First Thuringian biscuit factory

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The Erste Thüringer Keksfabrik was a company founded in 1902 by Richard Bohlig in Bad Liebenstein .

The first years of the company

Company advertisement from the 1920s

Richard Bohlig, who came to Bad Liebenstein in 1897, initially worked as a journeyman at the Kruspe bakery in Bad Liebenstein and recognized the diverse sales opportunities for baked goods and confectionery in the famous Herzheilbad. In 1902 he built a residential building with a factory on Barchfelder Strasse in Bad Liebenstein. Bread, rolls, cakes and pies could be industrially produced there.

In the next few years two bakeries were built in the village, later a third was opened in Tabarz and the factory building was expanded. Branches were opened in Berlin , Breslau , Hamburg , Barchfeld and Leipzig as well as cafes in the Feodora, in the Palais Weimar and in a building next to the former mayor's office in Bad Liebenstein. A chocolate factory was added to the actual biscuit factory in Bad Liebenstein. At the company's heyday in 1930, the 16-page list of offers showed 219 different items and the company had around 100 employees. One of the company's best-known products was Ribolinchen, a doll-shaped, sweet biscuit whose name was made up of the first two letters of the words Ri chard Bo hlig Li Ebenstein.

After a fire broke out in the factory in 1928, there were plans at the end of the 1930s to significantly expand the factory building again, but this could never be realized due to the Second World War . Richard Bohlig also wanted to expand the complex with a newly built café at the intersection of Barchfelder Strasse and Bahnhofstrasse, but was forbidden to do so after purchasing the property. The background was a serious traffic accident caused by the poor visibility caused by the house at this point. The city of Bad Liebenstein then prohibited the new building. However, since the demolition of the old building had already begun, the excavation pit thus created remained in place at this corner for a total of seven years. There are several trees at this point today.

Richard Bohlig was represented on the city council until 1938, although he was never a member of the NSDAP and vehemently fought against the party. After the persecution of the Jews, he supplied Jewish citizens with products from his factory free of charge. In 1942 all means of production were confiscated, Richard Bohlig was only allowed to continue operating a bakery. Other companies were located in the factory itself, for example Telefunken was represented in the building for several years during the war.

Development in the GDR

Letterhead of the VEB Keksfabrik Bad Liebenstein from 1986

After the end of the Second World War, the company was confiscated in 1945 on the basis of a Soviet order and expropriated in 1948, although the accusation of Bohlig's cooperation with the NSDAP soon proved unfounded. In the GDR , production continued as "VEB Keksfabrik Bad Liebenstein, operation of the VEB Kombinat Nahrungsmittel und Kaffee Halle (Saale)". The most popular product at that time were the "Bad Liebensteiner Salzstangen ", which had a stylized red heart on the packaging (as a reference to the Herz-Heilbad) with the writing above (Bad Liebensteiner). The "camping biscuits", which were produced in the factory, were also popular during this period. On July 2, 1968, arson caused another fire in the factory.

After reunification

Site of the former biscuit factory in August 2007

Although the family of Richard Bohlig, who died on June 24, 1952, tried to transfer the expropriated property back after reunification , the Treuhandanstalt sold the entire factory to the Bahlsen company in 1991 with considerable public funding for DM 485,000 . Land and buildings as well as recipes and brand names were thus transferred to Bahlsen, although the factory never continued to operate seriously. Existing manufacturing equipment was sold in Eastern Bloc countries, the rest of the economic activity (baked goods made elsewhere were packaged and a small factory outlet was operated) was discontinued in 1998. At the time, the main building also housed a number of smaller (rented) businesses, such as a driving school, a fruit shop, an ice cream parlor and a music school.

In 2000 the old factory building was demolished and all the outbuildings that had been built over the years were sold. Today there is a public parking lot on the site.

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  1. see: http://www.feuerwehr-schweina.de/index.php ? Chronicle of the Schweina volunteer fire brigade

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