Ulbricht's widow

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Ulbricht Widow GmbH
legal form Company with limited liability
founding 1859
Seat Schwanenstadt AustriaAustriaAustria 
management Georg Scharpenack
Number of employees 500
sales EUR 50.0 million
Branch Plastic and metal processing
Website www.ulbrichts.com

The Ulbricht's widow GmbH is a plastic- and metal-processing company based in Upper Austria Schwanenstadt . The family company produces and sells emblems and logos for the automotive industry as well as VPAM -4 and VPAM-6 protective helmets made of titanium - aramid ( hybrid ) for the police and military.

history

prehistory

Around 1682, Melchior Aßmann's four sons ran a wire forge in Lüdenscheid, Westphalia . In 1794 his grandson Leopold Wilhelm I Assmann (1743–1803) started a brass buckle factory from this . After his death, his son from his first marriage, Friedrich Leopold Wilhelm II Aßmann, took over until after his death in 1824 the business was transferred to Friedrich Wilhelm Aßmann (1800–1877), his stepbrother from his second marriage to Anna Elisabeth Kräglloh. He renamed the company to metal stamping manufactory FW Assmann & Sons and produced buttons for the clothing industry there, and medals for the military were added later. The manufacturer identification was A. In 1862 his son Peter Wilhelm Julius I Assmann (1836–1914) joined the company as a partner after completing his law degree. The remaining shares went to his brother Friedrich Leopold (1826–1883) when his father died in 1877 at the latest.

From 1889 Wilhelm Julius I withdrew from the management of the company and handed over management to his eldest son Friedrich Julius Eugen Aßmann (1865–1926). In 1890 he acquired the Hamburg flag factory CG Ulrich Nachf. The company, founded in 1680, was the oldest German workshop for church art. He passed the management on to his son Friedrich Wilhelm Julius Aßmann II (1869–1942), who previously worked in his parents' company in Lüdenscheid. By 1893 he founded the Felix Otto Assmann company for meteorological equipment for his third son Felix and initiated the merger of the Lüdenscheid uniform button manufacturers into a cartel, from which the Association of Uniform Button Manufacturers emerged in 1919. In 1894 the flag factory CG Ulrich Nachf. Was renamed FW Jul. Assmann and relocated from Hamburg to Lüdenscheid due to a cholera epidemic. This was followed in 1900 by the opening of a branch in Berlin as the imperial purveyor to the court. After the death of Julius Assmann I in 1914, the Felix Otto Assmann company was given up by its sole heir of the same name. The other two companies each remain with one of the older sons and his cousin Caspar Friedrich Leopold (Fritz) Aßmann (1863–1922). At that time the company operated under: FW Assmann u. Sons, factory for buttons and military effects, owners Fritz and Eugen Aßmann, Gartenstr. 11 in Lüdenscheid. With the deaths of Fritz in 1922 and Eugen in 1926, FW Assmann & Sons passed on to Hans Aßmann (1900–1994), Fritz Aßmann's son.

founding

After Friedrich Arlt's death in 1859 Heinrich Ulbricht (1822–1869) took over the company he founded in 1812 at Stefansplatz 628 in Vienna . From then on, the company traded under the name of H. Ulbricht & A. Kunis Silberplatierwaren und Metallknopffabrik, the successor to Friedrich Arlt & Co., and produced metal buttons mainly for uniforms.

As is documented, Heinrich Ulbricht received an order from the Vienna City Council in April 1869 for the delivery of buttons for the uniforms of the fire brigade and municipal employees, but died in August of the same year. As a result, his wife Eleonora Ulbricht continued the business and changed the entry in the commercial register. In the following years, the company operated under the name of Heinrich Ulbricht's Widow with the address Rennweg 84 in Vienna and, in addition to buttons, also produced international medals such as the Marian Cross.

In 1871, the furnishing contract of the Vienna City Council was extended again from 1869 and existed at least until 1877. From this time onwards, however, the track of the company in Vienna is lost.

Aryanization

With the armament in the context of the National Socialist seizure of power in 1933, the qualified engineer Hans Assmann joined the Wehrmacht as an officer and produced equipment such as buttons, badges and belts in his factory in Lüdenscheid for them as well as for the NSDAP and Waffen-SS . After the annexation of Austria in 1938, he took over as part of a linearization as a retired major. D. the majority of the company shares in Heinrich Ulbricht's Witwe GmbH in Kaufing near Schwanenstadt and expanded the company between 1938 and 1940. At the beginning of the Second World War , the company became an armaments factory and, with 402 employees, also manufactured ammunition. In the nearby Mitterberg Castle , foreign workers were accommodated for the company. After the end of the war, the company, located in the American occupation zone , was under state administration from 1945.

