Hirtenberger

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Hirtenberger Holding GmbH
legal form GmbH
founding 1860
Seat Hirtenberg , Lower Austria , AustriaAustriaAustria 
management Markus Haidenbauer
Number of employees 1,800
sales 180 million euros
Branch Automotive, mining, armaments, metalworking, environmental technology
Website www.hirtenberger.com
Status: 2015

The Hirtenberger Holding GmbH is in Hirtenberg in the district of Baden , Lower Austria , resident of traditional armaments factory in the segment of metal and munitions production . Since the early 1990s, civil technology products have been added to the product range. For this purpose, subsidiaries were founded or manufacturers were bought up in order to gain market shares in the industrial market by means of technology transfer of the skills acquired from 150 years of arms history. Hirtenberger Holding GmbH has belonged to the former IBM manager and former owner of Ankerbrot AG, Helmut Schuster , since 1996 and today employs around 1,800 people.

In 2015, Komptech from Frohnleiten (Styria) of about the same size was taken over.

Today's products

The main focus of the Hirtenberger Group's activities is the manufacture of high-precision stamped and embossed parts for the automotive and electrical industries ( HPT Präzisionstechnik ). In addition, active automotive safety products (such as gas generators and electrically ignited actuators for pedestrian protection systems , headrests or airbags ) play a key role ( HAS Automotive Safety ). Since taking over Komptech, the group has also been active in environmental technology .

The community of Hirtenberg in the "ammunition triangle"

Fireworks between Wöllersdorf and Bad Fischau (around 1919)

The beginnings of the establishment of military installations ( artillery material ) in the Vienna Basin go back to the times of Maria Theresa in the 18th century. The extensive, barren and therefore sparsely populated region provided favorable site conditions for industrial settlements. The imperial capital and residence city of Vienna was nearby and offered good transport links by land and water. State and private commercial and industrial companies set their headquarters in this part of Lower Austria.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the " kuk Munitionsfabrik Wöllersdorf" (see Wöllersdorfer Werke ) with 50,000 employees dictated events in the First World War . A large number of other ammunition factories settled there, so that people soon spoke of the "armaments or ammunition triangle" in the Vienna Basin.

Company history

KK Ararian gunwool institute

In Hirtenberg in the Triestingtal itself, the " KK ararian gunwool institute" settled in 1851 . In 1854 the institute set up a state ammunition company on site. It equipped the Austrian artillery with improved cellulose nitrate (gun cotton) as a substitute for the propellant black powder in guns, a process developed by the later Feldzeugmeister Wilhelm Freiherr Lenk von Wolfsberg . Gerhard Freiherr von Ledebur wrote in his book about the historical representation of the sea mine that Lenk had succeeded in producing a trinitrocellulose that fulfilled the military requirements for long durability, even combustion with high efficiency. The process of controlled compression of the fibers in gun cotton was patented on June 4, 1864. However, it did not lead to the desired success, as the storage of the highly explosive gun cotton was too dangerous for military purposes. After two magazine explosions in 1865, this technique was initially no longer pursued. The nitrocellulose powder was not to find its way back into arms and ammunition technology until 1890.

Serafin Keller company (1860 to 1887)

Serafin Keller, born in Niedereichsel , Germany , in 1823 , came to Hirtenberg in 1848 as a trained wood turner and worked his way up to the position of foreman of a cotton mill . In 1860 he went into business for himself and founded his own workshop, the "cartridge factory". It is assumed that the relationship with the “Kk ararian gunwoll institute” from 1863 onwards also enabled Keller to be supplied with artillery ammunition and small weapon parts (sling swivels). Detonators and other metal goods were made. In 1863 he built a second factory (today: "Kromag-Alcar") on a property he bought. Metal cartridges were produced for the military. From the 1870s on, cartridge cases for handguns ( revolvers ) were also produced. In the civilian sector he discovered supply options for hunting weapons ; this resulted in a new business area. The company grew steadily and in the 1870s already employed 150 people. In 1882 there were 400 employees and the company was given the honor of calling itself “k. k. Yard supplier ”.

