Leop. Krawinkel

Leop. Krawinkel was a company in the textile industry in what is now the Oberbergischer Kreis . It was founded in 1806 in Bergneustadt by Johann Leopold Krawinkel and closed in 1980. The company management had already established itself in other fields of activity from 1971.

family business

The Krawinkel family played an important role in the development of the textile industry in Oberbergisches Land. She developed connections beyond Hamburg to London and Manchester , to Istanbul , via Tsingtau to Shanghai in China and in Africa to Cape Town .

The Krawinkel family originally comes from "Krahwinkel" south of Waldbröl ; there the "Krahwinkelstraße" still reminds of the old farm names. According to the church records of Odenspiel, the family is recorded in the "Eigen von Eckenhagen" from around the middle of the 16th century to the middle of the 17th century. Because of the uncertain times with armed conflicts, the family moved in the second half of the 17th century to the safe and fortified Neustadt , then in the Brandenburg region .

The company's founder, Johann Leopold Krawinkel, and his son Moritz Leopold Krawinkel, who laid the foundation for the company's later growth, should be emphasized.

First generation: Leopold Krawinkel

Johann Leopold Krawinkel and Regine Köster married on December 14, 1806. As early as December 15, 1806, they began working together, not only for their own household but also for the livelihood of Leopold's parents and siblings. In the small Krawinkel house there was not only the stove and the dining table in the kitchen, but also the spinning wheel for spinning wool , the reel for twisting and a knitting chair that Regine's father had lent him. Stockings, pointed hats and jackets were made there . There was also space for a tub for milling and wooden molds for stretching and drying the milled goods.

All weavers in Neustadt and the surrounding area worked in the publishing system , in which knitting chairs were set up with the smallholder home weavers in the neighborhood. With their work, Leopold and Regine also managed to develop the business from the smallest beginnings and gradually acquire one or the other knitting chair and have it work in the neighborhood.

The most important customers were the general stores, in which the population was offered not only seeds and tools, but also clothing. The rough goods were sold mainly in the Rhineland and Westphalia . Neustädter children's, women's and men's stockings, hats and camisoles were sold through the Siegerland to Cologne , Bonn , Linz and Andernach .

The various workers in Neustadt and the surrounding area were in lively competition with one another. They also helped each other out when someone got a bigger job than he could actually handle. The number of knitting machines in operation in Neustadt rose from 40 in 1818 to 138 in 1828.

Second generation: Moritz Krawinkel

After Christian Müller's brother-in-law joined the business, Moritz Leopold Krawinkel, as commercial manager, was able to concentrate his workforce on purchasing and sales.

On the sales trips, Moritz discovered finer knitting looms in the Hessian region and modernized his business by purchasing such new constructions. The first larger building was built in Börlhof on Cologne-Olper Straße, a larger half-timbered house in the Bergisch style of living with a slate roof. In 1848, six years after the death of Leopold Krawinkel, the wool stockings business reached a high point. When this was over, fashion preferred the newly emerged cotton yarn stockings. Moritz managed by switching his production to under jackets and similar items.

The French round chair began to be introduced in the mid-1850s . About 5 years later Moritz bought the first hand-operated French round chair. This further development of the Rößle chair made twelve times as much as the hand- knitted chair and also supplied tubular goods , which are more practical for production. When this machine was introduced, Moritz also experienced resistance from his employees, as they feared for their jobs.

A further upswing led to an expansion of the company from 1860, and Moritz built a three-story half-timbered building. The expansion of the business premises made it possible to set up the new round chairs.

The fulling mill moved to the Bockemühle, which Karoline Vedder from Rosenthal , Moritz's wife, brought into the marriage.

The rapid technical development in knitting and later knitting and the expansion of the business demanded the family's financial resources. So it was not surprising that the company started its involvement in the field of spinning relatively late.

In 1865, when Daniel Heuser and Franz Thiel from Gummersbach offered to participate in their planned spinning mill in Vollmerhausen using the local hydropower on the Agger , Moritz was able to decide to participate. Some spinning machines of the Mule-Jenny-type began their work. In 1872 the company became the sole property of Leop. Krawinkel over. Due to the occasional lack of water, it was switched to steam operation.

After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, Leop. Krawinkel experienced an upswing during the so-called founding years .

