Geiringer & Reitler
| Geiringer & Reitler KG
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|---|---|
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| legal form | Limited partnership |
| founding | September 1, 1889 |
| resolution | June 16, 2000 |
| Seat | Vienna |
| management | Geiringer family |
| Branch | Clothing wholesalers, clothing and textile retailers |
The Geiringer & Reitler company operated the “Silesia” cloth house. This company was founded in Jägerndorf , then Austrian Silesia, in the 19th century and was a wholesaler and retailer in cloth, tailoring accessories and trading in skins, in particular supplying tailoring businesses .
history
It was founded on September 1, 1889 by Jacques (Jakob) Geiringer (* April 6, 1862 in? - † November 28, 1930 in Vienna) and Gustav Reitler († June 1922), two fabric dealers who already had extensive experience in the textile industry in European companies could collect. They called their cloth house "Silesia" because the founding place Jägerndorf was in Austrian Silesia. The cloth weaving business quickly became successful and the number of employees soon rose to 210. In addition to the manufacture of fabrics, finishing was an important area.
1903 opened a branch in Vienna at Fleischmarkt 20 in the 1st district. Not only did the aristocracy shop here, the imperial court was also supplied with fabrics. Due to the quality of the products and the services, the Tuchhaus Silesia was appointed supplier to the imperial court . Before the First World War, the Vienna branch was relocated to its own house at Vorlaufstrasse 3, where it remained until the 1990s.
An essential feature of the corporate strategy was the creation and marketing of the specially produced product catalog. The mail order catalog was produced in our own printing house in German, Czech, Italian, Hungarian, Croatian and Polish and sent to customers throughout the territory of the Dual Monarchy. The "Silesia" had traveling representatives who had to visit all master tailors in their area by car about once a year and supply them with the sample books. The tailor himself was the representative of his customers. He presented the sample collection to the clientele and ordered the chosen fabric and accessories from the Vienna branch. Upon receipt of the goods via cash on delivery, the tailor had to pay 7/10 of the price, 1/10 of the price charged to the customer remained the tailor's own profit. In addition to their normal work, tailors were able to create an additional source of income from brokering the fabrics and accessories used by “Silesia”.
The outbreak of the First World War brought difficult times for the company. After Gustav Reitler's death in 1917, Jacques Geiringer took over the business. From his marriage to Hermine geb. Pollak († July 1932) came from the four children Robert, Helene, Leo and Fritz. Geiringer's eldest son and designated successor Robert died on January 1, 1916 at the age of 21 on the Northern Front during the war. He was a lieutenant in an Austro-Hungarian dragoon regiment and was the owner of the gold medal for bravery. The two younger sons, Leo (born January 31, 1899 in Jägerndorf; † May 25, 1969 in Vienna) and Fritz Geiringer (born August 6, 1900 in Jägerndorf; † June 25, 1940 in Sachsenhausen concentration camp), went to the textile school in Brno. Together with her father, they managed the headquarters in Jägerndorf and the branches in Vienna and Prague. The company survived the collapse of the monarchy despite all adversities.
After the end of the monarchy it was small by the standards of foreign companies in the same branch, but one of the largest companies in the Republic of Austria, almost the largest among two dozen competitors.
In 1930 Jacques Geiringer died at the age of 68 and was buried in the family grave in Vienna's central cemetery, where his son Robert was already resting. Under the skillful leadership of his two sons, the number of employees grew to more than 300 by 1938. Together with the brand of Eduard Cerhaka, one of the companies in Tuchhaus Schlesien, Geiringer & Reitler became the largest trading partner of companies in the textile goods division in Jägerndorf. Leo Geiringer took an active part in the life of the local Jewish community and was a council member of the Israelite religious community.
Despite the great global economic crisis, the company was able to maintain its position. However, with the invasion of the Nazis into Czechoslovakia, the situation changed suddenly for the company, as the Geiringer family was of Jewish descent. While Leo Geiringer was able to flee from the Nazis from Czechoslovakia and later to England, his brother Fritz Geiringer was interned during the war in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp , where he was murdered in 1940, other members of the family were also killed during the Shoah . The “Silesia” cloth house was “ Aryanized ”. Leo Geiringer, who had meanwhile lived in London, became a British citizen due to the diminishing prospects of returning home and changed his last name to "Granger".
The time after the war and the erection of the Iron Curtain changed almost nothing about the new ownership structure. Significant companies that were formerly owned by Jews and “Aryanized” were not returned to their former owners by the new communist rulers, but instead were completely nationalized. With the expulsion of the German-speaking minority in Czechoslovakia, their property was also confiscated. In this case the Geiringer family was Jewish and German-speaking, the possibility of getting their property back was impossible.
