Heilbronn leather factory

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Gebr. Victor, leather factory

logo
legal form GmbH
founding 1868
resolution 1954
Reason for dissolution Decline in sales
Seat Heilbronn
management Brothers Victor
Number of employees up to about 280
Branch Manufacture of sole leather

The Heilbronn leather factory was a company in the city of Heilbronn in Baden-Wuerttemberg , which developed from a small trading company to an international leather manufacturing company and was one of the leading leather-processing factories in Germany.

Beginnings

The company was founded by the Victor family from Horkheim , who traded in furs there. Julius Victor (born June 15, 1838; † August 30, 1887 in Heilbronn) acquired the citizenship of the city of Heilbronn on July 3, 1862 ; at that time he could prove a fortune of 3,000 guilders. In 1868 Julius, Joseph and Victor Victor started their own business as Gebr. Victor in Heilbronn at Grosse Biedermannsgasse 10 in order to continue trading there on a larger scale , now for tobacco products, venison and saddlery .

1882 the address of the company is Cäcilienstraße 42 a. In 1887 a glue factory was added. In 1899 the company was already promoting the import of overseas hides , and the company had grown from its small beginnings to a certain size. The owners were now the sons of the founders Victor, Jakob Victor I and Jacob Victor II as well as the widow of Joseph Victor, and from 1908 also Sigmund Victor.

expansion

Company check for one million inflation marks (1923)

The company continued to expand, but it was not until 1909/1910 that the descendants Jacob Viktor II and Sigmund Victor set up a leather factory together with their cousin Jakob Victor I in the Heilbronn industrial area of ​​Kleinäulein at 40 Weipertstrasse. The company was now called Lederfabrik Heilbronn GmbH . Floor leather for shoes was made from overseas cattle hides . Before the First World War , the factory was one of the leading leather factories in Germany, and one of the largest in southern Germany. It was not only produced for the German market, but increasingly also for export. Up to 280 employees worked in the partly newly created workshops.

Social role

Members of the Victor family were on the board of the Central Association of the German Leather Industry (Berlin) and the advisory board of the Heilbronn Chamber of Commerce and Industry . Eugen Victor was chairman of the Reich Association of Jewish Front Soldiers in Heilbronn. Sigmund Victor died on May 16, 1930. The Victor brothers established various local foundations: in 1915 one endowed with 150,000 marks for workers who were in need. The city was given a foundation with assets of 20,000 marks, which was intended to support poor citizens. "The Victors were among the most respected citizens and manufacturers in the city."

Victoria Wolff , née Trude Victoria Victor (born December 10, 1903 in Heilbronn, † September 16, 1992 in Los Angeles), the daughter of Jacob Victor, became a well-known American writer and screenwriter after emigrating. She grew up with her parents in Heilbronn, where it is said that the young Albert Einstein once tried to give her tutoring in mathematics.

time of the nationalsocialism

At the beginning of the National Socialist era , disruptions and harassment of the company began. A factory group had to be set up. Quote: »Work groups were formed in the factories under the Nazi regime as a“ vanguard group to spread the National Socialist worldview ”. Its members were recruited from the company "followers". The “Werkschar” had to be able to “immediately eliminate and eradicate any disturbance, disorder or even irresponsible agitation without external means of power, especially in the hour of danger”. After Jacob Victor's death († June 12, 1934) only a few members of the staff dared to attend the funeral; “An intrepid machine-maker let the factory siren sound as the final greeting”.

In the meantime, Max Victor, the second son of Jacob Victor II, had joined the company after he had been forced to give up his position as a research assistant at the Institute for World Economy and Shipping in Kiel . Robert Victor, the second son of Sigmund Victor, who also worked in the factory, emigrated to South Africa at an early age.

Hans Franke writes about the factory as a place of refuge for Jewish people:

“In the years that followed, the factory became a refuge for many Jewish people: various female Jewish employees who had been laid off by other companies were taken in, as well as Jewish boys who did not have a quiet minute in the schools. In addition, a space behind the factory was redeveloped into a football field, as the Heilbronn Jews no longer had the opportunity to practice the sport anywhere else. Although a non-Jewish operator was later appointed, the situation became more and more tense. "

Eugen Victor moved to Holland in view of the increasing threat; the factory was continued by Max Victor and Otto Victor. As part of the so-called Aryanization , there was a forced sale to the largest German leather factory in Hirschberg vorm. Henry Knoch & Co . Max Victor emigrated to Holland and Otto Victor to South Africa.

Operations ceased in 1939. War material was now being produced in the premises by the Bruckmann silver ware factory with 250 foreign workers, including for Daimler-Benz ; another company was temporarily active here with armaments work. Some of the old workforce had been drafted into the Wehrmacht, others worked in the silver goods factory on armaments work.

The factory was badly damaged by the war on December 4, 1944. After another air raid, 85 percent of the facilities were demolished.

Refund and company closure

After the end of the war, the restitution laws gave the former owners back the majority stake in the company. The company was jointly founded by Messrs Viktor, who retained their residence in North America and South Africa, and the leather factory Heinrich Knoch A.-G. continued.

A sales crisis in the leather industry led to the closure of the company in 1954. In 1954 the buildings and land were sold to the city of Heilbronn, from 1977 to 1980 the buildings were demolished.

literature

  • Christhard Schrenk: Heilbronnica 4. Contributions to city history . Heilbronn City Archives, Heilbronn 2008, ISBN 978-3-94064-6-019 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anke Heimberg: "Creating, creating, writing" - Victoria Wolff's years in Heilbronn and her time in exile . In: Christhard Schrenk, Heilbronnica: Contributions to City History, Volume 4, Sources and Research on the History of the City of Heilbronn, ISBN 978-3-94064-6-019 , City Archives, Heilbronn 2008, p. 406 ( online as PDF )
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Hans Franke : History and fate of the Jews in Heilbronn. From the Middle Ages to the time of the National Socialist persecution (1050–1945). Heilbronn City Archives, Heilbronn 1963, ISBN 3-928990-04-7 ( Publications of the Heilbronn City Archives . Volume 11), pp. 204–206 ( PDF, 1.2 MB ).
  3. ↑ Uwe Jacobi, At eight the cock crows. Stories from Altheilbronn , Gudensberg-Gleichen (Wartberg-Verlag) 2005, ISBN 3-8313-1371-7 , p. 60
  4. ^ Stadtarchiv.heilbronn.de: Susanne Schlösser: The Heilbronner NSDAP and their "leaders". An inventory of the National Socialist personnel policy at the local level and its effects “on site” . P. 295. Retrieved July 12, 2016
  5. ↑ www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte . P. 358. Quoted from Timothy W. Mason: Working class and people's community . Opladen 1975, p. 80. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  6. ↑ a b c www.albert-gieseler.de: Leather factory Heilbronn, Gebr. Victor . Retrieved July 12, 2016.