Berlin bear seal

Berliner Bären Siegel GmbH Fine spirits specialties
legal form	GmbH
founding	4th August 1950
resolution	around 2019
Reason for dissolution	falling sales
Seat	Berlin , Germany
Number of employees	around 400 (1989) 92 (1994) 10 (2017)
sales	almost € 14 million (as of 2009)
Branch	Liquor maker
Website	www.baerensiegel.berlin

Production building in Berlin-Lichtenberg , 2010

The VEB BärenSiegel Berlin was a spirits producer in the GDR in the legal form of a VEB in the footsteps of two liquor factories. Its administrative headquarters were in the Berlin district of Lichtenberg , and it had production facilities at Rittergutstrasse  82 (since 1960: Josef-Orlopp-Strasse) and at Glienicker Weg / Adlergestell in Berlin-Adlershof . From 1994 the privatization took place with a split of the company. The location in Adlershof was given up at this time. The remaining factory buildings in Lichtenberg went to a winery operator who ceded them to the Meininger distillery after 2010. Meininger soon relocated the company headquarters to the Berlin district of Friedrichshain , and the property in Lichtenberg was given up. (The building shown in the picture will be empty in spring 2020.)

Company history

From the liqueur factory to the liquor monopoly administration in Adlershof

→ Main article : CAF Kahlbaum

In the former Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße 18c in old Berlin , the entrepreneur Johannes Kahlbaum ran a distillation in the third generation at the end of the 19th century . In order to expand his production, around 1884 he acquired a site in what was then the Berlin suburb of Adlershof , at Glienicker Weg 15/17 at the corner of Adlergestell  327–331, where he relocated part of his company. Kahlbaum soon had a large new factory built on the area ; in 1906 he was able to open the fuel purification plant and liqueur factory there. The name of the company soon changed to Chemische Fabrik Adlershof-Berlin and it manufactured chemical equipment and medical cleaning agents. After the early death of Johannes Kahlbaum († 1909) Isidor Stern became managing director.

In 1922, part of the chemical factory came to the Berlin Reich Monopoly Administration in Lichtenberg and became a branch of this facility, but remained in Adlershof. Other parts of the Kahlbaum factory, which had focused on chemical equipment and technical alcoholic beverages, were organizationally outsourced, but also remained on the site. They later became the Berlin-Chemie plant .

A permanent workforce from CAF Kahlbaum moved to Berlin-Charlottenburg in the 1920s, to what was then Spandauer Chaussee , where the factory continued to operate as a liqueur factory and wine distillery . This is where the liqueurs, such as the Reiter Herb Noble Liqueur , which have been known and well-established among Berliners for more than 100 years, were created .

The Reichsmonopoly administration for spirits, Adlershof department located in the Adlershof factory continued to exist until the end of the Second World War. In 1941, C. Kaminski was named as the factory manager.

Reich monopoly administration in Lichtenberg

Based on a 1918 adopted brandy monopoly in the German Reich which was created Reich Spirits Monopoly Administration with branches in all parts of Germany. The Berlin administration took up its seat in what was then the administrative district of Lichtenberg at Rittergutstrasse  40 (since 1950: Josef-Orlopp-Strasse) and operated as the disposal agency of the Reich Monopoly Administration for spirits . This facility worked until the end of World War II , when the task was given to cleaning and storing spirits . There was the commercial and the technical manager as well as three employees.

Development after 1945

After the end of the war, both fuel monopoly administrations resumed their work and distilled drinking spirits themselves again . The operation part in the Lichtenberger Manor Road received by decision of the Magistrate of Greater Berlin on 1 March 1949, the name VEB United Berliner beverage industry and thus a changed task. On August 4, 1950, the company was renamed VEB Bärensiegel Berlin . This date is therefore the official date of foundation.