During the years 1877/78 the brothers received a large Russian order for 10,000 dozen synthetic wool shirts and synthetic wool jackets . At that time there were 137 employees.

In November 1878, the company was hit hard. During a change in fire insurance from one company to another, the spinning mill was uninsured for a day. On that day, of all times , the spinning mill in Vollmerhausen burned down to the ground. The subsequent crisis of the staple yarn only touched the Krawinkel spinning mill because it was not a pure sales spinning mill, but processed the yarn itself into finished products on the market. In the textile industry, the Mule-Jenny served and self-actuators and wide card sets became the main work machines. Other items were also preferred in Bergneustadt's production program.

Third generation: Hermann Krawinkel, Ferdinand Krawinkel, Bernhard Krawinkel

After the loss of the spinning mill on the Agger in Vollmerhausen, a small spinning mill that worked with the water of the Rospebach was acquired in Vollmerhausen. This small company now worked day and night. Other spinning mills also helped out in the Aggertal.

Bernhard Krawinkel had now found his field of work. He moved into the little slate house next to the Rospe Bach spinning mill. From 1878 on, he was in charge of the reconstruction of the three-story spinning mill building on the Agger and then managed the spinning mill for decades. Bernhard Krawinkel's work for the general public has been discussed many times.

In 1879 Moritz retired from the business at the age of 71 and left the field of work to his three sons. He moved to Hamburg , where he was able to celebrate the golden wedding anniversary with his wife in 1882 . He stayed in Hamburg until his death in 1886.

Hermann, Bernhard and Ferdinand Krawinkel began to introduce a new method of manufacturing knitwear : knitting. The powerful knitting machines led to an expansion of the range of outerwear: fashionable vests and sweaters for men, women and children. At the beginning of the 1880s, the production of underwear was started: men's, women's and children's jerseys. The yarns could be spun in the Vollmerhausen spinning mill.

In order to improve the communication between the Bergneustadt and Vollmerhausen companies , the company set up its own telephone connection in 1883. The electricians from Bergneustadt and Vollmerhausen often had to repair the line regardless of wind and weather, even during the Second World War. This own telephone line existed until the beginning of the 1950s and was only then replaced by a leased line from the Deutsche Bundespost.

In 1884 a factory was built on the loan, which was destroyed by fire in 1955. Among other things, by setting up the "Auf dem Hammer" factory in 1905 and equipping it with the most powerful machines, the knitting mill grew into a considerable part of the business. Further developments in Bergneustadt, such as a more modern power plant and advanced lighting using oil gas, followed. New motorized knitting machines were now on the ground floor of the new building. On the first floor the improved hand-knitting chairs with the sewing and fining and on the top floor the hand-knitting machines with the rough tailoring.

Further advances were the construction of company apartments from 1886 to attract workers. At the turn of the century, Krawinkel had 300 workers and 220 home workers.

Fourth generation: Jakob Kaufmann, Adolf Krawinkel, Bernhard Krawinkel

In 1897 Hermann and Ferdinand Krawinkel retired and moved to Wiesbaden; they were only shareholders. Bernhard Krawinkel remained a personally liable partner until 1929 and was chairman of the advisory board until his death in 1936.

The Vollmerhausen spinning mill was hit by a second large fire in 1906. A year later the burned down part, located on the south side of Cologne-Olpener Landstrasse , was again. In this three-story new building, the equipment was housed in the basement, the spinning mill on the first floor and the knitting mill for the manufacture of tubular fabrics for jersey production on the second floor . An additional two-story new building (Ohl 1) was built for the spinning mill.

In Bergneustadt, a multi-storey reinforced concrete building was erected from 1911 , which later housed the workshops in the basement, the offices on the mezzanine floor and the first floor, and above that the warehouse and production.

In the meantime the company has become “Leop. Krawinkel ”modified. Since then, all personally liable partners have not signed company mail and contracts with their own names, but with “Leop. Krawinkel ".

From 1900 the company was able to offer a wide range of goods. The traditional boiled wool jackets and trousers, butcher jackets, hunting vests, sailor pullovers, patterned and smooth vests, sweaters and pullovers, knitted suits for boys, especially sailor suits, were supplemented by underwear tricot days. So-called "normal shirts" were made in large numbers, made of cotton with a "stitch" of dark brown wool that was spun in Vollmerhausen until 1962.

