Central German metal works Erfurt
The Central German Metallwerke GmbH Erfurt was during the upgrade of the Air Force on February 21 in 1936, to repair of military aircraft as repair Josef Jacobs founded. The founder was Josef Jacobs , a pilot of the First World War who was awarded the Pour le Mérite and was previously director of the Adlerwerke in Frankfurt. As of May 1937, the company changed its name due to the participation of aviation Kontor GmbH, an investment company of the Air Ministry as repair Erfurt GmbH (REWE).
The former premises of the Christian Hagans machine factory in Erfurt - Ilversgehofen served as the factory site . In the early days it was primarily the Heinkel He 111 series that were serviced and overhauled. The types Junkers Ju-52 and Junkers Ju-86 followed, among others . In October 1940 Albert Kalkert, who previously worked as technical director and aircraft designer at Gothaer Waggonfabrik , took over the management of the repair shop. In the following years the company grew into a large company with up to 2,600 employees, including prisoners of war and foreign forced laborers, in 1942. In addition to the overhaul, the armaments factory was increasingly used for component assembly such as the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and Focke-Wulf Ta 152 as well as production of aircraft like the and Focke-Wulf Ta 154 and the cargo glider Kalkert Ka 430 . To this end, a new, large aircraft assembly hall with a length of 243 meters and a width of 91 meters for 3.6 million Reichsmarks was built north of Hohenwindstrasse within one year and put into operation in June 1942. The hall also had a connection to Erfurt-Nord Airport with a taxiway.
In May 1944 the company was renamed Mitteldeutsche Metallwerke GmbH Erfurt. At 11:30 a.m. on July 20, USAAF attacked the plant and the airport with 134 Consolidated B-24 bombers . Although the large assembly hall burned out, structural damage of 2.6 million Reichsmarks and around 100 employees were killed, production was able to start again just three days later.
On April 12, 1945, units of the 3rd US Army occupied the plant and, when they withdrew at the end of June 1945, took, among other things, all construction documents as well as machines and materials with a value of 500,000 Reichsmarks. The Soviet military administration had the factory facilities dismantled and a large part of the halls and buildings blown up.
Later, the companies VEB Holzbauwerke Erfurt and the VEB repair shop "Clara Zetkin" , which specializes in the repair of electrical machines, and the Siemens generator factory in Erfurt were established on the old factory premises .
literature
- Helmut Wolf: Mitteldeutsche Metallwerke GmbH Erfurt . In: City and History - magazine for Erfurt , issue 33 (1/2007).
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 0 '25.3 " N , 11 ° 1' 15.3" E