From 1883 three of the sons, Anton, Fridolin and Serafin Keller jun., Continued the company as an open company (comparable to the oHG in Germany). In 1886 there was the first large export order to Serbia , where five million rifle cartridges had been ordered.

"Hirtenberger cartridge, primer and metal goods factory Keller & Compagnie" (1887 to 1896)

Hirtenberger cartridge factory (around 1895)

In 1887 the company changed its name again. The company Hirtenberger cartridge, primer and metal goods factory Keller & Compagnie was created. Half of the company property had been sold to Ludwig Mandl beforehand. One after the other, Serafin Keller jun. ( Mayor ) and Fridolin Keller, who became self-employed and owner of the company “Erste Österr. Zünder und Metallwarenfabrik Fridolin Keller AG "(later:" Kromag Metallindustrie GesmbH ") became out of the company. One year after Ludwig Mandl's death, the chemist Alexander Mandl joined the company in 1894. After two 25 HP steam engines were still driving the actual production machines by means of transmissions around 1880, by 1896 there were already six machines with 383 HP. Mechanical engineering became more and more important. Special machines for ammunition production were sold to Europe and overseas.

Which were mainly of cartridges 7.92 × 57 mm Mauser M.88 - Military cartridge and the 11 mm-protecting cartridge for hunting rifles sold.

"Hirtenberger cartridge, primer and metal goods factory Aktiengesellschaft" (1897 to 1914)

Share over 400 kroner in the Hirtenberg cartridge, primer and metal goods factory from May 1, 1897
Loading strip with 5 cartridges 7.92 × 57 mm; this caliber shaped the company's history in ammunition production
Cartridges of the caliber 9 × 19 mm (Parabellum) were also produced for decades

In 1898 the company was listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange as a stock corporation . It became known as the Hirtenberger cartridge factory . The company had reached an enormous size. Up to 750,000 cartridge cases, 1,000,000 primers , 500,000 jacketed bullets or 150,000 loading strips could be produced every day . The capacities reached so far that up to 500,000 cartridges could be packed.

In 1898 the company already had 2,600 employees. A branch was established in Hungary . Hirtenberger AG had become the second most important ammunition company after "Roth". The company took over the production of infantry ammunition for the armed forces . Russia ordered the 7.62 mm Mosin-Nagant caliber during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904/05. Also in 1904, Anton Keller, the last descendant of Keller, left the company and founded his own company, which was to become the " Enzesfelder Metallwerke".

From 1909 to 1922 Karel Krnka (1858–1926) was the chief developer. He designed the first self-loading pistol and the first repeating pistol . The main export regions were the Balkans , Latin America and East Asia . By the start of the war in 1914, the export volume was around 1.25 billion rounds.

The Hirtenberger cartridge factory in the First World War and in the interwar period

During the First World War , the previous high level of 4,188 employees was reached. The war increasingly dried up raw material reserves. From 1917 onwards, production sank rapidly, as more and more skilled personnel were called up for military service, strikes by workers caused massive unrest and a factory fire on April 18, 1920 partially destroyed and permanently paralyzed the production infrastructure. During the war, however, it was possible to implement electrical ignition of cartridge ammunition for the first time.

Only 15% of the last 4,200 employees were still on the Hirtenberger AG's payroll at the end of the war. Since the Allies granted Austria only one state-owned company for armaments production, the Hirtenberger cartridge factory, which had not been chosen, had to rethink its strategy and switch to civilian products or relocate armaments production abroad. She did this far better than her competitors.

In 1924 Fritz Mandl became the company's general manager. In the 1930s, domestic and foreign holdings were boosted ( Waffenfabrik Solothurn , “Tiroler Messingwerk”) and economic networks were formed ( Rheinmetall- Borig, Steyr Daimler Puch emerged from the Steyr works ) in order to benefit from the synergies of the various sectors. Exports were increased and the company got into aircraft construction ("Hopfner"). The fiercest domestic competitor in recent years, the “G. Roth AG ”in Lichtenwörth was taken over and integrated into the group. Despite the global economic crisis and mass unemployment as well as a massive decline in world trade, Mandl was able to run the company almost independently of the crisis. Under his aegis, the Hirtenberg arms affair occurred , a large-scale arms smuggling from Italy via Austria to Hungary in January 1933, which indirectly led to the fall of the First Republic . From the mid-1930s, Hirtenberger AG developed and produced wood gas generators as an alternative fuel system for internal combustion engines , which would become important during the Second World War because Central Europe suffered from a lack of oil.

