Migros Distribution GmbH

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Gottlieb Duttweiler around 1930

The Migros Distribution GmbH was existing in the years 1932-1933 business start-up of the Swiss Migros under its founder Gottlieb Duttweiler in Berlin . Much like at the start of business activity in Switzerland , one was itinerant trade with selling cars decorated.

history

construction

Fleet of sales vehicles

In January 1932, the Swiss entrepreneur Gottlieb Duttweiler decided to expand his business activities, which had already gained considerable importance in Switzerland under the name Migros, to Germany. For this purpose, the retail company Finow Farm in Eberswalde was restructured as a GmbH . In addition to Duttweiler, the Dutch company De Gruyter and a consortium from Geneva were involved in the GmbH .

Sale on the sales car

As early as 1930 this company, originally a subsidiary of the Hirsch Kupfer- und Messingwerke , had acquired 20 sales vehicles in order to set up a system similar to that of Migros. It asked Duttweiler's advice to improve its own position. When Finow Farm got into trouble in January 1932, Duttweiler took over the company without further ado. An agreement between Migros AG and Duttweiler stipulated that although it could trade under the name of Migros, the Swiss Migros would not assume any financial obligations. From a modern goods distribution center in Berlin-Reinickendorf , 76 vans served more than 2000 stops throughout Berlin. In addition, two stationary shops were set up. The incoming raw materials were processed, packaged and stored in the Reinickendorf distribution center.

The offer

In a very conspicuous way, the company carried out PR campaigns and advertised through newspaper advertisements and flyers. Duttweiler also appeared in the German public and acted as a consumer advocate . He attacked the manufacturers of branded goods as well as the retail competition. For the first time, the company was able to cover costs with sales for February 1933.

Migros customers in Berlin

Problems with the competition

Since Migros began to appear in the Berlin area, there has been bitter resistance from traditional retailers and branded goods manufacturers . At that time, the situation at the retailers was mostly difficult, which resulted from the fact that on the one hand there was too much shop density and a high density of staff with relatively low sales, and on the other hand the small traders often lacked sufficient knowledge of goods and accounts. The branded goods manufacturers, in turn, had the problem with Migros that it threatened to destroy their high profit margins by providing their own brands . The competitors tried to torpedo more modern trade routes, such as those of Migros, by engaging in intensive association-political lobbying . A tendency towards economic protectionism became clear, which went hand in hand with increased conservatism and anti-Semitism . In the course of these campaigns, there were also defamations, delivery boycotts and verbal and physical attacks on Migros employees.

Migros advertising in Berlin

Duttweiler and his senior staff were already familiar with this development from Switzerland. However, the situation in Germany was different to the extent that Migros was being accused of being a “foreign” or “non-German” company. In addition, in 1932 and 1933, a number of leading representatives of the traditional retail trade made considerable careers in the course of the rise of National Socialism and gained significantly in influence. In the second half of 1932 Duttweiler and his Swiss manager Emil Rentsch managed to defend themselves against this hostility through intensive PR work.

Political distress

After the seizure of power on January 30, 1933, Hitler began to promote his aims among the petty-bourgeois commercial middle class by promising to protect the middle class from "Jews and plutocrats ". This course was significantly supported by the National Socialist Combat League for small and medium-sized businesses . As a result, the authorities covered Duttweiler and his company with bureaucratic harassment. In the further course there was also increased harassment of Migros customers and the like waiting at the stops of the sales cars. a. by members of the Kampfbund. As part of the so-called Jewish boycotts occurred in March and April 1933 to boycotts against Migros. In order to avoid these boycotts, Rentsch and the Migros shareholders even tried to put themselves in a better light by submitting Aryan certificates that they had issued in Switzerland. Nevertheless, the Kampfbund members intensified their attacks.

liquidation

The official NSDAP removed Migros from the boycott list, but was otherwise indifferent to the obstruction, in which, in addition to the Kampfbund, various district administrations and local newspapers were involved. She let the boycotts and local official acts go as long as this served the goal of consolidating power. Only when the militant approach began to disrupt other party goals such as job creation or economic development did the party intervene, which was of no use to Migros. Under the pressure of a variety of harassment and attacks, the shareholders decided in autumn 1933 to cease business operations and liquidate the company. The legal liquidation then dragged on until 1937. This resulted in significant financial losses for the shareholders, which - due to the above-mentioned agreement between Migros AG and Duttweiler - did not affect the Swiss company.

literature

  • Roger Flury: The Migros distribution company mBH Berlin 1932/33. The failure of an attempt to expand . In: Katja Girschik, Albrecht Ritschl , Thomas Welskopp (eds.): The Migros Cosmos. On the history of an exceptional Swiss company . here + now , Baden 2003, ISBN 978-3-906419-64-0 .
  • Karl Lüönd : Gottlieb Duttweiler (1888–1962) - An idea with a future . In: Association for economic history studies (ed.): Swiss pioneers of economy and technology . tape 72 . Zurich 2000, ISBN 3-909059-20-1 .
  • Curt Riess : Gottlieb Duttweiler - a biography by Curt Riess . Europa Verlag, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-905811-32-2 (new edition of the book from 1958, published by Wegner Hamburg and Arche-Verlag Zurich, with a foreword by Karl Lüönd).

Web links

Commons : Migros-Vertriebs-GmbH Berlin  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Flury: The Migros distribution company mBH Berlin 1932/33. In: The Migros Cosmos. P. 68.
  2. ^ Riess: Gottlieb Duttweiler. P. 147.
  3. ↑ a b c d Lüönd: Gottlieb Duttweiler (1888-1962) - an idea with a future.
  4. ↑ Migros Annual Report 1932.
  5. ^ Flury: The Migros distribution company mBH Berlin 1932/33. In: The Migros Cosmos. P. 69.
  6. ^ Flury: The Migros distribution company mBH Berlin 1932/33. In: The Migros Cosmos. P. 70.
  7. ^ Flury: The Migros distribution company mBH Berlin 1932/33. In: The Migros Cosmos. Pp. 70-71.
  8. ^ Flury: The Migros distribution company mBH Berlin 1932/33. In: The Migros Cosmos. P. 71.
  9. ^ Flury: The Migros distribution company mBH Berlin 1932/33. In: The Migros Cosmos. Pp. 75-76.
  10. ^ Flury: The Migros distribution company mBH Berlin 1932/33. In: The Migros Cosmos. P. 77.
  11. ^ Flury: The Migros distribution company mBH Berlin 1932/33. In: The Migros Cosmos. Pp. 84-85.
  12. ↑ Migros Annual Report 1933.