Johannes Kauffmann
Johannes Kauffmann was the name of a company that was founded in Stuttgart in 1823 . From the food trade, which initially specialized in fish and crabs, one of the most famous bed spring factories in Germany developed.
history
Beginnings
Since the 17th century there was a family of town fishermen called Kauffmann in Esslingen am Neckar . One of the descendants of this family, Johannes Kauffmann, applied for a settlement to the Stuttgart City Council in the early 19th century in order to be able to set up a shop on his property at Kirchstrasse 5 in Stuttgart. He justified his request with the fact that Stuttgart was already in the habit of covering its demand for fish and crayfish mainly through the trade relationship with the Kauffmann family in Esslingen, and received the desired permit in 1823. Fish farming and fish pond systems were added to the flourishing business by the later Hoffischer Kauffmann, which were on the banks of the Fangelbach . They included the area of the later community school, the song hall and part of the later city garden. After these areas had been put to another use and Kauffmann had to evade, he set up fish ponds again near Esslingen, and he also built a poultry fattening facility and a cold store in his home town.
The main branch in Stuttgart was separated from the Esslingen company in 1896 and taken over by Ernst Kauffmann. He founded a branch in Langenargen in 1899 , in which not only poultry was fattened, but also the fish stocks of Lake Constance and other southern German waters were used. Ernst Kauffmann paid special attention to export opportunities to neighboring countries, which is why another branch was set up in Bregenz in 1919 .
The Eugen Kauffmann era
In 1902 Ernst Kauffmann's son Eugen was recalled from abroad after Ernst Kauffmann had health problems. Eugen Kauffmann devoted himself in particular to the bed spring factory, which was created as a subsidiary of the Langenargen poultry fattening establishment. In 1902 he took over the management of the Langenargen branch after a residential building with an office, fish hall and ice cellar had been built there in 1901 at Mühlstrasse 8. A few years later, probably on the occasion of Eugen Kauffmann's wedding to Hedwig Stübler in 1905, a new residential building with a horse stable and poultry fattening hall was built on Bleichweg in Langenargen. In 1908 the construction of a multi-storey cold store and freezer including an ice cream factory with a locomotive house and its own electrical supply followed. This facility was the first of its kind in the wider area and a little later, during the First World War , it was also used for the army and state storage facilities.
Eugen Kauffmann took part in the First World War. After his return, he mainly continued to produce bed springs. He was now supplied from countries on several continents, almost every day a wagon full of raw goods arrived in Langenargen. From 1921 electrical power and light current were used. A bed spring factory was set up in Bregenz, which was later known as the Alpenländische Bettfedernfabrik . In 1922, special bed spring processing rooms and a boiler house were built in Langenargen at Mühlstrasse 8-10. Initially, five bed spring machines were used there. In 1926 the previous capacities were no longer sufficient and the central building on Mühlstrasse was built, in which further machines could be accommodated, the western extension of Plant I followed in 1928/29 the parquet factory on Bleichweg and Mühlstraße in order to expand. Plant II with boiler house was built on Bleichweg from 1935 to 1937; In addition, in 1934 the building at Mühlstrasse 8 from 1901, where the food department was located, was expanded. At that time, this was just as important a pillar of the company as the bed spring production. In 1936/37 the construction of a hydropower plant followed and three factory houses were built in Mühlstrasse 31-35. In 1938 Plant III was built. In the same year, Kauffmann took over the Mannheim bed spring factory, apparently as part of an "Aryanization" process. Then in 1939 Kauffmann bought the property of the former art mill at Mühlstrasse 24–28, where a new cold store was to be built. The former silk factory was also acquired. In Bregenz, a manufacturing and business building was added to the company at Reichstrasse 5.
Eugen Kauffmann's son Werner was killed in a riding accident in 1930. Therefore, in 1941, his daughter Ruth Krose became a partner.
Second World War
The Second World War was, of course, not immune to the company over. In 1942/43 the Brandenburg coastal hunters took up quarters in the silk factory and the art mill, and in 1944 the main building at Stiftstrasse 1 in Stuttgart was destroyed. Langenargener Werk I and part of the art mill were rented to the Friedrichshafen gear factory after it was bombed out. Other parts of the art mill have now been rented from the state grain store. Military barracks were built on the company premises on Lindauer Strasse.
post war period
After the end of the war, Mühlstrasse 8, Plant I, the silk factory and the military barracks were confiscated by the French occupying forces, as well as the houses at Malerecke 2 and 14. Machines and other systems were confiscated. Eugen Kauffmann was arrested. Nevertheless, the restoration of operations could begin soon after the end of the war. Initially, in 1945/46, the re-establishment of the bed spring factory at Reichstrasse 5 in Bregenz was devoted to the reconstruction of the art mill into a five-story cold store, which was operated in little changed form until 1994, before the currency reform. It was partly rented to outside users. Around 300 lockers found their buyers; the model of rental lockers in a cold store was new in Germany at the time. Furthermore, the production of artificial ice was expanded. The electricity that was not needed at night when production in the bed spring factory was idle was used for the cooling and freezing systems. From 1951 on, special equipment was used with which fresh fish could be frozen immediately after they were caught. In the same year, work began on building several housing developments for employees on Lindauer Strasse. In 1953 the parent company was rebuilt at Stiftstrasse 1 in Stuttgart, and the hydroelectric power station at the Langenargener silk factory was expanded and put into operation. In 1957 the western extension was built on Plant III, in 1958 another factory hall on the east side of Plant III. At that time, Kauffmann had over 300 employees in Langenargen; the products of the Kauffmann company had the reputation of being the Mercedes of bed springs.