Gustloffwerke Hirtenberg

Call of the Gauleiter Sauckel to the Hitler salute as a sign of gratitude.
The sub-camps in Austria
Trattnerhof in Vienna, seat of the USIA

In March 1938 Fritz Mandl resigned as general director. After Austria was annexed to the German Empire , he fled to Switzerland and was forced to sell his business to the German Wilhelm Gustloff Foundation for 170,000 British pounds and 1.24 million blocked marks . The foundation already had production sites for armaments in Weimar and Suhl . The Berlin-Suhl weapons factory there was a company that had been " Aryanized " for the foundation in 1935 . In 1939, in turn, the company assets of the Gustloff Foundation were transferred to the “Wilhelm Gustloff Works - National Socialist Industrial Foundation ”.

The workforce was initiated into the process of realigning the armaments factory on May 1, 1938 by Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel . In the period that followed, the workforce experienced good news because they participated in improvements in the workplace. Workers' houses were built, a canteen was built so that meals no longer had to be taken at work, and the hygienic conditions (bathing and changing rooms) significantly improved. In this way, the workforce was kept happy in order to meet the hidden goal of being able to achieve top performance during the looming war.

Due to the fatal traffic accident of State Councilor Otto Eberhardt , who organized the takeover of the plant, the Hirtenberger cartridge factory was named after him, Otto Eberhardt cartridge factory , and the "Hirtenberger cartridge, primer and metal goods factory" was deleted from the commercial register in April 1939. The official renaming took place in June 1939, however, in "Gustloffwerke Hirtenberg". The floor markings changed from "H" to the angular "G". The branch in Kottingbrunn was set up to manufacture air force ammunition. The high level of war armament demanded the creation of the "Lindenberg" plant. The Lichtenwörth plant was reactivated and added to the Berlin branch in 1943 . Hirtenberg had become a central company for the German armaments machinery. In total of four Hirtenberg plants, 2835 people (politically correct in the Third Reich : followers) were employed.

The Allied air raids that began during the Second World War did not lead to the desired result of extensive destruction. Thanks to the air-tactically unfavorable target location, the works remained largely undamaged. From September 1944 a sub-camp of the Mauthausen concentration camp was set up in Hirtenberg (see also the list of the Mauthausen concentration camp's sub-camps ). The “protective prisoners” imprisoned there (especially women from Eastern and Southern Europe) were used exclusively in the ammunition production of the cartridge factory. Mainly the "7.92 × 57 mm Mauser" and the 9 × 19 mm Parabellum were produced . In the same year, withdrawal scenarios were planned as the fronts were steadily drawing closer. The scorched earth order was not implemented and the factory fell into the hands of the Soviet Union in April 1945, almost intact.

USIA Administration of the Soviet Union

The Otto Eberhardt cartridge factory of the Gustloffwerke was placed under the USIA administration ( administration of Soviet property in Austria ) by the Soviet Union . From 1946, the production was of grist and Flobertmunition modestly again. Various parts of the factory were devastated or demolished. About 70 people were employed. In 1955 the Soviet occupation forces withdrew and Austria took over the USIA operations. He was temporarily placed under state supervision in order to hand him over to Fritz Mandl as soon as he returned from exile in Argentina , which happened in the same year. The Restitution Commission at the Regional Court for Civil Matters awarded Hirtenberger AG the repossession of the factory.

Hirtenberger Patronen- und Rohrwerke AG

In 1957 the Hirtenberger Patronen- und Rohrwerke AG was founded and has legal capacity with entry in the commercial register. Fritz Mandl became the chairman of the supervisory board and made the rebuilding of the company his topic. Modern Manurhin machines were built. As early as 1958 the company was renamed to “Hirtenberger Patronen-, Zündhütchen- und Metallwarenfabrik AG”, the company's traditional name in the years up to the outbreak of the First World War.

