Red star

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Logo from 2011

Rotstern is a chocolate brand from eastern Germany . The trademark was created at the end of 1954 for the VEB Rotstern Schokoladenwerk in Saalfeld . It has belonged to Caritas-Behindertenwerk GmbH Burgenlandkreis (cbw) in Waltersleben since autumn 2012 .

history

Mauxion becomes Rotstern

Visitors in front of a shop window with products from the Mauxion 1951 chocolate factory , the forerunner of the Rotstern

Chocolate has been produced in Saalfeld since 1901. At that time the brothers Alfred and Felix Mauxion came from Berlin (their father had started a confectionery there in 1855 ) and bought the Saalfeld Neumühle to turn it into a chocolate factory. In 1917 the managing director Ernst Hüther bought the company shares of the two brothers. In the Soviet zone of occupation , the company was nationalized in June 1948 and was now called VEB Mauxion Chocolate Factory. In 1954, the family of Ernst Hüther, who died in 1944 and who had moved to West Germany, obtained in court that the trademark rights for Mauxion were granted to them. In Saalfeld they reacted quickly and registered the name and logo for Rotstern as a trademark on November 18, 1954 , which was entered in the trademark register on March 17, 1955 . The background of the name Rotstern has different interpretations: Either it stands for the Russian star and the symbol of socialism or it symbolizes the rising sun behind the Red Mountain, which is opposite the work. But even in the socialist company Rotstern , individual employees still remembered their former boss Hüther. In 1956, the head of the praline packing room (SED member) commented on the criticism of female workers about existing grievances, that when she was directrice at Hüther, "there never was anything like this" and that the workers had been stirred up (unrest in Poland and Hungary ). But there were hardly any work stoppages such as B. on October 3, 1959 because of different bonuses for brigades. Early on, Rotstern was an exception in the district when it came to filling management positions with women (sixty in middle and higher management positions until 1970). The VEB Rotstern Schokoladenwerk and the VEB Berggold in Pößneck were merged into the VEB Thüringer Schokoladenwerk in 1966 , and in 1981 the Erfurt confectionery factory was added. The Thuringian chocolate factory produced until 1990 under the name Rotstern chocolate for the GDR market, in which it had a significant market share. 95% of the chocolate bars came from the factory in Saalfeld, including the Schlager sweet bar .

Rotstern after 1990

Milk chocolate from Rotstern in Saalfeld from 2019

In January 1991, the largest chocolate factory in the GDR was taken over by Stollwerck . Instead of Rotstern, the factory now supplied chocolate under the names Stollwerck , Sprengel or Waldbaur . In the course of the renaissance of the Ostmarken , the Alsen trading house from Ichtershausen - Thörey near Erfurt bought the unused trademark rights from Stollwerck in 2002. First, the chocolate was made by Nestlé . In January 2004, the Alsen trading company was renamed Rotstern GmbH & Co. KG . The Rotstern Confiserie with espresso bar opened in Erfurt on the fish market in mid-2005 . At the end of 2005, the insolvent Feengrotten -Chocolaterie in Saalfeld was taken over, mainly to produce pralines itself. In addition to other Eastern chocolate brands such as Chokis or Mocha Beans , toys were also marketed, which in 2010 accounted for almost a third of sales. In spring 2010, production in the chocolate factory in Saalfeld came to a standstill for economic reasons. The Rotstern company then cooperated with the Diakoniestiftung Weimar Bad Lobenstein . Before that, the cooperation with Caritas Behindertenwerk GmbH Burgenlandkreis began , which filled boxes of chocolates for Rotstern in Osterfeld and, from September 2010, produced packaging for Rotstern and operated a shipping department. At the beginning of June 2012, the Rotstern company filed for bankruptcy, which indirectly affected 135 Caritas employees. In September 2012 the Caritas-Behindertenwerk GmbH Burgenlandkreis (cbw) acquired the company Rotstern GmbH & Co. KG as part of a restructuring company transfer . The cbw is a 100% subsidiary of the Caritas Association for the Catholic Diocese of Magdeburg (DiCV). The purchase avoided the potential loss of up to 150 jobs for people with disabilities. The factory in Saalfeld will continue to operate with fewer employees. The production there had to be adjusted, so that the production of the dark chocolate "Feenzauber" in collector's box with Saalfeld motifs had to be stopped. It was an exclusive variant of the caffeinated chocolate known as Scho-Ka-Kola . The confectionery at the Erfurt fish market was not taken over by the cbw and closed in 2012. Instead, on August 31, 2013, the Rotstern confectionery was opened on Domplatz .