In 1960/61 an office and deep-freeze warehouse was built near the wholesale market hall in Stuttgart. The wholesale trade for fish, game, poultry and canned goods was located there. The retail trade stayed in Stiftstrasse.
In 1963 the Bregenz factory moved to the local Rheinstrasse.
In Langenargen, a new administrative building for the bed spring factory was built in 1965/66 and a building for the food wholesaler was built in 1969/70 at Mühlstrasse 28. The cold store and food department at Mühlstrasse 8 were demolished.
The time after Eugen Kauffmann
In 1972 Eugen Kauffmann died. Herwart Laun took over the management. Nordisk Fjerfabrik A / S in Copenhagen now took a 51 percent stake in the bed spring factory Johannes Kauffmann in Bregenz, Langenargen and Mannheim, while the food trade remained entirely in the hands of the family. In 1987 the Mannheim bed spring factory was completely owned by the Danish group and was subordinated to the Stuttgarter Nord Feder.
Ruth Krose, b. Kauffmann, died in 1987 and bequeathed her business shares to her children Verena Maier and Jens Krose. At that time, Nordisk Fjerfabrik was already determined to give up the Langenargen location. The entire Johannes Kauffmann company complex has now been restructured; the food business was completely separated from the bed spring production and Arguna Kühlhausgesellschaft mbH & Co. Grundbesitz KG was founded. From then on, this managed all properties. The food wholesaling continued under the name Johannes Kauffmann GmbH , with the bed spring factory Johannes Kauffmann GmbH and the Alpenländische Bettfedernfabrik Johannes Kauffmann GmbH the Danish partner retained a 51 percent stake.
After sales in the grocery trade had declined, part of the hall built in 1969 was rented to Kaiser's at the beginning of the 1990s after a renovation . But as early as 1992 the new systems became unusable due to a fire and the old cold store had to be temporarily used again.
The Arguna sold in 1990 including a part of the site in Langenargen. For the former area of the horse stables and riding arena, which had been built on the former location of the poultry farm, the development plan procedure was in progress; In 1991 this property was partly built over with residential buildings.
During this time, the bed spring production fell into a crisis. In 1990 bankruptcy was filed for the Danish group with which Kauffmann was affiliated. Jens Krose succeeded in keeping the shares in Bregenz and Langenargen out of the bankruptcy estate and reintegrating them into the family property, so that from August 1991 the entire Johannes Kauffmann Group again belonged completely to the family. In 1992, the Mühlbach within the factory premises was renovated, the old corrugated iron hall in the east was demolished, and a new raw warehouse with a sewing shop was built. Plant I was refurbished and renovated in 1993; Among other things, the Franz Rebstock company, acquired in the same year, found its accommodation there. Works II and III were structurally improved in the following years. The silk factory was in desolate condition and was demolished in 1993 and replaced by residential buildings; The listed water tower, which was renovated, was preserved.
Hörbranz location
In 1998 it was decided to set up a new joint production facility for the bed spring companies in Langenargen and in Bregenz in Hörbranz , instead of outsourcing production to an Eastern European low-wage country , which would obviously have been the alternative. In 2007, Kauffmann had to file for bankruptcy. Not only the construction of the modern production facility in Hörbranz, which was largely externally financed, had led to financial bottlenecks, but also crises in the specialist bed trade, warm winters and the fear of bird flu . At the time, however, they were confident that they would be able to continue running the business. According to the homepage, Sleepwell Kauffmann GmbH is now based in Hörbranz .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Short biography at www.langenargen.de
- ↑ Jens Krose, Johannes Kauffmann company - since 1899 in Langenargen , in: Gemeinde Langenargen (ed.), Langenargener Geschichte (n) 8. Langenargen in the 20th century , Langenargen 1995, ISSN 0931-9352 , pp. 84-93
- ↑ # x5D; = 422926 & a = 0 Textile Economy No. WN4 ( Memento of the original from November 26th 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated December 1, 1998 page 002
- ↑ boehler-pr, Bettfedernfabrik Kauffmann is insolvent: bankruptcy proceedings applied for - good chances of continuing the company , on www.wirtschaftszeit.at, July 16, 2007
- ↑ www.kauffmann.at ( Memento of the original from September 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) 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.