In order to utilize the increased production capacity, the company tried to win wholesale, large department stores and purchasing associations as customers. The owners gained representatives from Cologne to Königsberg , from Hamburg to Munich . Exports went to Great Britain , Istanbul , Beirut , Damascus and Alexandria, and East Asia . The personally liable partners Bernhard Krawinkel, Jakob Kaufmann and Adolf Krawinkel traveled a lot to maintain contact with customers. They found support in the general manager Timmerbeil.

Reinhard Kaufmann joined Leop in 1914 as the successor to his father Jakob Kaufmann. Krawinkel a. He served as a reserve lieutenant from August 1914 to November 1918 during the First World War . In January 1919 he left the company and bought the small manor "Sagschütz" in the Neumarkt district in Silesia .

The inflation of the 1920s and the fact that German goods were no longer in demand abroad created great difficulties for the company.

Fifth generation: Reinhard Kaufmann, Herbert Stussig, Hans Gert Krawinkel, Kurt Krawinkel, Friedhelm Krawinkel, Adolf Krawinkel

In 1921 Reinhard Kaufmann rejoined the open trading company as a partner . As the successor to Bernhard Krawinkel, he ran the spinning mill in Vollmerhausen.

After the end of inflation , export business revived from the mid-1920s. Countries that were one of the most important markets before the war could no longer be supplied. Other countries had won these markets. In some countries their own textile industry had been established. Russia and the Baltic States failed.

Adolf Krawinkel and Reinhard Kaufmann tried to revive the China business by traveling in 1926 and 1928. They did not get beyond a few initial successes. England , the Netherlands , Denmark and Switzerland were ready to buy German textiles for a number of years .

In Great Britain there was interest in Bergneustädter products. But an Ottawa accord to protect the " Commonwealth " put an end to the effort.

The spinning mill was able to deliver knitting yarns to Holland , Denmark and Turkey . Weaving yarns went to the Tilburg district in the Netherlands and Yugoslavia .

The global economic crisis forced manufacturing again to adapt to the buyer's taste and so the fashion changed from wool and cotton-mixed jerseys to processing pure or bleached cotton. Woolen hand knitting yarns in many colors were the first effort for the new fashion . Meaningful has been the production of high quality weaving yarns but for fashionable men's and women substances Street suits and costumes, for coats, Ulster and heavy overcoats , but also for scarves, Basque caps, blankets and technical fabrics. In addition to the stocking knitting and knitwear manufacturers, some wool weaving mills were added.

The good years for staple knitwear came to an end and changed to sportswear and fashionable children's clothing. The knitting Vollmerhausen and the "Strickgarnabteilung the spinning better use Vollmerhausen" headed by the attorney Hugo liver, the company, fashionable dresses materials for the production of fashionable women's clothes tried to develop wool yarns. The foreign exchange management and the central administration economy of the “Third Reich” made the procurement of the necessary fine wool more and more difficult and ultimately impossible. So Vollmerhausen did not get beyond the initial successes with clothing manufacturers (manufacturers of women's clothing). The introduction of the brand name “LEKRA-fabrics” did not meet with approval everywhere, because competitors from the Aggertal mockingly changed this word to “LEPRA-fabrics”. In addition, at this time the clothing factories were not yet equipped to process the elastic active ingredients in terms of personnel or machines. Only after the Second World War did this product and the name “JERSEY” flourish for many years. Tricot knitting opened up a broader market with the new qualities developed by purchasing cotton, maco and mixed yarns.

In the last hundred years, technology had developed from knitting chairs to round chairs, knitting machines and sewing machines. The Krawinkel companies had followed the path of similar companies, which led from manufacture to factory and finally to large-scale operation . For the main plant in Bergneustadt, hundreds of circular knitting machines were ultimately used to process their own tricot yarns.