The Adlershof operation was around 1950 to VEB alcohol , that is, he focused on the alcohol - rectification . Sales and trading took place in Lichtenberg. But he soon came to Bärensiegel completely and no longer used his own name. By merging with other distilleries such as the spirit factory Krakow am See (1946–1953), he further increased his production. Now the company has become one of the largest spirits suppliers in the GDR .

On January 1st, 1970 the company became part of the VEB Getränkekombinat Berlin , together with the breweries Bürgerbräu , Schultheiß , Bärenquell , Engelhardt and the (Berlin) large wine cellar . The brandy distribution warehouse fruit cellar fruit juice drinks Neuruppin was added as a further part of the operation (IV) . However, the employees employed in Adlershof were reduced to less than 50, the administration was almost completely in Lichtenberg. Later the superordinate facility was called VEB Kombinat Spirituosen, Wein und Sekt .

The Julius-Kahlbaumsche liqueur factory with a corresponding bar on Mauerstrasse was also integrated into the beverage combine in 1974.

Primasprit and fuel in general for further processing emerged from the Adlershof operation . In addition to the Bärenquell branches, the employees also supplied Schilkin , numerous medical facilities and pharmaceutical factories. Finally there is even an indication that the Russian magazines in Berlin-Karlshorst and in Wünsdorf were supplied with hard alcoholic beverages.

Operational expansions

On January 1, 1960, under pressure from the East Berlin Economic Commission, the companies CAF Kahlbaum from Hohenschönhausen and Bärensiegel merged to form the major Berlin producer VEB Kahlbaum-Bärensiegel Berlin . In the period from 1964 to 1971, the then owner of the company Pöschke , liqueur factory and wine wholesaler, sold his real estate and the trademark rights to VEB Bärensiegel.

In 1972 the Bärensiegel parent company was expanded by a number of privately owned "schnapps factories" that were forcibly nationalized under political pressure . These included:

• the liqueur factory and wine wholesaler Hermann Degener from Neuruppin, founded in 1883

as well as the

• Wigra - Wilhelm Graßmann KG , Spirituosenfabrik Frankfurt (Oder) , which the merchant and distiller Wilhelm Grassmann founded in April 1947 in existing buildings in the Ferdinandshof area (Gubener Straße 9). The alcoholic soft drinks Vipa and Virola were created here during the GDR era . This factory has now become the Frankfurter Spirituosenfabrik (also part VI for short) of the VEB Bärensiegel Berlin.

In addition, VEB Schilkin from Berlin- Kaulsdorf came to Bärensiegel as part of the Kaulsdorf business in 1981 .

1986-1990

In 1986 the East Berlin telephone address book contained the following operational parts of the VEB Bärensiegel:

• Administration of spirits bottling, 1030 Berlin, Josef-Orlopp-Straße 82,
• Operating part (BT) Pankow, liquor bottling; 1110 Berlin, Treskowstrasse 60,
• Export department, 1099 Berlin (Malchow), Dorfstraße 9 (on the site of the former estate of the city of Berlin),
• Kornbrennerei, 1092 Berlin (Hohenschönhausen), Berliner Straße 14,
  At the beginning of the 1940s, the Berl.-Hohenschönhausen AG industrial estate located on Landsberger Allee had a part of its business that was a supplier to the Löwen brewery . According to the address book, a qualified industrial engineer (Dr. H. Wellhörner) and two master brewers lived in the adjoining buildings .
• Spirit rectification, 1199 Berlin (Adlershof), Adlergestell 327,
• Alte Julius Kahlbaumstube, 1080 Berlin (Mitte), Mauerstraße 85.

In 1989 VEB Bärensiegel produced 26 million bottles of spirits with around 400 employees in all of its operational areas.

Bear seal from 1990

Abandoned factory building of Bärensiegel in Adlershof

Bear seal overall

After the political change , the company was converted into a GmbH and then appeared on the market (in a slightly different spelling) as Berliner BärenSiegel GmbH . Around 1992, the production of Berlin spirits in all Bärensiegel facilities was discontinued because the necessary sales could no longer be achieved.

