Hermann Lewin

Hermann Lewin (also Hermann G. Lewin , in the United States Hermann G. Lane , born January 8, 1904 , probably in Gollub ( province of West Prussia ); died June 5, 1992 in the USA ) was a German- US-American Entrepreneur and until 1938 co-owner of the Yramos cigarette factory in Dresden . After emigrating to the USA, he called himself Hermann G. Lane from 1940 and was founded with his company Lane Ltd. a highly recognized distributor of pipe tobacco . His name lives on in the special HGL mixture .

Life

In 1890 his grandfather founded his first cigarette and tobacco factory in Gollub, his father Julius Lewin relocated it to Dresden in 1919 on Freiberger Straße. The background was the better economic prospects, but also that it was foreseeable that Gollub would fall to Poland through the provisions of the Versailles Treaty .

Hermann Lewin joined the so-called Oriental Tobacco and Cigarette Factory "Yramos" Julius Lewin in the 1920s as a junior boss , which had a respectable position with quality and branded cigarettes (around 500 million cigarettes annual production). Hermann Levin turned out to be an excellent tobacco connoisseur who personally made purchases in Athens and the Balkans on site.

Despite the boycott of Jewish shops after the Nazi seizure of power , Hermann and Julius Lewin tried to continue the company, even though it was no longer possible to buy first-class raw tobacco. Nevertheless, he joined the cigarette industry interest group . Despite the unfavorable conditions, this initially meant a guaranteed market quota (300 million units per year). Between 1936 and 1937, however, sales fell from 88 million to 42 million units. After a Gestapo raid, he and his father decided at the end of 1937 to sell the company that employed many Jews.

In March 1938, the Reemtsma group bought the company and the Nazi state confiscated the purchase price. Else and Hermann Lewin's family emigrated to the USA via Denmark, completely penniless. She settled in New York City in 1938 and opened a tobacco retail store at 122 East 42nd Street. In 1940 Hermann Lewin took on the name Hermann G. Lane . Shortly thereafter, Hermann Lane established a production facility for tobacco (types, blends, etc.) in the Upper East Side , Lane Ltd. The company grew to 150 employees and was soon selling premium tobacco across the United States.

In 1978, Hermann Lane sold Lane Ltd. whose head office was now outside of New York, at Dunhill , remained chief executive until 1982 , when he was appointed chairman .

Hermann G. Lane died on June 5, 1992. Lane Ltd. belongs as STG Lane Ltd. based in Tucker (Georgia) has been part of the Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG ) since 2011 and exports tobacco to more than 20 countries around the world.

The HGL mixture from the initials of Hermann G. Lane (Lewin) is also among the tobacco products sold as a special tobacco . This mixture is said to go back directly to Hermann G. Lane, who created it for his own use.

literature

• Erik Lindner: Jewish entrepreneurs in the Dresden cigarette industry . In: Dresdner Geschichtsverein (Ed.): Between integration and destruction. Jewish life in Dresden in the 19th and 20th centuries (= Dresdner Hefte - contributions to cultural history. No. 45, 2nd, modified edition, June 2000). Dresden 2000, ISBN 3-910055-34-6 , pp. 53-57

Web links

• Entry on Hermann Lewin in the online database of the Saxon Memorials Foundation
• History of the STG Lane Company on the pages of the Scandinavian Tobacco Group (with incorrect information about the place of incorporation)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Daniel F. Cuff: BUSINESS PEOPLE; LANE LTD. GETS OUTSIDER; Lane, A Tobacco Maker, Places Outsider at Helm , The New York Times, August 5, 1982 ( online ), accessed June 7, 2018.
2. ↑ HGL on mytobacconist.com , accessed June 9, 2018.