VEB Berlin metalworks and semi-finished products

VEB Berliner Metallhütten- und Halbzeugwerke (BMHW)
legal form	publicly-owned business
founding	January 1, 1951
resolution	1990
Seat	Berlin - Oberschöneweide and Niederschöneweide , Germany
Number of employees	up to 2300

Ship propeller of the VEB Berliner Metallhütten- und Halbzeugwerke

The VEB Berliner Metallhütten- and semis (BMHW) was a Berlin industrial companies. It was on both sides of the Spree in the districts of Oberschöneweide ( Köpenick district ) and Niederschöneweide ( Treptow district ), today both districts of Treptow-Köpenick .

history

Youth consecration in the company's own “Ernst Schneller” cultural center, 1956

VEB Berliner Metallhütten- und Halbzeugwerke (BMHW) was founded on January 1, 1951 from the state-owned companies VEB Hüttenwerk (formerly Hüttenwerke Kayser AG ), VEB Berliner Halbzeugwerk and VEB Sonderbronze (formerly ADMOS - General German Metalworks Oberschöneweide ). It was directly subordinate to the Ministry of Heavy Industry of the GDR and was added to the VEB Mansfeld Kombinat "Wilhelm Pieck", Eisleben, in 1970 .

The production facilities were located on both banks of the Spree and thus belonged to the Treptow district of Niederschöneweide (parts I and II) and the Köpenick district of Oberschöneweide (part III). VEB BMHW employed up to 2,300 people, most of whom worked in three shifts, among other things to ensure continuous operation and optimal utilization of the blast furnace and melting furnace.

The pollution of the urban environment and a. due to the exhaust gases from the melting furnaces and the introduction of contaminated cooling water (such as from aluminum salt scrubbing) into the Spree was very high.

In the 1950s, the BMHW received the “ Ernst Schneller ” cultural center in Fließstrasse, where events such as Metallurgist's Day, the award of the activist of socialist work award , brigade celebrations and other events regularly took place.

With the melting pot, the VEB BMHW published its own company newspaper, maintained its own company kindergarten and company holiday camp at the Eichhof near Lychen and the company holiday home Zum Klausner on the island of Hiddensee.

The company sports association BSG Stahl Schöneweide was active in football and boxing, among other things. The Stahl Schöneweide eV association emerged in 1990 from the 8th company sports association boxing. Likewise, the volleyball department partially survived the turning point and continued as a recreational athlete. The other company sports associations disbanded at the time of the fall.

Production was discontinued after German reunification in 1990, and most of the former factory premises have remained unused to this day. Only individual parts of the company, such as ADMOS Gleitlager GmbH, were continued. Individual buildings, currently also mostly unused, such as the brick-built administration building on Schnellerstrasse, were also preserved until March 2012. There is now a furniture store and a sporting goods store on the site. Large parts of the former area of the VEB BMHW are part of the Niederschöneweide redevelopment area or part of the Spreehöfe Center.

Factory parts

The company was divided into three parts, the location and specialization of which were essentially due to the location and specialization of the predecessor companies.