The previous parts of the business outside Berlin were given up in 1994 and either re- privatized or put to another use.

Adlershof location

The production of fuel in Adlershof was completely given up on October 1, 1990. This measure was preceded by a quality check of the Adlershof large-scale fuel production by employees of the Federal Monopoly Administration for the purpose of a possible takeover. The verdict was "unusable". Therefore, all equipment had to be switched off and the employees were dismissed. In the same year, some committed former Bärensiegler attempted to survive here in Adlershof under the inclusion of a construction project for a large tank farm directly on the Teltow Canal , which had been started in the GDR era , as alcohol Handelskontor Ost GmbH . They were also looking for investors for their idea and finally found what they were looking for in 1992 with the Berkel Pfälzische Spritfabrik company . The Treuhandanstalt had the construction in progress on the Teltow Canal completed and since then has been renting them out to the aforementioned fuel factory: the name Handelskontor Ost, on the other hand, could not be established. The branch in Berlin is now called Berkel AHK alcohol trade GmbH & Co. KG .

Lichtenberg location

In the years 1991/1992 the Berlin telephone directory contains the now privatized company Bärensiegel GmbH , headquarters in Josef-Orlopp-Straße. Sales have been converted to the usual representative system.

The new company management had problems with the usable area in Josef-Orlopp-Straße, a small foreign area protruded onto the Bärensiegel area. In order to come to a conclusion, the top floor of Bärensiegel threatened the Treuhandanstalt with moving the entire production to the state of Brandenburg. It must then have turned out that an area adjustment could take place. In 1994 the Treuhandanstalt sold the GmbH to the wine company Franz Wilhelm Langguth Erben , whose owners divided the production areas into BärenSiegel GmbH , Moritz Thienelt GmbH and Eskalony & Sons GmbH .

The existing buildings in Lichtenberg have now also been given up as production sites. But in Josef-Orlopp-Straße, the new owner had a lightweight metal hall built next to the original building on the purchased area of ​​the former VEB plant and oil mill , in which the spirits were still produced.

In 1994 92 employees achieved a turnover of 100 million marks . After privatization, the new Berlin BärenSiegel GmbH resolved the investment backlog and modernized production.

In the meantime (as of 2020) BärenSiegel has obviously given up the production of spirits: The production building in Berlin-Lichtenberg is orphaned, the old website is dead, and according to the new website, the headquarters of Berliner BärenSiegel GmbH is in Berlin-Friedrichshain , Petersburger Straße 30. Since March 2020 the company is part of Nordbrand Nordhausen, where the herbal liqueur Wurzelpeter has been produced since 2019 .

Building history

1903–1906: A new factory complex is built

The architect Max Jacob designed a spacious hall complex for Johannes Kahlbaum on the building site at Glienicker Weg and Adlergestell. The plans were carried out by the construction company Albert Pförtner from Adlershof. The most striking feature of the building ensemble in the historicizing architectural style, whose halls were faced with red clinker bricks, was the four-storey factory building directly at the intersection. It had an elongated rectangular floor plan , the street-side facades were vertically structured by wall templates and it had two square stair towers on the narrow western side . These created a more sacred impression of the building, especially as they were decorated on all sides with stepped gables and had a tent roof . The conspicuous building was soon called the "Schnapskirche von Adlershof" among the population.

Between 1907 and 1945

Nothing is known about major construction measures in these 40 years or so or about structural damage as a result of the Second World War .

The documents handed down from the period 1920–1940 include the contract between the CAF Kahlbaum Chemische Fabrik, Kahlbaum AG (spirits) and the Reichsmonopoly administration for spirits , which regulated the permanent use of the fuel factory in Rittergutstrasse in Berlin-Lichtenberg .