On March 21, 1927, a third company started work in Büschergrund near Freudenberg , in a specially constructed building with the task of sewing for the stocking of jersey days. One year younger than this sewing company is the first part of today's 5-storey factory building on the Dörspe, built in 1928 . Thus the yarn store was in the basement of the house, the flax knitting factory on the first floor and the circular knitting factory on the second floor. The sewing shop was relocated to the third floor and the cutting shop was located on the fourth floor from then on. The knitting was in Vollmerhausen until the end of the 1950s. Leop began in the mid-1920s . Krawinkel their first diversification: Investment in basalt quarries on the Westerwald with the purpose of economic and seasonal compensation. This commitment exceeded the company's financial capabilities from 1928 to 1929. There was almost a collapse in 1929 had it not been for influential good friends who made the banks stand still. Fortunately, the large loans could be repaid by 1939. During this time, Albert Vögler, Heinrich Dinkelbach and, until his early death, Karl Eichholz, lawyer and bank director, were available as members of the advisory board. Karl Eichholz's successor on the advisory board was Mr. Hermann Linneman, CEO of Deutsche Rhodiaceta AG, Freiburg im Breisgau, at the suggestion of Mr. Albert Vögler.

Bernhard Krawinkel left the company as a personally liable partner in 1930 and took over the chairmanship of the company's advisory board. He died in December 1936.

In the 1930s it was possible to hire Gerhard Quadflieg, who was born in 1900 and comes from Aachen, a proven expert in the field of weaving yarns with technological knowledge in the fields of weaving and the subsequent finishing. He was also familiar with the large weaving mills in the Aachen, Mönchengladbach, Rheydt and Krefeld area. He took over the management of the newly established "weaving yarn department" at the Vollmerhausen spinning mill and received full power of attorney. The manufacture of high-quality weaving yarns for fashionable men's and women's fabrics, street suits and costumes, for coats, ulsters and heavy paletots, but also for scarves, berets, woolen blankets and technical fabrics became an important pillar of the Vollmerhausen company. The armament of the “Third Reich” caused a boom in yarns for uniforms and military blankets, so that the “weaving yarn department” occupied the greater part of Vollmerhausen's capacity within a few years.

Mr. Hugo Leber, born in Vollmerhausen in 1900, has also made great contributions to the Leopold Krawinkel company. He joined the company as an apprentice in 1914 and worked his way up step by step to become a spinning mill manager with full power of attorney. In 1939 the company celebrated its 25th anniversary.

In 1938 Adolf Krawinkel's two oldest sons, Hans Gerd Krawinkel and Kurt Krawinkel, joined the company.

After Hans Gerd Krawinkel fell in 1940, Friedhelm Krawinkel joined the company as a personally liable partner in 1941.

During the Second World War the Bergneustadt operation continued to operate to a limited extent and with great difficulty; however, rooms had to be made available to external companies. The Vollmerhausen spinning mill also worked for civilian needs and produced yarns for uniform cloths and blankets and for the manufacture of paratrooper belts. Companies from Cologne also moved into Vollmerhausen, including the Aachen military replacement office.

On March 22, 1945, the production buildings (spinning mill in Vollmerhausen) on the Ohler side were destroyed by a low-flying attack; only the old production buildings on the agger side remained.

In the mid-1950s there was the second step in diversification. The company got involved with the Ford agency in Bergneustadt and founded Friedrich Wilhelm Weil KG with Kurt Krawinkel and Gerhard Kaufmann as personally liable partners.

In the early 1960s, Leop founded . Krawinkel founded the plastic factory Müller & Co. under the direction of Herbert Stussig, initially in Vollmerhausen. After the departure of the founding co-partner, Dipl.-Ing. Müller, the company was relocated to Bergneustadt in the mid-1960s; Personally liable partners were Kurt Krawinkel and Herbert Stussig. The management was incumbent on the proven authorized signatory Walter Menn.

The Bergneustadt plant was almost intact from the war. Little by little, new machines were procured. Modern special machines such as sewing and linking machines, motorized cutting machines and fast buttonhole and button sewing machines found their way into the factory.

The Vollmerhausen plant started producing again from mid-1945 with a self-actuator and until the end of the year with 8 self-actuators and a ring spinning machine. Since the capacity was insufficient, the first shell construction of the new spinning mill on the Ohler side was started by autumn 1946. With 10 three-card sets, 12 wagon spinners and 1 ring spinning machine, this factory building ²Ohl 1² could be put into operation 1 year later. Further and greater progress was made after the currency reform . In the 1950s, another spinning mill building with 10 three-card sets and 13 fine spinning machines was built on the Ohler side (Ohl 4). In the 150th anniversary year, 1956, the Vollmerhausen spinning mill again produced sales yarns, including novelty and fantasy yarns for decorative effects, for numerous bulk buyers. The production of the plant rose from 112,000 kg in 1945 to 516,000 kg and since 1952 to 1,200,000 kg of yarn per year.