"Hirtenberger cartridge, primer and metal goods factory AG" (2nd phase)

In 1958 the first product catalog of the post-war era was published for the needs of the authorities and the military. For example, the following calibers were recorded: 7.62 × 51 mm NATO (.308 Winchester or 7.62 mm S-Patr / StG 58), .30-06 Springfield , 30M1 , 7.92 × 57 mm, 7.62 × 25 mm TT (Tokarew), 9 × 19 mm (Parabellum), 6.35 mm Browning , .32 ACP and 9 mm Browning Long . There were hand grenades next to it . The first civil catalog was also published.

In 1961 a sieving, mixing and drying plant for primers and a brass factory for case production were built. For the ammunition sector , bolt- firing cartridges as well as stunning and shotgun cartridges for clay targets were manufactured. New branches of production rounded off the range in the following years. These included, for example, model internal combustion engines , target display drones or flying wings , although these products were considered to be commercially successful in very different ways. In 1974 the newly developed ABC bullet for hunting rifle cartridges was manufactured.

Mandl died in 1977. In 1981 the heirs sold the majority of the shares to the nationalized corporations Voestalpine AG and Austria Metall AG. In cooperation with another state-owned company, the Noricum company , expensive investments were made in the ammunition for the Gun Howitzer Noricum cannon howitzer .

In 1986 the renamed Hirtenberger AG (today Hirtenberger Holding GmbH).

In 2019, the company announced that it would withdraw from the production of ammunition, which last only made up a tenth of total sales, and sell this division. The current focus is on products for safety in cars and on machines for agriculture. In November 2019, Hirtenberger sold the ammunition division, as announced, to the Hungarian ammunition manufacturer HDT Defense Industrial , which is state-owned. In return, the company buys from the Swiss Ems-Chemie the-situated in Brno factory EMS Patvag sro , the detonator u. a. for airbags and seat belt tensioners.