Between the end of the war and 1990

Some technical systems were gradually renewed over the years, there were also new buildings and modernizations. For example, Bärensiegel had his Factory I reconstructed in Adlershof from 1967 to 1988, and a new transformer station was added on the Adlergestell 327 plot (1970). This was followed by constant smaller and larger construction measures between 1970 and 1989, such as the reconstruction of all parts of the factory in Adlershof (1983–1983), modernizations in the VEB Schilkin in Berlin-Kaulsdorf (1970–1987), which had been taken over by Bärensiegel, and construction measures in the Grain distillery in Hohenschönhausen , which fell to Bärensiegel when Bärensiegel and VEB Kahlbaum merged . In 1974, Plant II on Adlergestell 327 was completely reconstructed.

In the mid-1970s, the original coal-fired power station was replaced by a transportable oil-fired heating station. A tank farm was built on the former coal storage area. VEB Berlin-Chemie built a new heating system on the shared site , which Bärensiegel was able to use from 1980.

From 1985 there is a document showing the use of waste to save fossil fuels. For this purpose, four above-ground pipelines were laid to cross Glienicker Weg.

In connection with the corresponding reconstruction measures (1975 to 1979), a new building was erected in place of the historical apparatus house , and the fuel cleaning system was also completely renewed. The aim of all measures was to increase the annual production to 154,000  hl primary fuel, 38,000 hl secondary fuel and technical alcohol as well as 32,000 hl alcohol absolute / medical-technical . Until 1980 the beverage combine had around 12.3 million GDR marks available for all of this work .

In a storage building there were huge tanks with a capacity of up to 950,000 liters, in which the fuel was stored before it was delivered. First the transport was done by rail, later the company used tank trucks.

The building complex of VEB BärenSiegel in Adlershof stood since the 1980s under monument protection . In the GDR era, other farm buildings were added to the site, including a large warehouse.

Between German reunification and 2017

The production facilities were expanded and scrapped from 1993 onwards. The buildings were empty towards the end of 1994, and the warehouse was soon demolished. Now a housing association was planning the complete demolition of all buildings and wanted to build a residential complex at this point. However, these plans were abandoned in 1995. The Berlin real estate company, the successor to the Treuhandanstalt , was now looking for new prospective buyers across Germany. Because of the long vacancy, many parts of the building complex were already in danger of collapsing , they had to be supported with strong steel girders.

In 1999 the Stuttgart real estate group Widerker acquired the entire area. She negotiated with the representatives of the Senate about a building permit with simultaneous renovation of the listed main building. Approval was granted in 2017 and extensive gutting could now take place.

From 2018: A furniture store opens in the restored core building

The outer shell of the distinctive two-tower factory building was statically secured and renovated. The interior has been restructured for sales purposes and now offers 6800 square meters of usable space . The owner has invested a total of 15 million euros in the construction and renovation work . The furniture company Roller , a subsidiary of Tessner Holding , moved in here and opened its third location in Berlin on December 10, 2018. This created jobs for 35 salespeople.

Root peter - the best-known liqueur from BärenSiegel

Products and brands

From 1950 to 1994

Various liqueurs and brandies with the following brand names were produced until 1990:

• Adlershof vodka
• Apple grain 
• Berliner Klarer (advertising slogan: "This schnapps leaves the factory / only with a quality mark")
• Blue River
• Ice clearer
• Escalony drops (since 1986)
• Yellow Delicious
• Gold crown
• Great Master (Whiskey)
• Half & half as well as half and half with the mold team
• Ace of hearts brandy blend
• Jamaica rum blend
• Caribbean-Jamaica rum blend (45%)
• Kiwi (cherry with whiskey)
• Lichtenberger wheat double grain
• Maori dream
• Old Juan rum blend (54%)
• Red-Mary cherry with rum
• Störtebeker overseas rum blend
• Wurzelpeter (advertising slogan: "Sooner or later everyone drinks Wurzelpeter")

Since 1994

After 1994, the root peter ('Original' and 'Bitter Orange'), Goldkrone and Eskalony drops and, since 1997, Thienelt Echte Kroatzbeere   continued to be successful on the market. Since 2019, Bärensiegel GmbH has only been selling the herbal liqueur Wurzelpeter , which is produced by the parent company Nordbrand Nordhausen GmbH.

