minesactioncanada.org .
  13. ^ Bundeswehr violation of mining agreement? In: Der Spiegel . No. 19 , 2001 ( online ).
  14. ^ Annette Jensen: million dollar business with mines. taz , November 20, 1997, accessed September 17, 2011 .
  15. ↑ Markus Haake, Thomas Küchenmeister: German manufacturers continue to trade with deadly mines. Peace Research Group at the University of Kassel, September 2003, accessed on September 17, 2011 .
  16. ↑ History of the industrial city park. In: industriestadtpark.de. Retrieved July 3, 2017 .
  17. ^ Andrea Westermann: PVC, Dynamit Nobel and the city of Troisdorf. Local interpretations of industrial health hazards and their generalizations. In: F.-J. Brüggemeier, I. Engels (Ed.): Nature and environmental protection after 1945. Conflicts, concepts, competencies . Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2005, pp. 249-267, ISBN 3-593-37731-4 .
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on December 12, 2006 in this version .