Malt factory Grevesmühlen
The Grevesmühlen malt factory was built in 1873 on the rock cellar built by brewer Heintzmann. Today part of the administration of the district of Northwest Mecklenburg has its seat in the listed building.
location
The malt factory Grevesmühlen is located on Börzower Weg in Grevesmühlen , the former district town of the district of Northwest Mecklenburg .
Construction stages
Construction phase I
In 1893 the construction of the “Malzfabrik” building complex began. At that time, a storage and ice cellar with a four-story new building belonged to the malt factory building.
The rooms were made of yellow bricks. The facades had runners and pillars made of red bricks, as well as arched lintels. The end of the facade towards the roof was formed by garland-like decorations made of red bricks. The corresponding kiln was of the same structure. The complex also included single-storey extensions that housed steam engines for supplying heat.
Construction phase II
The building complex was enlarged in 1894/95. A four-story red-brick building was erected on the basement. A second kiln was built. The old and new parts of the building were merged to allow better transport between the rooms. The new building has been adapted to the old one with arrow-like structures, layers of runners and arched windows, but it has a different appearance.
Construction phase III
Construction (1897/1898), which began in the east and north, was now also carried out in the west and south. It included the construction of barns and other kilns. Ten meter high vapor vents towered over the building. The five-meter-high, helmet-like covers placed on top were the real symbol of the malt factory for decades. The building, which emerged in the three construction phases, comprised a floor area of 3000 m² and approx. 15,000 m² of storage, barn and kiln space. It was thus one of the largest buildings for malt production in northern Germany.
use
The Grevesmühlen malt factory is mentioned for the first time in 1872. Over the years the building has been used in various ways. The owners of the first complex were Never and Picker. Picker acquired the brewery on July 1, 1883 through bankruptcy proceedings. The value at that time was 110,000 marks. The oldest rooms were used to store ice cream and grow mushrooms. The steam brewery Heintzmann and Never also offered space for their company. In 1893 there was a foreclosure auction. This made it possible to found the Grevesmühlen GmbH malt factory. This company was first mentioned in the state calendar in 1905.
history
Malzfabrik Grevesmühlen GmbH
The company was founded by Georg Mahn, authorized signatory Friedrich Carow, master builder Eduard Dietze and Luis Hochbaum. The company was entered in the commercial register in 1893. The starting capital of the Malzfabrik GmbH was 40,000 marks. In 1895, Mr. Hochbaum left the company. In his place came Adolf Müller, who made a decisive contribution to the development of the factory. Later Adolf Müller became the malt factory director.
There has been a positive development over the years. The articles of association were changed due to increases in the share capital. In 1900/1901 malt production increased from 3000 to 4000 tons. The factory produced, among other things, malt for the Rostock brewery Mahn and Olerich , for the Grevesmühlen brewery Schall and Schwenke and even for Portugal and the colony of German East Africa.
The heyday ended due to higher prices for malt and beer. The first crisis followed in early 1907. Working conditions deteriorated. Working hours were up to 13½ hours per day. The first strike was not long in coming. The factory went bankrupt in mid-1907. Only Georg Mahn, Dietrich Helmerich and Adolf Müller acted as shareholders.
The modernization of the technical systems should bring the boom in 1910. New sales areas, etc. a. to Schleswig-Holstein, enabled a market share of 71% in 1913. The malting was the most important of all in Mecklenburg. From 1921 onwards, the post-war period, inflation and the global economic crisis led to significant production restrictions and financial problems. The consequences were e.g. B. frequent changes of shareholders.
"The constant changes are an expression of the economic circumstances of the Malzfabrik Grevesmühlen GmbH, whose situation only improved from autumn 1934 onwards due to the financial transactions."
In 1938/1939 the malt factory looked up again. Georg Naefke acquired it on March 7, 1939. The major plans for new machines and conveyor systems could not be realized due to the Second World War. In 1940/1941 the best result in production for decades was achieved. At the end of the Second World War, malt could no longer be used for beer, and production stagnated. With the introduction of the MALFA coffee substitute production in 1946, sales rose again. This reorientation created new jobs and led to direct supplies to the population. In 1942/1943 only 60 breweries were supplied, three years earlier there were 363.
From 1943 onwards, the existing premises were used: the malt factory was u. a. used for food storage and material storage for the Air Force. The locksmith's shop was a prison camp. In 1944 the modern roasting plant was dismantled. Aircraft parts were stored by the Dornier works. In addition, the production was partly running. But at the end of January 1945 there was a final production stop.
From May 3, 1945, the malt factory was a provisional prison camp for German Wehrmacht members. Meanwhile there was no production in the malt factory because the only manager in France was in captivity. Agnes Bartels, who had previously worked in the malt factory, took over the management. It saved the factory from becoming public property. However, Georg Naefke remained the owner. Due to his former membership in the NSDAP, the company was briefly confiscated, but released again in 1946.
