Leipzig Trade Fair Office

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The Leipziger Messeamt was an institution that existed from 1916 to 1991 to maintain and promote the Leipzig sample fairs that take place twice a year .

history

The upswing of the Leipziger Messe as a model fair at the turn of the 20th century required special structures for its organization. This was initially taken care of by the trade fair committee of the Chamber of Commerce together with the city council. After the growth of large business associations, they joined forces on the initiative of Philipp Rosenthal in 1915 to form the “Central Office for Interested Parties to the Leipziger Mustermessen e. V. “together. Rosenthal was also instrumental in the formation of the registered association “Messamt für die Mustermesse in Leipzig” under the sponsorship of the central office, the Leipzig Chamber of Commerce and the city. On February 8, 1917, the office began its work. The first president was Raimund Köhler from Meissen in 1917.

In 1921 the Messamt was converted into a corporation under public law . In March 1926 the name was changed to "Leipziger Messeamt". After the takeover of power by the Nazis in 1934, the trade office was the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda subordinated and 1940 in Empire Messeamt renamed.

After there had been no more trade fairs from 1942 due to the war, the office, now again as the Leipzig Trade Fair Office, resumed work in August 1945 and, after its staff had been denazified , prepared the first post-war fair for May 1946. Until 1949 the trade fair office was subordinate to the Saxon state government, but then moved to the German Economic Commission in Berlin.

In November 1950 the Leipzig Trade Fair Office was converted into a state- owned company and was under the supervision of the Ministry for Foreign Trade and Internal German Trade . In 1953 the principle of economic accounting of the nationally owned economy was introduced in the office and the operation was placed under the supervision of the Chamber for Foreign Trade formed in 1952 .

At the end of 1956, the Leipzig Exhibition Office had over 500 permanent employees. In addition to a branch in Berlin, it had over 160 representatives and liaison offices in five continents for contact with exhibitors. For the recognition of outstanding exhibits, the Leipzig Trade Fair Office together with the Office for Metrology and Goods Testing awarded trade fair gold medals and diplomas from 1963 to 1990.

The last universal trade fair in Leipzig took place in March 1991. The new trade fair concept has now been implemented by Leipziger Messe GmbH, founded in June 1991 .

Official building

Until it was destroyed in 1943, the first building of the Leipzig Trade Fair Office was the historic Alte Waage am Markt .

When the trade fair office resumed operations in 1945 in preparation for the first post-war fair in 1946, it worked in various alternative quarters. In 1947 a temporary building for the trade fair office was erected on the northern side of the market. In the following years it remained spread over various objects in the city center, with Barthels Hof being the headquarters.

In the mid-1950s, the Hôtel de Pologne on Hainstrasse was added as an office building. Its ballroom became the canteen.

To mark the 800th anniversary of the Leipziger Messe in 1965, the new office building built by Rudolf Rohrer , Rudolf Skoda and Ulrich Quester on the market, which was generally known as the "Messeamt ​​am Markt" and of which large parts were used by the exhibition office, was put into operation. The building was designed in the style of international modernism and had a glass-aluminum facade with a floating flat roof. The building was demolished in 2001 to build the market gallery .

  • Old scales

  • Barthel's court

  • Grimmaische Strasse pavilion

  • Hotel de Pologne

  • Exhibition office on the market

Tasks and structure

Share of 100 RM in the Leipziger Messe- und Exposition-AG from December 15, 1938

The main task of the trade fair office, the preparation and organization of the Leipziger Messe, included advertising and public relations including the acquisition of exhibitors and visitors, the establishment and expansion of the exhibition and service facilities as well as the issuing of publications and press information. During the GDR period, a scientific and technical framework program was also organized.

Since it was founded, the Leipzig Exhibition Office was divided into departments, which were also temporarily outsourced as independent companies, but remained closely interwoven with the Exhibition Office. From 1917 the commercial department and the literary department existed, to which advertising, the press service, the library and the archive belonged. In 1919 the technical department was added, which was outsourced from 1923 to 1951 as the Leipziger Messe- und Ausstellung AG. In 1921 the legal and publishing departments were created.

The photo collection of the Leipzig Exhibition Office , which was built up as part of the advertising work, contains over 17,000 images. At the beginning of the 21st century, part of the collection, which lasted until 1964, was made electronically available at the Leipzig State Archives .

literature

  • Meyers Neues Lexikon , 2nd, completely new edition in 18 volumes, Vol. 8, Leipzig 1974, p. 459

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst Riedel: Stadtlexikon Leipzig from A to Z . PRO LEIPZIG, Leipzig 2005, p. 510
  2. ↑ Timeline of the history of the Leipziger Messe. In: Website of Leipziger Messe GmbH. Archived from the original ; accessed on September 12, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Various photos in the database of the City History Museum Leipzig