Sixth generation: Gerhard Kaufmann and Karl Adolf Krawinkel

The production of the Vollmerhausen spinning mill ended on September 30, 1962.

On July 1, 1962, the ASA Kontinentale Wollspinnereien GmbH began operations in Stolberg in the Rhineland . Shareholders were the Aachen stock spinning mill in Stolberg and Leop. Krawinkel. Gerhard Kaufmann went to Stolberg as managing director for Krawinkel.

In the 1960s, Leop. Krawinkel from the Haas knitwear factory in Rebbelroth opened the Kufstein / Tirol , Austria plant and founded the "Strickwarenfabrik Krawinkel KG " in Kufstein. It was about getting a foot in the then developing EFTA and about opportunities to export to the USSR . General partners were Kurt Krawinkel and Gerhard Kaufmann. An important customer was ANBA Sportmode Vorsteher KG in Vienna , which at that time equipped the Austrian national skier team with anoraks and sweaters and organized the export to the North American market.

After the "ANBA Sportmode Vorsteher KG" got into trouble, there were brief sweater shops with the ski manufacturer "Kneissl" in Kufstein . But this customer also got into trouble and so the business with this customer ended. In the following times the sweater business took place with the hunting outfitter Kettler in Cologne and with the hunting outfitter Kind in Hunstig near Dieringhausen . However, the commitment in Kufstein was sold to the managing director Walter Votteler in the 1980s.

Seventh generation: Max Ferdinand Krawinkel

The company becomes Leop in the seventh generation. Max Ferdinand Krawinkel is the sole managing director. The Leop. In addition to forestry and the rental and leasing of commercial and private real estate, Krawinkel primarily operates the following activities in its subsidiaries:

FORD WEIL GmbH Co.KG: Sale of new and used vehicles, especially the FORD brand, with 4 locations and the corresponding workshop services
PWM GmbH Co. KG and PWM Inc .: Development, manufacture and sale of electronic price displays, especially in the petrol station sector, and electronic LED message boards, the PWM profitboard. In addition, the development, manufacture and sale of LED spotlights, so-called PWM deLux, for lighting petrol stations and industrial sites.

literature

“Memorandum for the 100th anniversary of the Leopold Krawinkel company in Bergneustadt, December 15, 1906” , printed by Friedr. Luyken (owner Otto Waelde), Gummersbach.

“150 years of Leop. Krawinkel knitwear and knitwear factory - spinning mill, Bergneustadt - Vollmerhausen ” , archive for economics Darmstadt. Text: Kraft Sachisthal . Archival work: Ingrid Bauert-Keetmann . Graphics: Lothar Böttrich .

Amalie Kaufmann-Krawinkel: “Leop. Krawinkel 1806 - 1906. A small sketch “, as a manuscript for friends of Amalie Kaufmann-Krawinkel , printed by Ernst Kaufmann, Lahr i. B. 1906.

“Memories of Kommerzienrat Bernhard Krawinkel 1851-1936” , printed by Friedrich Luyken GmbH in Gummersbach in 1937, published by Adolf Krawinkel and Reinhard Kaufmann . “Bernhard Krawinkel. A picture of life ” by Hans Ellenbeck . "Merchant and Factory Owner" by August Dresbach . “Commemorative speech” by Pastor Luyken , Gummersbach, at the grave of Bernhard Krawinkel.

Gerhard Kaufmann: “End of the war at Leop. Krawinkel in Vollmerhausen "in " Contributions to Oberbergische Geschichte " , Volume 9, 2007 by Oberbergische Department 1924 e. V. of the Bergisches Geschichtsverein, pages 134 to 136.

Wilhelm Tieke : “... until zero hour. The Oberbergisches Land in War 1939 to 1945 ” , publisher: EH Ullenboom, 1985 Verlag Gronenberg, Gummersbach, ISBN 3-88265-127-X .

Wilhelm Tieke: “After the zero hour. Years of distress and famine in Oberbergisches 1945 - 1949 ” , publisher: EH Ullenboom, 1987 Verlag Gronenberg, Gummersbach.

Jürgen Woelke: "Capital was necessary, founding years in Gummersbach and Oberberg" , Verlagkontor Osberghaus GmbH, Gummersbach 1985, ISBN 3-925465-01-4 .