The shares in Ms. Bartels and Elisabeth Voss, Georg Naefke's sister, were overwritten by a new partnership agreement. In 1952 a substantial tax liability was placed on the company to bring it into state ownership.
In 1953 Walter Brose was appointed managing director. Many workers left the country due to the tension in the GDR. The factory was not doing well economically. There was a lack of raw materials and workers. With the help of Grevesmühlen companies, production was resumed in 1945. There were setbacks every now and then, but the MALFA coffee substitute production and the new beer publisher enabled good sales to be achieved. Ideas also emerged to start producing sugar confectionery, custard powder and baking powder, but they were never realized. The lack of raw materials reduced production. It went up through various modernizations, but the constant change of shareholders meant a burden for the company.
VEB Malzfabrik
| year | Malt (in tons) |
Coffee substitute mixture (in tons) |
|---|---|---|
| 1946 | 280 | 250 |
| 1948 | 600 | 580 |
| 1951 | 1,266 | 430 |
| 1952 | 2,036 | 803 |
| 1953 | 1,797 | 642 |
| 1954 | 2,679 | 484 |
| 1955 | 2,416 | 469 |
| 1956 | 2,462 | 526 |
| 1957 | 3,019 | 479 |
| 1958 | 2,796 | 395 |
| 1959 | 3,087 | 468 |
| 1960 | 3,280 | 380 |
| 1963 | 3,900 | - |
On October 1, 1955, the malt factory in Grevesmühlen was leased as a state-owned company. The city of Grevesmühlen took over the municipal administration. At that time, the company got the addition VEB (K), which means publicly owned company (district managed). At that time, the former GmbH no longer had any powers. However, the assets belonged to the GmbH. Operations manager was Walter Brose and managing director of the GmbH Hans Blomberg.
The production was now slowly increasing again. In 1957 3019 tons of brewing malt were produced in Grevesmühlen. In 1958 the malt factory was at the head of all state-owned businesses. At that time, the company had 15 days ahead of schedule and increased production by 10,840 DM. In 1962, the malt factory got a new and modern barley flake plant and a green malt plant. Production increased sharply in the following years, so that in 1965 production increased to 4500 tons of malt.
In 1969 the VEB Malzfabrik was incorporated into the VEB Beverage Combine “Hanseat” Rostock. In 1971 there were 50 employees in the malt factory, 20 of them women. From 1972 Werner Unger was operations manager. In 1973 the malt factory was further modernized. The soft house got new points and a new spray soft system. This has reduced water consumption from 3000 to 2000 cubic meters per year. In 1979 the employees drew positive attention in the newspaper. In connection with the payment of the year-end bonus, they held a solidarity rally to support the long-suffering Vietnamese people.
In 1980 the kilns were rebuilt, the high-performance tilt kiln replaced the two-tray drying process. In 1984 a new boiler house was built. Eckhard Weller's goal was to further increase the production volume. He intended to build a new malt factory and only use the old one as a warehouse. The lack of financial and material resources stopped these plans.
Because the age and condition of the factory were no longer sufficient for industrial use, Georg Naefke decided to close the malt factory on June 30, 1990. The malt factory was placed under monument protection.
Malzfabrik shopping and commercial center
After the closure, two successors were considered. Nordmalz GmbH Wismar wanted to renovate the old factory and use it again. Another idea ultimately prevailed. The Hamburg contractor Manfred Vogler intended to convert the malt factory into a shopping and commercial center. The original style of the malt factory was to be retained. The malt factory thus became the largest construction site in the former Grevesmühlen district . Inside, rooms for offices, apartments, medical practices and a two-story shopping arcade were created. Externally, the malt factory remained largely unchanged. On the outside, only the machine house in front of the oldest kiln, the courtyard building and the chimneys were dismantled and shortened. In addition, the facades were cleaned, the roof structure was checked for damage and repaired if necessary. In order to get enough light into the lower floors, it was decided to install roof light shafts. For this, the old covers of the kiln were removed. After the renovation, there were many different shops in the malt factory. The malt factory had a shopping arcade, which had a market and bazaar character. In addition, there were various doctors, a pharmacy, a restaurant, several conference rooms, presentation rooms and the Grevesmühlen local history museum in the malt factory. There were four entrances and six elevators.
Administration of the district of Northwest Mecklenburg
On January 11, 1993, the administration began to move to the malt factory. In 1994 the administration had to move out again due to the regional reform and the resulting enlargement of the administration. The administration was now decentralized on the administrative premises at Grevesmühlen station, in Gadebusch and in Wismar. But that wasn't the ideal solution. On February 24, 2000, it was decided to purchase and convert the malt factory so that the administration could move back in there. In the summer of 2002, the factory was completely empty and thus the construction clearance for the construction project could be obtained.
Construction of the project with investments totaling 9.8 million euros began on October 7, 2002. In July 2004, the renovation was completed and the administration of the Northwest Mecklenburg district was able to move in. With the district reform , individual parts of the administration are gradually moving out again.
Individual evidence
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 51 ′ 44.5 " N , 11 ° 10 ′ 40.3" E