L. Mr. KG
| L. Mr. KG | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Limited partnership |
| founding | 1924 (as electromechanical workshops L. Herr ) |
| resolution | March 31, 1972 |
| Seat | Berlin - Treptow , Germany |
| management |
|
| Branch | Model railway manufacturer |
L. Herr KG was a manufacturer of model trains and model vehicles in the GDR . The company was founded as Electromechanical Workshops L. Herr in Berlin in 1924. In the course of the nationalization wave in the GDR, the company was dissolved with effect from March 31, 1972.
Company history
The "Elektromechanische Werkstätten L. Herr" started producing technical manuals and parts for model railways as early as the 1930s. The company manufactured solid brass rails with fastening material in the nominal sizes common at the time, as well as parts for self-construction of vehicles. The registered owner of the company was Luise Herr, the wife of the company's founder Erich Herr, to whom the company name also goes back.
Erich Herr, who was the private secretary of the actor Heinrich George during the Second World War , continued to run the company after the war. In 1952, the responsible authorities issued a business license to continue operations.
In December 1956 Luise Herr became the owner of the company "ERGA Lehrmodelle Ganzer & Gaul" founded by Ernst Ganzer in 1947. Ernst Ganzer designed the LH company logo back in 1935. The ERGA model building sheets were sold through Luise Herr's shop at Lenbachstrasse 1 (at Berlin Ostkreuz train station ). In view of the political developments in 1957, Luise Herr left the GDR in 1957 and moved to West Berlin .
In the previous year, 1955, she had given her son Kurt Herman general power of attorney for the company. From January 1, 1957 the company operated under the name “L. Herr KG ”in Berlin-Treptow and Luise Herr became general partner. In addition to model railways and accessories, models for traffic and industrial model systems as well as drawings for vehicle construction were made. Mr. worked closely with other manufacturers, for example with Gützold and Ehlcke . The company also sold products from Swart and Temos, among others, and had close relationships with Rusto, Beyco, Reppin and Technikus Express in the Berlin area.
Due to the order No. 2 on the treatment of the property of people who left the area of the democratic Berlin after June 10, 1953 , the general power of attorney of Kurt Hermann in 1959, which he had received in 1957 from his mother Luise, expired. The previous limited partner , Deutsche Investitionsbank Berlin (DIB), managed Luise Herr's company share with immediate effect. The DIB appointed Kurt Hermann as trustee for the company share, he also remained managing director. VEB Berliner Metallhütten- und Halbzeugwerke succeeded DIB as a limited partner in 1961 and on January 1, 1968, VEB Spezialprägewerke Annaberg-Buchholz took over as a limited partner and trustee. This also produced model vehicles and sold them under the trade name "Espewe". Through the management, the VEB was able to coordinate the development, production and sales of Mr. model vehicles for the model market. The VEB special stamping plants Annaberg-Buchholz was in GDR times the largest model car producer.
From the end of 1968 the models manufactured by Herr were only sold under the brand name “Espewe” and Luise Herr had to give up the company “Erga” in 1968 for economic reasons. In 1971 she left L. Herr KG and her company shares were taken over by the Industrie- und Handelsbank of the GDR . Although it continued to be run as a limited partnership, the company was completely state-owned. After the company was closed in 1972, the products were continued by VEB Plastspielwaren Berlin .
Models
In 1948, a quarter train of the Berlin S-Bahn was brought out as the first model after the Second World War . In addition, accessories such as bogie and axle covers and the model of a two-axle industrial electric locomotive were manufactured.
As early as the 1950s, Herr started manufacturing models in plastic injection molding as the first East German company . Initially, thermosetting plastics were used, later thermoplastics . In autumn 1954, the company presented the EMW 340/2, the first model vehicle made of polystyrene in nominal size H0 in the GDR. It was sold for 50 pfennigs. The number plate is embossed with LH 04-54. Today it is assumed that this means Luise Herr / April 1954. (The wife of the company owner / date of construction) Herr was the second manufacturer in the GDR to produce vehicles on this scale. In the 1950s, Herr also developed a technology to manufacture wheels for model railway locomotives from polystyrene and to equip them with a metal tread. This process guaranteed high dimensional accuracy with good concentricity and was later adopted by other model railway manufacturers. From the beginning of the 1950s, Herr manufactured according to the specifications of the NORMAT set of standards and was thus a pioneer in the production of scale and standard-compliant models in the GDR.
At the beginning of the 1960s, a Saxon narrow-gauge train in nominal size H0 was developed and brought out together with Gerhard Walter . One had to fall back on TT tracks, so that the narrow-gauge vehicles incorrectly appeared as H0m instead of H0e models. The IFA H3A truck presented in 1963 was the company's second vehicle model. This has the number plate embossing LH 01-63. A model of the Škoda Octavia followed in 1967, and in the same year the production of models of the Ikarus 55 bus began, which was supplemented in the following years by models of the Ikarus 31, 311 and 66. The Ikarus 66 already appeared at Espewe, as did later Herr models. Models of the Bi 24 and Bi 33 passenger cars and the associated Pwi 32 baggage car have also been part of the production program since the 1960s. In addition, there were also accessories in the company's range.
The company Modelltec GmbH has been producing and selling some of these model cars under the brand name SES since 2003. Piko sold various model cars that were still developed by Herr until around 1991.
literature
- Jörg Domke, Ralf Richter: Model railways of the GDR . Battenberg Verlag, Augsburg 2002, ISBN 3-89441-510-X .
- Stefan Gärtner, Heinz-Helmut Graf: Model cars of the GDR. The road vehicles in H0 scale 1949-1990 . Battenberg Verlag, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-89441-438-3 .
- Günther Wappler: 1:87 model cars and their models, vehicles from the streets of the GDR . Bildverlag Böttger, Witzschdorf 2015, ISBN 978-3-937496-67-2 .