Georg Schleber AG
The Georg Schleber AG dye works and finishing companies were one of the leading Saxon textile companies until 1945 . The economic focus of the main plant, founded in Reichenbach in the Vogtland in 1847 , later shifted to the branch plant in Greiz, which was set up in 1871 . In 1949 the company was incorporated into a state-owned company (VEB). The takeover by the Treuhandanstalt in 1990 meant the end of the company.
production
In addition to the dyeing and printing of textiles, Georg Schleber AG was primarily a finishing and specialist supplier of all fabrics such as wool , half wool, silk , half silk , rayon and mixed fabrics. The goods were sold worldwide. During the Second World War mainly small parts were assembled for the armaments industry . During the GDR period, products were mainly produced for markets in the GDR, the USSR and the Federal Republic of Germany .
history
founding
The company was founded on November 30, 1847 as a dye works and finishing on the site of a closed cotton spinning mill owned by the Samuel Petzold company in Reichenbach. The founder was the blue dye master Georg Schleber (1819–1850) from Pfaffenhofen in Alsace .
Georg Schleber had previously successfully introduced a newly patented process for the machine production of shaded stripe patterns on textiles in Glauchau . The so-called ombré process was developed by the French company Jourdan & Cie. developed in Cambrai and only patented for France and England . He had received the patent from Jourdan & Cie. In 1845. left to busy brother Jakob Schleber (1818–1859). The ombré process formed the basis for the young company's rapid economic success. The company initially limited itself to the finishing of woolen goods from the surrounding area of Reichenbach and Greiz, but soon expanded to include Saxony and all of Germany. A special privilege of the company, to combine the production processes of dyeing and finishing , which were separated by guild compulsory, in one operation, enabled an effective production.
The economic success was not affected by the fate of the founding generation. Georg Schleber died in 1850 at the age of 30. Thereupon his brother Adam Schleber (1822–1855) and his widow Bertha geb. Tänzler the company. This left the company in 1852 and Adam became the sole owner. But he too died three years later and the oldest of the brothers Jakob Schleber became the sole owner in 1855. He had previously acquired the company for 28,000 thalers . In 1859 Jakob Schleber also died. The early death of the three brothers appears to be a consequence of the generally environmentally harmful production conditions.
Economic expansion
The Georg Schleber company remained a family business . After Jakob Schleber's death, it went to his widow Léonie geb. Claviez (1831-1913) about. Under the commercial management of her brother Leopold Claviez between 1859 and 1887 and her third husband, the Kommerzienrat Julius Sarfert (1836–1898), between 1862 and 1898 the company succeeded in further expanding its economic importance. The introduction of the synthetic aniline paint made a decisive contribution to this since 1859.
Towards the end of the 1860s, the Metzner & Sohn dye works in Greiz tried to attract the market with low prices. As a result, it quickly went bankrupt and was bought up by the Georg Schleber company. As early as 1871, a branch was founded on their premises in August-Bebel-Straße. As a result, the economic focus shifts from the Reichenbach parent plant to Greiz.
In 1873 the company acquired Angermühle in Reichenbach, which was founded in 1747. Since then, the mill has been used to extract colored powder from blue wood chips . At the Melbourne International Exhibition (1880) and 1888 the company was under 266 Schleber, Georg. Dye and Finishing Works, Greiz. Series of shades represented in all colors . In 1882 Léonie Claviez resigned from the Greizer branch in favor of her sons Georges Schleber (1847–1921) and Paul Schleber (1849–1936). Paul Schleber, together with his stepfather Julius Sarfert, took over the management of the Reichenbach parent plant and Georges Schleber of the Greizer branch.
Around 1890, the Reichenbach parent plant alone operated eleven steam boilers , each with a heating surface of 100 m 2 and an output of 900 kilowatts . These supplied six steam engines with 150 kilowatts each, to which in turn over 300 machines were connected. The monthly hard coal consumption was 1285 tons . A pipeline system supplied the main plant with spring water from Heinsdorfergrund, three kilometers away . The water was temporarily stored in two large basins to meet the daily water requirement of 10,000 hectoliters . Ten horse-drawn carts were in constant use to cope with the daily delivery of goods. The company supplied around 30,000 looms with woven goods from the surrounding area.