In Germany, as part of the founding of the Bundeswehr on May 5, 1955, the managing director of the Fachverband Metallkurzwaren, Benno Keulen, approached the procurement office in Koblenz with a proposal to involve all association companies in the development and award of the order for uniform buttons. Although the speakers agreed to his proposal, they only commissioned FW Assmann & Sons in Lüdenscheid with the development of the uniform buttons for the army, air force and navy. This led to criticism from the association, the other manufacturers and the media, who assumed the old relationships of Assmann to be the reason. In 1956, Hans Assmann again acquired the majority of the shares in Heinrich Ulbricht's Witwe GmbH for two million schillings in order to produce electrical installation material. A short time later, production was expanded to include steel helmets.

Weapons production

In 1959, the Austrian Defense Minister Ferdinand Graf awarded a production order for so-called Leitner-Assmann hand grenades for the armed forces to Heinrich Ulbricht Witwe GmbH, which led to investigations by the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office. A little later, the sale of two million of these hand grenades to the Bundeswehr , which some saw as a violation of the Austrian State Treaty with the Allied occupying powers of 1955, also attracted media attention .

In 1964, Hans Assmann acquired Mitterberg Castle on the initiative of his son Friedrich Willhelm Assmann. When attempting to renovate, large parts of the building collapsed and, apart from the chapel, was completely demolished by 1969.

According to documents from the Austrian Foreign Ministry, the company H. Ulbricht's widow is said to have delivered machines and tools for the production of hand grenades to the Pakistani company Akhtar & Hoffmann between 1969 and 1971.

In 1984 the widow of H. Ulbricht founded Armaturen GesmbH (Arges), a subsidiary for the production of grenades . The company received media attention again when it became known that hand grenades bearing an Arges logo were used in the terrorist attack on the Indian parliament on December 13, 2001.

Realignment

In 2000, engineer Georg Schapernak acquired the company from his grandfather Friedrich Willhelm Assmann and parted ways with the armaments division as part of a realignment. In 2005, the German arms company Rheinmetall took over the Arges from Ulrich's widow and renamed the company Rheinmetall Waffen Munition Arges GmbH. Years later it became known that the company had been monitored by the Federal Intelligence Service at the time , which led to media coverage and political controversy.

After giving up arms production, the company concentrated on automotive and protective helmets and the name was changed to Ulbricht's widow. As a result, fully automated production processes were developed for the manufacture of car emblems with the company's own toolmakers, and Ulbricht's widow won 11 out of 13 tenders for ballistic protective helmets in Europe from 2014 to 2017 . The most important market was Germany where 12 of the 16 federal states "procured their titanium helmets, as did most of the federal states in Austria .

In 2018, the company presented its first VPAM-6 titanium helmet that can withstand fire from an AK 47 assault rifle at the 10th General Police Equipment Exhibition & Conference (GEPEC) in Frankfurt am Main .

Companies

Heinrich Ulbricht Witwe GmbH is a family business and is now owned by Georg Scharpenack. It is divided into the areas of automotive and protection. In the automotive sector, plastic injection-molded emblems and lettering are produced for the automotive industry . The fully automated production processes developed in-house are unique worldwide. Well-known customers include the companies BMW , VW , Audi and Mercedes . In the Protection division, VPAM-4 and VPAM-6 protective helmets made of titanium-aramid hybrid for the police and military are produced and sold . The company is considered a European technology leader .

Historical traces

A number of buttons, medals, awards and military equipment can still be found in archives and collections.

  • Militaria from FW Assmann & Sons (manufacturer ID: A, L64 and M5 / 8, M9 / 1, M11 / 20)
  • Militaria from Heinrich Ulbricht's widow (manufacturer ID: HUW and M1 / ​​148)