literature

  • Marie-Theres Arnbom : Friedmann, Gutmann, Lieben, Mandl and Strakosch - five family portraits from Vienna before 1938 . 2nd, unchanged edition. Böhlau, Vienna (among others) 2003, ISBN 3-205-99373-X .
  • Klaus-Dieter Mulley (Ed.): Storeys - Scandals - Barbed wire. Workers and armaments industry in Wöllersdorf, Enzesfeld and Hirtenberg . Self-published by the union of railway workers, local group Ebenfurth Pottendorfer Linie, Ebenfurth 1999, ISBN 3-9500563-1-6
  • Peter Hug: Swiss armaments industry and war material trade during the time of National Socialism. Corporate strategies - market development - political surveillance. Publications of the Independent Expert Commission Switzerland - Second World War, Volume 11. Chronos-Verlag. Zurich 2002. ISBN 3-0340-0611-X , ISBN 978-3-0340-0611-8 .
  • Marc Bartuschka: With all possible reservations aside ... The Nazi operating group Reichsmarschall Hermann Görin (REIMAHG) and the use of forced labor 1944/45, Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8353-0928-9 .
  • Otto Klambauer , Ernst Bezemek : The USIA companies in Lower Austria. History, organization, documentation . Self-published by the Lower Austrian Institute for Regional Studies, Vienna, 1983, ( studies and research from the Lower Austrian Institute for Regional Studies 5).
  • Hubert Steiner : The USIA companies, their foundation, organization and return to the Austrian sovereign administration . In: Communications of the Austrian State Archives 43, 1993, ISSN  0078-3676 , pp. 206-220.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Komptech Group becomes part of Hirtenberger
  2. ↑ company portrait ( Memento from December 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Maria Brandl: About the correct use of energy. In: Kurier.at . June 29, 2012, accessed July 8, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Hirtenberger AG (ed.): Hirtenberger AG. The first 150 years. Festschrift on the occasion of the company anniversary , Hirtenberger AG, Hirtenberg 2010, pp. 120–128 (PDF; 6.7 MB)
  5. ↑ Hirtenberger AG (ed.): Hirtenberger AG. The first 150 years. Festschrift on the occasion of the company anniversary , Hirtenberger AG, Hirtenberg 2010, p. 14 (PDF; 6.7 MB)
  6. ^ Gerhard Freiherr von Ledebur, "Die Seemine", Verlag JJ Lehmann, Munich 1977
  7. ↑ Hirtenberger AG (ed.): Hirtenberger AG. The first 150 years. Festschrift on the occasion of the company anniversary , Hirtenberger AG, Hirtenberg 2010, p. 19 (PDF; 6.7 MB)
  8. ↑ With regard to Keller's independence, different sources also mention other years of foundation; so 1859 and 1860–1864
  9. ↑ as evidenced by the files in the Vienna War Archives
  10. ↑ Hirtenberger AG (ed.): Hirtenberger AG. The first 150 years. Festschrift on the occasion of the company anniversary , Hirtenberger AG, Hirtenberg 2010, p. 23 (PDF; 6.7 MB)
  11. ↑ Hirtenberger AG (ed.): Hirtenberger AG. The first 150 years. Festschrift on the occasion of the company anniversary , Hirtenberger AG, Hirtenberg 2010, p. 27 (PDF; 6.7 MB)
  12. ↑ Hirtenberger AG (ed.): Hirtenberger AG. The first 150 years. Festschrift on the occasion of the company anniversary , Hirtenberger AG, Hirtenberg 2010, p. 32 (PDF; 6.7 MB)
  13. ↑ Hirtenberger AG (ed.): Hirtenberger AG. The first 150 years. Festschrift on the occasion of the company anniversary , Hirtenberger AG, Hirtenberg 2010, pp. 35–38 (PDF; 6.7 MB)
  14. ^ Marie-Therese Arnbom, Friedmann, Gutmann, Lieben, Mandl and Strakosch: Five family portraits from Vienna before 1938 p. 35
  15. ↑ Hirtenberger AG (ed.): Hirtenberger AG. The first 150 years. Festschrift on the occasion of the company anniversary , Hirtenberger AG, Hirtenberg 2010, p. 45 (PDF; 6.7 MB)
  16. ↑ Erwin Steinböck, Austria's military potential in March 1938, p. 68
  17. ↑ Historical report in the Wiener Zeitung
  18. ↑ Hirtenberger AG (ed.): Hirtenberger AG. The first 150 years. Festschrift on the occasion of the company anniversary , Hirtenberger AG, Hirtenberg 2010, pp. 40–65 (PDF; 6.7 MB)
  19. ↑ Ulrike Schulz: Simson From the improbable survival of a company 1856-1993 . Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-8353-1256-2 , p. 184
  20. ↑ Hirtenberger AG (ed.): Hirtenberger AG. The first 150 years. Festschrift on the occasion of the company anniversary , Hirtenberger AG, Hirtenberg 2010, pp. 67–81 (PDF; 6.7 MB)
  21. ↑ External command, women's camp from September 1944 ( memento of October 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  22. ↑ Hirtenberger AG (ed.): Hirtenberger AG. The first 150 years. Festschrift on the occasion of the company anniversary , Hirtenberger AG, Hirtenberg 2010, pp. 83–90 (PDF; 6.7 MB)
  23. ↑ Hirtenberger AG (ed.): Hirtenberger AG. The first 150 years. Festschrift on the occasion of the company anniversary , Hirtenberger AG, Hirtenberg 2010, pp. 83–111 (PDF; 6.7 MB)
  24. ↑ Hirtenberger gives up ammunition production on ORF from July 15, 2019 accessed on July 15, 2019
  25. ↑ Hirtenberger: Hungary buys ammunition plant on ORF from November 5, 2019, accessed on November 27, 2019
  26. ↑ Hirtenberger buys igniter plant in the Czech Republic in the press on November 27, 2019, accessed on November 27, 2019

Coordinates: 47 ° 55 '57.1 "  N , 16 ° 11' 4.7"  E