Silesian AG for mining and zinc smelting operations

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The Schlesische AG für Bergbau und Zinkhüttenbetrieb ( Schlesag ) was a company founded in Wroclaw in 1853 for the mining of ores and coal and for the smelting and processing of ores.

history

The company was founded in September 28, 1853 by the bankers Gustav von Ruffer and Louis Courvoisier, the owners of the trading house CT Löbbecke & Co, Friedrich Eduard von Löbbecke and Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck and had an issue capital of five million thalers, but not entirely drawn.

Initially, the AG owned the Galmeigrube "Theresia", half of the "Apfel" mine, the zinc smelters "Thurzo" near Königshütte and "Pauls" near Kattowitz as well as the zinc rolling mill "Marthahütte". The core of the company, however, were the raw zinc smelters "Silesia I to III" in Lipine , which from 1876 was also the seat of the stock corporation. On the basis of this ownership, Schlesag was able to produce 6,200 tons of raw zinc and 3,550 tons of zinc sheet annually.

However, since the necessary energy base was lacking, numerous small coal mines were acquired between 1855 and 1860 , which were later consolidated into the Mathilde and Karsten-Zentrum mines (production from 1872). The inadequate raw material base was also improved by buying significant shares in the "Scharley", "Wilhelmine", "Cäcilie", "Neue Helene" and "Wilhelmsglück" mine. These shares had a value of 12 million marks, so that a capital increase was necessary. Although this second block of shares could not be fully issued either, Schlesag's total capital in 1856 was 23.5 million marks.

As early as 1858/59, the company invested in a zinc rolling mill in order to be able to offer sheet metal of various shapes and dimensions. In 1877 the AG bought the Humboldt zinc rolling mill in Cologne-Kalk in order to process not only Silesian, but also Belgian and Rhenish raw zinc for the West German market.

To improve the raw material base, the majority of shares in an ore mine in central Sweden and Kuxe of a Hungarian ore mining company were acquired in 1899. Later larger shares in the "Société Métallurgique de Lommel" in Belgium and the "Aktiengesellschaft der Austro-Hungarian Zinkwalzwerke" in Oderfurt were added.

In 1908, Count Guido Henckel zu Donnersmarck sold the Andalusia mine and the Kamin manor to Schlesag, which had to increase its share capital by a further 3.5 million marks. Because the new mine initially produced little hard coal, the dividend distributed by Schlesag fell from 21% (1907) to 14% (1908 and 1909), but recovered quickly (20% from 1912).

Zloty 100 share of Śląskie Kopalnie i Cynkownie SA dated December 10, 1926

Like many other industrial companies, as a result of the division of Upper Silesia in 1921/22, Schlesag was divided into a German and a Polish (Śląskie Kopalnie i Cynkownie SA Lipiny) company. The German took her seat in Bytom / Bytom, Polish, Katowice. Of the hard coal mines, only the Karsten-Zentrum-Grube remained in western Upper Silesia; Andalusia and Mathilda fell to Poland. The zinc and lead ore mine "Cecilie" became Polish, while "Jenny-Otto", "Fiedlers Glück" and "Wilhelmsglück" stayed with Germany. There were also subdivisions of the steelworks and rolling mills: from 1922 Silesia and Kunigunde were in East Silesia, while the Jedlitze and Ohlau rolling mills were in West Upper Silesia. With regard to the shareholders, it can be noted that investors from Germany and Switzerland were involved in the West, while the majority of the Polish branch belonged to French investors.

After the occupation of Poland by German troops during the Second World War, the (German) Schlesag claimed three zinc smelters, two zinc rolling mills, one plant with zinc electrolysis and the aforementioned hard coal mines from Eastern Upper Silesia. Although 85% of French capital was in this Polish company, these shareholders were so pressured that they sold a large part of their property to the German company Schlesag. On June 16, 1943, both parts of the company were "reunited" in a "new" Schlesag. Three capital groups predominated in it, Upper Silesian (Donnersmarck), West German (Metallgesellschaft (Frankfurt am Main), Bankhaus Delbrück-Schindler and the Ratjen family) and Franco-Belgian. From the Hohenlohewerke - besides von Giesche's heirs the only remaining competitor in the zinc business - Schlesag took over half of a rolling mill in Welnow. The Hohenlohe's coal ownership fell to the Reichswerke Hermann Göring during the occupation of Poland .

In 1945 the company moved its headquarters to Berlin, then to Braunschweig in 1947. In 1971 it was completely taken over by the "Metallgesellschaft" .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Manfred Rasch: The entrepreneur Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck. A sketch. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2016. P. 62.
  2. ↑ a b c d Manfred Rasch: The entrepreneur Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck. A sketch. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2016. P. 65 ff.
  3. ↑ a b Yearbook for the Upper Mining District Wroclaw . Phoenix Publishing House. Katowice, Breslau, Berlin. 1913. p. 471.
  4. ^ Manfred Rasch: The entrepreneur Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck. A sketch. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2016. P. 73 f.
  5. ^ Paul Deutsch: The Upper Silesian coal and steel industry before and after the division of the industrial area . Bonn, 1926, p. 46.
  6. ↑ Jerzy Jaros: Słownik histoynczny kopalń węgla na ziemiach polskich . Katowice 1984. p. 156.
  7. ↑ a b c Werner Röhr: On the role of heavy industry in annexed Polish Upper Silesia for Germany's war economy from 1939 to 1949 . Yearbook for Economic History, Cologne 1991, No. 4, p. 29 f.
  8. ↑ Piotr Jakoweńko, Jacek Maniecki, Marek Wojcik: Batorego 12 on the digital library by Beuthener Architektur, accessed on July 20, 2017.

swell

  • Paul Deutsch: The Upper Silesian coal and steel industry before and after the division of the industrial area . Bonn, 1926.
  • Jerzy Jaros: Słownik histoynczny kopalń węgla na ziemiach polskich . Katowice 1984.
  • Werner Röhr: On the role of heavy industry in annexed Polish Upper Silesia for Germany's war economy from 1939 to 1949 . Yearbook for Economic History, Cologne 1991, issue 4.
  • Manfred Rasch: The entrepreneur Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck. A sketch. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2016.
  • Yearbook for the Upper Mining District Wroclaw . Phoenix Publishing House. Katowice, Breslau, Berlin. 1913. Digitized version at http://www.dbc.wroc.pl/dlibra/publication?id=3349&tab=3 before (last accessed on May 5, 2015)