See also

• Löwenbrauerei , former grain distillery of VEB Bärensiegel
• Liqueur factory & wine shop Julius Kahlbaum
• CAF Kahlbaum

literature

• Bernd Deckert, Werner Bokermann, Klaus Richter: The bear that brought happiness - memories of the VEB Bear Seal Berlin from 1949 to 1989. Nora, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86557-187-8 .

Web links

Commons : BärenSiegel  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Commons : Bärensiegel factory (Berlin-Adlershof)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Company website
• CAF Kahlbaum Aktiengesellschaft (spirits and liqueur factory) , 1923.
• Institute for Monument Preservation (Ed.): The architectural and art monuments of the GDR. Capital Berlin-II . Henschelverlag, Berlin 1984, p. 407 .
• Otto von Mering: Income from German stock corporations before and after the (First World) War , Chapter 5: The fuel factories . Springer-Verlag, 2013.
• Norbert Koch-Klauke: Refurbished schnapps factory . In: Berliner Zeitung , December 6, 2018, p. 14.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Industry overview> Distillations . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1910, IV, p. 77.
2. ↑ Monument No. 0945251 In: www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de.
3. ↑ Glienicker Weg . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1922, IV, p. 1619 ( Kahlbaum GmbH is registered as the owner under the three (then) parcel numbers 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 with the factory CAF, Chemical Factory (Berlin) ).
4. ↑ CAF Kahlbaum . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1920, I, p. 1236.
5. ↑ Stern, Isidore . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1915, I, p. 3105 ( Director of Spirituszentrale GmbH and Spritbank AG. Residential address: Kaiserin-Augusta-Strasse 75, Berlin W 10).
6. ^ Kahlbaum, CAF In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1930, I, p. 1454.
7. ↑ Adlershof → Adlergestell 227-331 . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1941, IV, p. 2023 (Schering-Kahlbaum AG was now separated under the address Adlergestell 333).
8. ↑ Rittergutstrasse 40 . In: Berlin address book , 1921, IV.
9. ^ Lichtenberg> Rittergutstrasse 40–42 . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1943, IV, p. 2289.
10. ↑ ^{a b c} East exports bring happiness . In: Berliner Zeitung , July 25, 1994.
11. ^ Official telephone book for Berlin, 1952 edition: Bear seal , accessed on December 9, 2018.
12. ↑ Contents of DEFA - eyewitnesses from 1951; accessed on December 8, 2018.
13. ↑ Official Telephone Book Berlin, 1956 edition: VEB Spiritus Adlershof , p. 390.
14. ^ Chronicle of the spirit factory Krakow am See; here: 1954; Retrieved May 16, 2010
15. ^ East Berlin telephone and address book 1969> VEB Bärensiegel: (at the foot of the page).
16. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Adlershofer Zeitung , 2007: From Kahlbaums Spritfabrik to VEB Bärensiegel and the AHK Adlershof / 100 years of alcohol in Adlershof . [1] , accessed December 16, 2018.
17. ↑ Archive materials in the German Digital Library for the Combine Spirits, Wine and Sparkling Wine , accessed on December 12th. December 2018.
18. ↑ Illustration of two products on flickr; Retrieved May 16, 2010