Conversion into a stock corporation
On October 1, 1892, the Georg Schleber company was converted into a stock corporation with a share capital of 3.5 million Reichsmarks and now traded under the name of “Dyeing works and finishing companies Georg Schleber A.-G. in Reichenbach i. V. and Greiz ” .
In order to cover the enormous demand for hard coal for the operation of the steam engines and for the delivery of goods, the company was now dependent on modern means of transport. On April 30, 1895, the Reichenbach parent plant was connected to the Reichenbach - Lengenfeld branch line and, in 1902, to the narrow-gauge railway to Oberheinsdorf .
On October 1, 1903, Paul Schleber retired from the business and his son Georg Schleber (1874–1945) took over the management of the Reichenbach parent plant. After the death of Georges Schleber, his sons Wolfgang Schleber and Werner Schleber took over the Greizer branch in 1921.
In 1922, the company's own power station was contractually integrated into the power supply for the city of Greiz.
Economic crisis
The German inflation brought the Georg Schleber AG into economic distress. From 1921 to the end of 1923, the company's assets shrank to 2.5%. But as early as 1924 there was an economic recovery, which lasted until 1928. At the end of 1927 the dividend was 6%.
Development in the Third Reich
Since the 1930s, Georg Schleber AG began to expand its sphere of influence to include other branches of industry. In 1935 it covered a large part of the debts of Automobilfabrik Freia AG in Greiz and thus became a majority shareholder. Werner Schleber, who had been a member of the Supervisory Board of Freia AG since 1921, was in charge.
During the Second World War , the company increasingly produced for the armaments industry and thus became the target of Allied bombing attacks . Two American bombing raids on Reichenbach on March 21 and April 17, 1945 destroyed large parts of the factory.
Expropriation and incorporation into a state-owned company
The end of the Second World War was also the end of Georg Schleber AG as a family company. On September 10, 1945, the factory management in Reichenbach in Vogtland was arrested by the Soviet military administration , including Georg Schleber and his son and successor Volkmar Schleber (1902-1945). It met the fate of many manufacturers in the Soviet occupation zone . Georg Schleber was sentenced to death under Article 58-2 of the RSFSR Criminal Code for "armed incursion into the Soviet Union and gang war" and his son was sentenced to 10 years of forced labor. He died on the transport. Both were later rehabilitated on the basis of Article 3a of the Law of the Russian Federation on "Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression" of October 18, 1991.
On April 17, 1948, the company owner was expropriated by the Soviet military administration and the company's assets were confiscated. In 1949 the main factory was converted into the VEB Textilveredlungswerk Reichenbach and the branch factory into the VEB Textilveredlungswerk (s). It was not until 1970 that the Reichenbach textile finishing plant was incorporated into the VEB Vogtlandstoffe and that of the Greizer plant into the VEB Greika .
Takeover by the trust and closure
After German reunification in 1990, the Treuhandanstalt took over the operations in Reichenbach and Greiz. The plants no longer met the general environmental requirements and were still working at the pre-war level. In 1992 the sale of VEB Vogtlandstoffe to an Indian group of investors failed and the plant was finally closed. On June 1, 1996, the total enforcement proceedings for VEB Vogtlandstoffe GmbH, weaving and finishing were opened. In 1999 the demolition work of the former Georg Schleber AG factory building in Reichenbach began and in 2001 the residential and commercial building there was demolished. The Angermühle was demolished in spring 2003. On April 29, 2001, the listed "Greika high-rise" in August-Bebel-Strasse in Greiz, which belonged to the former branch, was blown up because renovation had proven to be impracticable.
Reuse of the real estate
Reichenbach: Part of the fifth Saxon State Horticultural Show in 2009 is being built on the former Schleber area in Reichenbach .
Greiz: Since the demolition of the boiler house in Adelheidstrasse there has been a fallow land. The factory buildings on the southern side in August-Bebel-Strasse were also demolished; there is now a Kaufland branch there . The demolished or blown up, listed production building on the main site (on the photo on the right with "Greika-Hochhaus") resulted in a fallow area that is used as a festival area and for events. The remaining, sporadically used buildings on the photo on the left along Turnerstrasse have been renovated in recent years and are mainly used by the Vogtland workshops and the building yard of the city of Greiz. Further commercial uses are planned.