literature

  • Michaela Häffner: The Lüdenscheid entrepreneurs Max Kamper and Hans Assmann Accompanying volume for the exhibition Lockung und Zwang - the city of Lüdenscheid under National Socialism. Edited by the cultural department of the city of Lüdenscheid . 1999.
  • Assmann & Sons, FW, and J. Rex (eds.): FW Assmann & Sons, Lüdenscheid. Sales Catalog, reprint of the 1930s edition . Denison, Reddick Enterprises, 1992, ISBN 0-9624883-3-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d trademarks and head protection. In: Meinviertel.at . June 13, 2018, accessed September 8, 2018 .
  2. ^ A b Rainer Aßmann: Research on the history of the Aßmann family - Lüdenscheid . In: Lüdenscheider Geschichtsverein e. V (Ed.): The Reidemeister . No. 53 , July 21, 1971 ( ghv-luedenscheid.de [PDF]).
  3. ↑ Virtual Museum: Designs for artistic flags. In: comon.de. Märkischer Zeitungsverlag , March 17, 2018, accessed on October 21, 2018 .
  4. ↑ F 28/25 - FW Jul. Assmann. In: Archives in North Rhine-Westphalia. Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv Foundation, accessed on October 21, 2018 .
  5. ^ Rainer Assmann: The connection of scientific and entrepreneurial activity by Julius IAssmann (1836–1914) after 1889 (a balance sheet based on his writings) . In: Lüdenscheider Geschichtsverein e. V (Ed.): The Reidemeister . No. 455 , May 2003 ( ghv-luedenscheid.de [PDF]).
  6. ↑ Adolf Abel, Gustav Wermeckes: Address and Business Handbook for city and department Lüdenscheid 1891 . Publishing house Oskar Wenck, 1891.
  7. ↑ Vienna Trade Report . 1860, p.  12 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  8. ↑ Trade and commercial scheme of Vienna and its immediate surroundings . Verlag Kaulfuß Wtw., 1863, p.  277 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  9. ↑ Minutes of the public meetings of the municipal council of the imperial capital and residence city of Vienna . Wallishausser, April 2, 1869, p.  544 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  10. ^ Rudolph Machan: Trade and business address book of the Austrian imperial state . 3. Edition. 1869, p. 317 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  11. ^ Directory of the deceased in Vienna . In: Strangers Leaf . Elbemühl Verlag, Vienna 1869 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  12. ^ Adolf I. Lehmann: General address book and business manual for the imperial and royal capital and residence of Vienna and its surroundings . Förster Verlag, 1874, p. 801 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  13. ↑ Minutes of the public meetings of the municipal council of the imperial capital and residence city of Vienna . Wallishausser, January 20, 1871, p.  79 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  14. ^ Wiener Communal-Blatt . Carl Fromme, 1877, p.  397 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  15. ↑ Harry Slapnicka: Upper Austria, when it was called 'Upper Danube' 1938–1945 . 1st edition. Upper Austria Landesverlag, 1978, ISBN 3-85214-204-0 , p. 140–144 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  16. ^ Helmut Weihsmann: Building under the swastika: Architecture of the downfall . 1st edition. Promedia Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-85371-113-8 , pp. 970 .
  17. ^ Rudolf Lehr: State Chronicle of Upper Austria. 3000 years in data, documents and images . 1st edition. Brandstätter Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-85498-331-X , p. 350 .
  18. ↑ a b The history of Mitterberg Castle. Schlosskapelle Mitterberg Association, accessed on October 24, 2018 .
  19. ↑ a b whipped cream grenades. In: Der Spiegel 44/1959. October 28, 1959. Retrieved October 21, 2018 .
  20. ↑ a b Secret procurement matter. In: Der Spiegel 52/1955. December 21, 1955. Retrieved October 21, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Ernst Strasser : Answer to the written question regarding arms exports by Armaturengesellschaft mbH (3330 / AB XXI. G) . Ed .: Parliament of the Republic of Austria. March 27, 2002 ( parlament.gv.at [PDF]).
  22. ^ A b Fabian Schmidt, Markus Sulzbacher: BND spied on Austrian company before purchase by German Rheinmetall. In: The Standard. July 6, 2018, accessed December 3, 2018 .
  23. ^ Deutsche Rheinmetall buys Upper Austrian arms company. In: The Standard . July 6, 2018, accessed December 3, 2018 .
  24. ↑ Ulbricht managed to get out of the crisis with car emblems and police helmets. In: The World News. July 17, 2018, accessed December 9, 2018 .
  25. ↑ Tagesspiegel.de Ulbricht Witwe GmbH - Federal states rely on ballistic titanium helmets for patrol officers accessed on September 20, 2018
  26. ↑ a b Thomas Flehmer: Ulbricht's widow gives cars their names. In: Autogazette.de. February 5, 2010, accessed December 9, 2018 .
  27. ↑ Spencer: VPAM-6 Protects against Kalashnikovs. In: Spartanat.com. February 20, 2018, accessed December 9, 2018 .
  28. ↑ a b The RZM code system. In: Militaria Berlin. Retrieved December 9, 2018 .

Coordinates: 48 ° 3 '21.2 "  N , 13 ° 48' 7.2"  E