19. ^ Processing and sale of the Pöschke company (owner Max Finke) to VEB Bärensiegel . In: Landesarchiv Berlin, C Rep 105-M, No. 27669.
20. ↑ ^{a b} Hans-Hermann Degener died. MOZ, accessed June 12, 2020 . 
21. ↑ Telex directory of the GDR from 1988, p. 60: Section VI of the VEB Bärensiegel in Gubener Strasse 9 in Frankfurt (Oder) [2]
22. ↑ ^{a b} 1947 to 1990s - Wigra - Wilhelm Graßmann KG, Spirituosenfabrik Frankfurt (Oder). In: Think Ferdinandshof. European University Viadrina, 2015, accessed June 14, 2020 . 
23. ^ Phonebook 1986> Complete bear seal , accessed on December 10, 2018.
24. ^ Berliner Strasse 14> Berl.-Hohenschönhausen AG industrial site . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1942, IV, p. 2336.
25. ↑ ^{a b c d} Koch-Klaucke: Refurbished schnapps factory , ...
26. ↑ Website of the Berkel Group on the Berlin location , accessed on December 16, 2018.
27. ↑ Berliner Telefonbuch (East), p. 46: Bärensiegel GmbH , accessed on December 10, 2018.
28. ↑ In Brandenburg, building land would be cheaper . In: Neues Deutschland , June 17, 1993; Reading sample, entire article subject to charge; accessed on March 8, 2019.
29. ^ Taken from the company signs at the Berlin-Lichtenberg location, Josef-Orlopp-Straße 72 (May 2010).
30. ↑ BärenSiegel stays in Berlin . In: Berliner Zeitung , January 22, 1994
31. ↑ Old website
32. ↑ New website
33. ↑ See Thüringer Allgemeine from February 26, 2020: Nordbrand Nordhausen takes over Berlin cult liqueur and the website nordbrand-nordhausen.de
34. ↑ Architectural and art monuments, ... (see: Literature ).
35. ^ Reich monopoly administration for spirits on the leasing of the fuel factory in Lichtenberg . A Rep 229 - Sp, No. 8. In: Landesarchiv Berlin.
36. ↑ Reconstruction of production plant I in VEB Bärensiegel, 1967–1988 . C Rep 110-01 No. 1616, In: Landesarchiv Berlin .
37. ↑ New transformer station (investment VEB Bärensiegel), 1970 . C Rep 107-M, No. 635, In: Landesarchiv Berlin.
38. ^ Construction work in VEB Bärensiegel, grain distillery section, Berliner Strasse 14. 1976–1989 . C Rep 110-01 No. 4757, In: Landesarchiv Berlin.
39. ↑ Reconstruction of Plant II (investment VEB Bärensiegel), location permit Adlergestell 327. C Rep 107-M, No. 635 in: Landesarchiv Berlin.
40. ↑ Use of waste heat VEB Bärensiegel (Berlin-Chemie investment), site permit Glienicker Weg 125–127 . C Rep 107-M, No. 206. In: Landesarchiv Berlin.
41. ↑ Use of waste energy VEB Bärensiegel , C Rep 107-M, No. 88 in: Landesarchiv Berlin.
42. ↑ Many pictures from the state of 2014 with information about VEB Bärensiegel Adlershof and the corresponding history (only English) on wordpress.com; accessed on December 10, 2018.
43. ↑ Photo documentation from the former Plant II, Berlin-Adlershof, as well as detailed plant history (2013)
44. ↑ Ronald Galenza, Heinz Havemeister: Feeling B - Mix me a drink, punk in the east. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, ISBN 978-3-89602-418-3 , p. 116.
45. ^ Kost-the-Ost kost-the-ost.de; Retrieved May 16, 2010.
46. ↑ wup05_1995-1  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) patent date of Eskalony's drops on p. 105; Retrieved May 18, 2010.  
47. ↑ ^{a b c} View of various labels from the Bärensiegel product range , accessed on May 26, 2019.
48. ↑ kroatzbeere.de Langguth zu Kroatzbeer-Liqueur; Retrieved May 18, 2010

Coordinates: 52 ° 25 ′ 45.6 ″  N , 13 ° 33 ′ 7.4 ″  E