Pulsnitzer gingerbread factory

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Coordinates: 51 ° 11 ′ 9.1 ″  N , 14 ° 0 ′ 39.6 ″  E

Pulsnitzer Lebkuchenfabrik GmbH
legal form GmbH
founding 1884
Seat Pulsnitz
management Ines Frenzel
Website www.pulsnitzer-lebkuchen.de

The Pulsnitzer Lebkuchenfabrik GmbH booth at the Pulsnitzer Pfefferkuchenmarkt

The Pulsnitzer Lebkuchenfabrik GmbH is a manufacturer of Pulsnitzer gingerbread and variations of gingerbread . Due to the typical character of a factory, the company is not one of the city's pepper cakes. However, the products made here, as in the eight smaller handicraft businesses (Pfefferküchlereien) in Pulsnitz, are based on a storage dough which has to mature in wooden barrels for several weeks before it is processed.

history

Before 1945

The gingerbread factory was founded in Dresden in 1884 by Wilhelmine and Karl Abel. The first gingerbreads were made in the oven of a kitchen stove. Karl Abel died in 1890 and Wilhelmine Abel hired Hermann Richter as an assistant to continue the business. Wilhelmine Abel and Hermann Richter married in 1892, and a piece of land in Pulsnitz at Königsbrücker Strasse 3 was bought and a pepper factory was set up there. Erich Richter was born on May 27, 1894. In 1907 his father had a fatal accident. Erich Richter helped his mother in the Pfefferküchlerei until the outbreak of the First World War and learned the trade of a confectioner.

On July 1, 1919, Erich Richter took over the gingerbread and since the raw materials for gingerbread production were still blocked, he planned and built a second, larger stove in the bakery. He had the plan to produce the gingerbreads, which had previously been made manually, by machine and in larger quantities, and he hired eight assistants. An extension was completed in 1921 and enlarged the company. The products have now been shipped by freight car. The inflation brought the company a major economic losses. It was only in 1926 that the company was able to build on its former success and regularly serve the region's annual markets. The gingerbreads were sold under the name "Eri" (Erich Richter) in domestic shops and on markets in the region, but were also delivered abroad. Even then there was the company logo showing a "dancer with a heart". In addition, the dancer wore the lettering "Eri", which stood for the company owner Erich Richter. In 1933 a rotary baking machine was commissioned. This enabled sales to be increased by 600 percent in four years. The Christmas turnover in 1936 was around 78,000 Reichsmarks. In 1937 the company moved to a larger property in Pulsnitz, Feldstrasse 272c, later Feldstrasse 15.

Here, too, Erich Richter continued to implement his plans. He combined several newly purchased machines into an oven that was 58 meters long. In 1940 a glazing machine was added and the plant grew to 78 meters. A kneading machine completed the system in 1942. Now it was possible to produce up to 40 quintals of gingerbread, practically non-stop, in nine hours of work. Everything manufactured industrially without being touched by hand. Erich Richter applied for several patents during this time. In 1942 the company had a turnover of around 300,000 Reichsmarks with a workforce of 25.

At the end of the Second World War, production almost had to be stopped. Most of the workers were drafted into the Wehrmacht and the sugar allocations were severely cut. Erich Richter fell ill and a nervous problem could not be completely cured until 1957.

After 1945

By 1952, Erich Richter had invented and built three machines in order to further increase production. In 1952, the production of gingerbreads in several types and packages was 200 tons. In 1958 150 workers were employed. From 1959 the company became a semi-public company which now also produced biscuits. Erich Richter developed several machines again and registered them with the patent office. For example, these were a machine for making biscuit boxes, a gang saw for slicing baked cakes and another machine for slicing pointed cakes and Alpine bread. These machines helped increase production. In 1952 200 tons of biscuits were produced and in 1968 928 tons of biscuits were produced.

In the following years more machines were purchased, the product range expanded and the company continued to be run as a limited partnership . From 1972 the company Eri - Erich Richter was completely nationalized and integrated into VEB Dauerbackwaren Dresden. In 1974 Erich Richter died and the logo used up to now was changed slightly.

After 1989

The production of gingerbread and other products continued during the turnaround and after reunification . The Pulsnitzer Lebkuchenfabrik GmbH was founded, which was under the management of Herbert Cosmus and was considered worthy of renovation by the then Treuhandanstalt . In September 1991, around four tons of Christmas biscuits in seven types were produced every day. At that time there was a lack of a financially strong investor, a second production line and sufficient storage space. In early 1992 the Pulsnitzer Lebkuchenfabrik GmbH was offered for sale by the Treuhandanstalt. In the same year Dieter Frenzel took over the gingerbread factory with his wife Inge and daughter Ines and continued to run it as a family business.

Ines Frenzel has been running the company since 2004. A bankruptcy registered in 2008 was averted in 2009 with the successful restructuring of the company. The production was continued without restrictions during the entire time.

With an average annual production of around 1000 tons, the company is the only company of this size alongside eight other artisanal companies in Pulsnitz. The company's products are offered in Germany and are also exported to various countries in Europe and America.

Products

The main products include

Web links

literature

  • Torkild Hinrichsen: In Knusperhaus-Lebkuchen from Europe , Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft mbH u. Co. KG, Husum, 2008 ISBN 978-3-89876-420-9
  • Torkild Hinrichsen: The cake heart gingerbread from Germany , Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft mbH u. Co. KG, Husum, 2009 ISBN 978-3-89876-463-6
  • Reiner Graff / numiscontrol: Pfefferkuchen-Stories - A series of the Sächsische Zeitung - When the witch looks out of the gingerbread house , Sächsische Zeitung of December 29, 2015
  • Reiner Graff / numiscontrol: Gingerbread Stories - A series of the Sächsische Zeitung, Gebackenes Gold , Sächsische Zeitung from January 4, 2016
  • Constantin Hoffmann: Christmas in the GDR. Frank Schöbel, Lauschaer Glass Jewelery and Pulsnitzer Pfefferkuchen , Mitteldeutscher Verlag , 2016 ISBN 978-3-95462-611-3

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Overview of the company's history on the open day publicly exhibited in 2015 in Pulsnitz
  2. ↑ Patent 25918 (October 1, 1963) and 37271 (March 15, 1965) from the Office for Inventions and Patents of the GDR
  3. ↑ Article in Neue Zeit Das Dresdner Leitmotiv from November 4, 1962, The lantern could stay at home from February 6, 1963 and fulfilled on October 6, 1964
  4. ↑ Article in Neue Zeit The Pfefferküchler wait for loyal hands from September 10, 1991
  5. ↑ Article in Neue Zeit, more orders for privatized companies from January 25, 1992
  6. ↑ Overview of the company's history on the open day publicly exhibited in 2015 in Pulsnitz
  7. ↑ Interview by numiscontrol with Ines Frenzel on November 7, 2015 in Pulsnitz