Personal development
The few data that have survived give an impression of the company's personnel development. In 1871 the number of employees was around 200 and in 1879 around 290. By 1890 the number of employees had more than doubled to 650 workers. Three quarters of the employees were men and one quarter women. Around 1930 the Reichenbach main plant had around 700 employees and the Greiz branch plant even 1400.
Social facilities
To improve the social situation of the workers, a separate health insurance was set up in 1869 , to which all factory workers had to belong. While many factories still employed child labor in the 1850s , the Georg Schleber company set the minimum age for workers at 16 years. In the 1880s, a bathing establishment was set up for its employees and workers. The swimming pool also served as a water reservoir.
Awards and honors
The large number of awards at international exhibitions, the attention paid by the Saxon royal family and the awarding of honorary titles to company managers testify to the economic importance far beyond Saxony.
The company's achievements were honored with first prizes at the World Exhibition in Vienna in 1873 , at the German Wool Industry Exhibition in Leipzig in 1880 and at the World Exhibition in Melbourne in 1888 .
In June 1884, King Albert of Saxony visited the main factory in Reichenbach. A few years earlier, King John I of Saxony had paid a visit to the factory.
On November 30, 1897, Julius Sarfert was appointed Royal Saxon Commerce Councilor by King Albert of Saxony. On the occasion of the company's 50th anniversary, Paul Schleber was also appointed Royal Saxon Councilor of Commerce on August 8, 1904 by King Albert of Saxony. On November 11, 1909, Prince Heinrich XXVII. Reuss Georges Schleber to the Privy Councilor and in 1910 to the Privy Councilor .
Patents
- Julius Sarfert: Innovation regarding finishing devices (patent no. 6814) . Federal Office for Intellectual Property. Bern, May 18, 1893
- Georg Schleber: Improvements in and connected with Machines for Inserting Pressing Boards or Sheets Between the Folds of Cloth or other Fabric (Patent No. 8403) . His Majesty's Stationery Office, Norwich, May 22, 1897
- Georg Schleber: Improvements in and connected with Apparatus for Smoothing Cloth prior to Folding (Patent No. 5994) . His Majesty's Stationery Office, Norwich, July 10th, 1897
literature
- Deutscher Wirtschaftsverlag (ed.): Reich manual of the German society. Volume 2, Deutscher Wirtschaftsverlag, Berlin 1931, p. 1635 f.
- Eckart & Pflug (ed.): The large-scale industry of the Kingdom of Saxony in words and pictures. A gift of honor for Se. Majesty King Albert of Saxony dedicated by the grateful industrialists. Volume 1, Eckart & Pflug, Leipzig 1892, pp. 260-263. ( Link to the work in the Dresden State and University Library, then search alphabetically )
- Otto Titan von Hefner (Ed.): The coats of arms of the bourgeois families of Germany and Switzerland , Part 5, Dept. New Series 2. Aichinger, Neustadt 1975, p. 75 u. Plate 31 (J. Siebmacher's large book of arms, vol. 13)
- Wolfgang Huschke: Research on the origin of the Thuringian entrepreneurial class of the 19th century . Luzeyer, Baden-Baden 1962. (Supplement Tradition, Volume 2.)
- Raimund Lorenz: History of FREIA AG Greiz. In: Greizer Sonntagspost , No. 70/1989 (supplement).
- Werner Nitschke: Reichenbach in old views. European Library, Zaltbommel 1992.
- Johannes Rieschel, Eberhard Schramm: The Vogtland branch line Reichenbach - Lengenfeld. Kenning, Nordhorn 1998, ISBN 3-927587-96-6 . (= Branch line documentation , volume 45.)
- Paul Schleber: Chronicle of the Georg Schleber company and a list of the Schleber family members and their descendants. Private printing, Reichenbach / Vogtl. 1930.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ The Official Catalog of the Exhibits , Melbourne International Exhibition Catalog, 1880