Allotment garden

Rotstern arbor colony (formerly Mauxion ) on Neumühlenweg in Saalfeld

Also in Saalfeld there is an allotment garden called "Rotstern", which has been registered as a garden monument since 1996. This was initiated and built by the then owner of the neighboring Mauxion chocolate factory , Ernst Hüther, and inaugurated as the Laubenheim Mauxion allotment garden colony in spring 1937 . The sixty 300 to 500 square meter parcels could be leased by the company's employees for little money. The arbors were built in a uniform style and were all equipped with a living room, a tool room and a storage room as well as a covered patio. The arbor accessories were prescribed such. B. a lampshade with lightbulb, small illumination lightbulbs, table and chairs, waste paper basket and trash can. Specialist magazines and literature suitable for horticulture were available to the tenants. The illumination bulbs gave the colony an "extremely effective impression", which is why, at the request of Dr. Hüther, the tenants were obliged to turn on the light bulbs on the weekends between 9 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. The allotment garden colony has remained almost unchanged to this day. It was only given the name "Rotstern" when the naming rights for Mauxion were lost during the GDR.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b 100 years of Saalfeld - chocolate then and now. In: Confectionery: Technology + Economy. Hamburg, Heft 6, 2001.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.suesswarentechnik.de
  2. ↑ Register number: DD604460 At: German Patent and Trademark Office
  3. ↑ Almut Wagner: Chocolate from Saalfeld 1945 to 1990. Sutton Verlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-95400-006-7 , p. 7.
  4. ^ Andrew I. Port: The puzzling stability of the GDR: work and everyday life in socialist Germany. Ch. Links Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-577-5 , p. 181.
  5. ^ Andrew I. Port: The puzzling stability of the GDR: work and everyday life in socialist Germany. Ch. Links Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-577-5 , p. 248ff.
  6. ^ Andrew I. Port: The puzzling stability of the GDR: work and everyday life in socialist Germany. Ch. Links Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-577-5 , p. 266.
  7. ↑ Stollwerck now "full" in Saalfeld. In: New Germany . January 9, 1991.
  8. ↑ A measly seven marks. In: Spiegel . Issue 53/1992, December 28, 1992.
  9. ↑ Jürgen Zschiesche, Oliver Errichiello: The Secret of Success East: Survival Strategies Of The Best Brands - And What Managers Can Learn From Them Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-8349-1615-0 , p. 95.
  10. ↑ Rotstern: GDR chocolate back. At: gastro.de, November 23, 2003.
  11. ↑ ERFURTER NOTES. In: General hotel and gastronomy newspaper . July 30, 2005.
  12. ^ Praline production in Feengrotten Confiserie comes to a standstill In: Ostthüringer Zeitung . May 7, 2010.
  13. ↑ Thuringia and its brands (1): Rotstern stands for good chocolate. In: Thuringian General . September 25, 2012.
  14. ↑ Praline production in Feengrottenweg Saalfeld is running again In: Ostthüringer Zeitung . June 8, 2010.
  15. ↑ "Rotstern" chocolate from Osterfeld will be coming soon ... At: myheimat.de, July 28, 2010.
  16. ↑ Alte Kaufhalle sends chocolates In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung . October 24, 2010.
  17. ↑ Rotstern files for bankruptcy. In: Thuringian General . June 13, 2012.
  18. ↑ Caritas-Behindertenwerk Burgenlandkreis acquires Rotstern. DiCV press release, September 24, 2012 ( caritas-magdeburg.de ( Memento from January 4, 2018 in the Internet Archive ))
  19. ↑ No more "fairy magic" chocolate from Saalfeld. In: Ostthüringer Zeitung . December 18, 2012.
  20. ↑ Rotstern Confiserie in Erfurt still closed In: Thüringer Allgemeine . December 1, 2012.
  21. ↑ Sweet world on Domplatz In: Thüringische Landeszeitung . August 30, 2013.
  22. ↑ Official Gazette of the City of Saalfeld, August 9, 2006, p. 9. (PDF; 363 kB)
  23. ↑ Tenant journal WOBAG Saalfeld 06/2010, p. 7.
  24. ↑ "Rotstern Gardens" arbor colony in Saalfeld beckons in springtime. In: Thuringian General . April 13, 2012.

Coordinates: 50 ° 52 ′ 48 ″  N , 10 ° 56 ′ 15 ″  E