The Vienna branch was badly damaged by bombing, but it was all that remained for the company. Karl Geiringer, a relative of Leo Geiringer (now Granger), became the administrator in the post-war period and continued to run the company until Leo Granger was restituted and returned from England.
A modern company began to rise from the ruins of the Vienna branch in the 1950s. In the difficult post-war years, the general shortage of business owners who worked in the company's business stock exchange for wool duffle, later deliveries were textile goods from the western federal states of Austria in Vienna. After his return, Leo Granger became company director again, since 1952 together with his son Robert Granger, who took over sole management of the company after his father's death in 1969. His cousin Georg Schwarz, who was an authorized signatory until his retirement, made a significant contribution to the company's success. For a short time, Peter Schwarz, Georg Schwarz's son, also worked in this company. Since the 1950s there has been a collaboration with Paul Schöning from Munich in the creation of the collection.
Due to the successful business, the company Tuchhaus Silesia Geiringer & Reitler KG was awarded the state award on February 10, 1984 . In 1989, a hundred years after the company was founded, it employed 90 people with a turnover of more than 120 million schillings, and was thus a leader in under the direction of Robert Granger (born November 15, 1928), grandson of the founder of Jacques Geiringer this area in Austria. The “Silesia” cloth house was not only represented in Austria, but also on European markets. There were sales outlets through agents all over the world as far as Japan. Over time, the company had to withdraw in the face of competition and was officially deleted on June 16, 2000. It was the last company of its kind in Austria.
"Palace Silesia" in Jägerndorf
The headquarters of the company at Nikolausstrasse 12 in Jägerndorf was representative and is therefore also called "Palast Silesia". It was built in 1907 by Eduard Frank. At the time, it was a modern and bold construction that featured reinforced concrete and a steel roof structure with a large span in the impressive Art Nouveau decor. Art Nouveau elements appear both on the outside of the building and in the interior on the doors, fittings and tiles. The company's logo is emblazoned above the main entrance on Nikolaus-Straße, at that time still with an imperial double-headed eagle. The hall on the ground floor of the building was used for business purposes. The textiles were piled on the many shelves and part was for furs. A wide staircase led to the hall on the first floor, the great roof a steel construction with a large span and richly decorated windows. This room served as a work space for the clothing department. A residential unit was added on the first floor in 1930; access was via a separate side staircase from the street. The extensive cellars were partially used as storage for boxes of goods. The cellar is vaulted, the ceiling rests on reinforced concrete columns. A steam boiler for central heating was installed in the basement.
During the Second World War, the building was relatively undamaged, only the window panes were broken. From the 1950s to 1990 the building served a state-owned textile company in Olomouc. The old headquarters of the Tuchhaus Silesia is still an architectural feature in Jägerndorf today. It is used for exhibitions and is a center of Krnov social life. The building was renovated after the fall of the Wall in the 1990s.
The former Villa Geiringer is located near the cloth house. In the 1990s the villa was used as a kindergarten, and today several companies and doctors have their headquarters.
literature
- Ingrid Haslinger: Customer - Kaiser. The story of the former imperial and royal purveyors . Schroll, Vienna 1996, ISBN 978-3-85202-129-4 .
Web links
- Historický kalendář pro události vztahující se k regionu. Občanské sdružení Krnovská synagoga, May 17, 2009, accessed May 17, 2009 (Czech).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Death notice Gustav Reitler. In: Neue Freie Presse , June 13, 1922, p. 16 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ Barbara Stary: Kraus-Lunzer renovates the Silesia House. (No longer available online.) WirtschaftsBlatt , July 1, 2000, archived from the original on May 27, 2007 ; accessed on May 17, 2009 : “The real estate group has acquired the former Silesia-Haus at Vorlaufstrasse 3 in downtown Vienna and is planning a modern office building there. Previously, Silesia had its shop and office space in the house, which were only recently given up. "
- ↑ Michael Pammer: My grandfather's portfolio . Ed .: Institute for Folklore (= Upper Austrian Homeland Papers ). June 13, 1922, p. 286–287 ( online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at).
- ↑ Death notice Hermine Geiringer geb. Pollack. In: Neue Freie Presse , July 5, 1932, p. 14 (online at ANNO ).
- ↑ Robert Geiringer's death notice. In: Neue Freie Presse , January 23, 1916, p. 28 (online at ANNO ). (Death notice for Robert Geiringer, from his family and the company "Silesia")
- ^ Geiringer Fritz. In: Victim Databases. Documentation archive of the Austrian resistance , May 17, 2009, accessed on May 17, 2009 .
- ↑ Geiringer. In: cemetery database. Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Vienna, May 17, 2009, accessed on May 17, 2009 (English, ZENTRALFRIEDHOF I. TOR, group 52a, row 14, grave 8).
- ^ Table of contents T. (No longer available online.) State award, February 10, 1984, archived from the original on January 4, 2014 ; Retrieved May 10, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
