United light metal works (Hanover)

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Factory building on Schlorumpfsweg with seagulls - logo and lettering light metal

The United Light Metal Works (VLW) in Hanover , also known as the United Light Metal Works ( VLM) and United Aluminum Works ( VAW), was one of the largest industrially operated semi-finished product plants in Germany for the processing of aluminum in particular in the 20th century . The address of the business premises was Göttinger Chaussee 12 , which was also the address of a building that is now a listed building in the Hanover district of Ricklingen near Linden .

History and description

Former main entrance at Göttinger Chaussee 12

The Hanoverian aluminum plant emerged from an initiative of the United Light Metal Works in Bonn, which had already been founded in Bonn during the Weimar Republic in 1927 : At the time of National Socialism , on the grounds of the disused Hanoverian wagon factory (HAWA), with the help of a grant from the German Reich The HAWA facilities north of Frankfurter Allee were converted into a modern armaments factory with a loan of 4 million Reichsmarks . In 1935, the plant for the production of semi-finished aluminum and its alloys was put into operation in Hanover . The products included sheet metal, strips, bars, tubes, profiles, forgings and wires for the domestic industry, especially for aircraft construction. But safety levers for bomb locks and other accessories for the air force also left the plant near Linden, where a staff of around 3500 people temporarily worked.

In 1937, new light metal works were also built in Laatzen , which were also included in the armaments production.

During the Second World War , foreign "civilian workers", i.e. foreign workers and prisoners of war , were deployed at the workbenches of the VLW at an early stage, and they had to live in different barracks, separated by nationality. With deliberately cruel reprisals, the number of foreign workers in the Linden plant alone more than doubled from June 1942 to the end of 1944 to 1533 people.

In the post-war period , the factory near Linden was partially dismantled in 1947 on the orders of the British military government . After initial great difficulties, the remaining plant was able to supply international markets as early as the mid-1950s.

In the year of its 50th anniversary, the Hanoverian aluminum works appeared as a supplier for aircraft and shipbuilding, but also for the camping industry and the German armed forces . With around 1,200 employees and a market share of around 25 percent, the Hanover location was the largest aluminum semi-finished product factory in the Federal Republic of Germany at the time. But just four years later, the state- owned company began to decline - with redundancies for operational reasons .

At the beginning of the 1990s, economic problems on the international export markets were accompanied by a decline in orders from the arms industry. Eventually, the emergence of new competitors and a deterioration in both the market and earnings situation led to further layoffs.

After the United Leichtmetall-Werke was mentioned for the last time in the address book of the state capital Hanover for the year 1993, the trade for the Hanover plant, whose headquarters were in Bonn, was deregistered at the end of 1998.

Fonts

  • Publications of the research institute of the United Light Metal Works Hanover , 1938–1941

literature

  • BW Mott: The Vereinigte Leichtmetall-Werke, Hanover (in English), in: File / Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee , HM Stationery Office, London; 1946 p. 33, 32
  • o. V .: United light metal works limited liability company , in Helmut Plath , Herbert Mundhenke , Ewald Brix : Heimatchronik der Stadt Hannover (= Heimatchroniken der Stadt und Kreis der Bundesgebiet , Vol. 17), Köln: Archiv für Deutsche Heimatpflege GmbH , 1956, p. 412ff.

Periodicals:

  • Alu Press. Company newspaper of the DKP Hannover for the colleagues from VAW , 1983–
  • The light metal. Newspaper of the DKP operating group VAW , 1987–

Web links

Commons : Vereinigte Leichtmetallwerke (Hannover)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ top v .: United light metal works limited liability company , in Helmut Plath, Herbert Mundhenke, Ewald Brix: Heimatchronik der Stadt Hannover (= Heimatchroniken der Stadt und Kreis der Bundesgebiet , Vol. 17), Köln: Archiv für Deutsche Heimatpflege GmbH, 1956, p. 412ff.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i o. V .: Vereinigte Leichtmetallwerke (VLM) and Waldemar R. Röhrbein : Vereinigte Aluminiumwerke. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , pp. 640-641.
  3. ↑ Compare Ricklingen In: Directory of architectural monuments according to § 4 ( NDSchG ) (excluding architectural monuments of the archaeological monument preservation ), status: July 1, 1985, City of Hanover , Lower Saxony State Administration Office - publications of the Institute for Monument Preservation , p. 25f .; Addendum to Addendum to Monument Topography Federal Republic of Germany , Monuments in Lower Saxony, City of Hanover , Part 2, Bd. 10.2, ed. by Hans-Herbert Möller , Lower Saxony State Administration Office - Institute for Monument Preservation , Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Braunschweig 1985, ISBN 3-528-06208-8
  4. ↑ a b c Frank Baranowski : Armaments production in the middle of Germany 1929 to 1945. Southern Lower Saxony with Braunschweiger Land and Northern Thuringia including the Southern Harz - comparative consideration of the staggered construction of two armaments centers , second, edited edition as e-book, Bad Langensalza / Thuringia: Verlag Rockstuhl, ISBN 978-3-95966-003-7 ; limited preview in Google Book search
  5. ↑ Compare the information and cross-references in the catalog of the German National Library

Coordinates: 52 ° 20 ′ 57.8 "  N , 9 ° 43 ′ 1.3"  E