Wilhelmshütte (Bornum)
The Wilhelmshütte in Bornum in Ambergau am Harz near Bockenem was an ironworks , foundry and stove and oven factory from 1727 to 1966 .
Foundation and location
The hut is named after Duke August Wilhelm zu Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , who founded it in 1727. Their location was chosen well. The iron stone was found nearby in Ortshausen and Neuwallmoden, the charcoal came from Hils and Lamspringe , the lime from the area in Helmscherode . The furnace fan and hammer mill could be powered by a moat from the nearby Rhüden pond (until 1777) and from the Nette . The first iron tapping took place on October 23, 1727 .
Expansion, bankruptcy and a fresh start
After 56 years of operation, the blast furnace had to be rebuilt in 1783 . Around 1803 the iron stone delivered was treated by stamp mills, blast furnaces, sand molding, fresh fire, hammer mills and blacksmiths. Further processing then took place in Holzminden . The blast furnace had to be shut down in 1857 because not enough iron stone could be delivered and its operation became unprofitable. This year the state-run smelter was privatized (Grünig brothers). The iron foundry produced cast iron , wrought iron and later wagon axles. On November 15, 1890, a competitor who owned the Friedrich-Carls-Hütte ironworks in Delligsen near Alfeld took over the business. During this time, large monuments were made from chased copper sheets. This included the lion monument from 1890 in the Belgian village of Quatre-Bras , which at the death of Duke Frederick William on 16 June 1815 in the battle against Napoleon recalls. In 1897 the owner had a large machine molding shop built in Wilhelmshütte, but had to file for bankruptcy on February 9, 1901 .
It wasn't until February 28, 1902 that the Braunschweigisch-Hannoversche machine factory continued operations. The factory was then taken over by the Bernburger Maschinenfabrik on June 4, 1909 and was called Wilhelmshütte GmbH from 1918. An enamelling plant was put into operation in order to be able to manufacture heating and cooking devices. After a long crisis, the plant filed for bankruptcy on October 17, 1933.
After the remaining ovens were auctioned on August 12, 1933, the factory was shut down on September 29, 1933. But on August 7, 1934, the production of furnaces and cast goods could be resumed with initially 30 and after 3 months 60 employees.
On November 19, 1934, the bankruptcy notice was canceled because the Hildesheim wholesaler Otto Hempelmann (1880–1952) had taken over the business. A new company logo showing a flaming W for Wilhelmshütte has been introduced.
Otto Hempelmann quickly expanded the company by specializing in the production of coal stoves and coal stoves made of cast iron. Shortly before his death in 1952, he published his collection of poems "Smiling Art of Living". It shows the humorous side of the entrepreneur. For the first time, employees received an additional sum of money at Christmas 1934. Around 1937 he developed the BORNUM Rapid stove with an effective fire shaft air duct that sucked in the cold air from the floor and warmed it up into the room. For the coal stoves he invented the “Eskimo ember ring” hotplate. Both inventions allowed the company to grow vigorously after just 4 years, and 150 people were employed. Raw materials were delivered via the company's own track systems. The operations manager Dipl.-Ing. On July 9, 1939, Kegel gave the employees a renovated house with washrooms (the so-called followers' house, which is still a derelict building today). In 1939 he became Oberscharführer of the SA in Bornum and managed the company together with Karl Houcken until the end of 1945.
World War II and post-war period
From 1939/40 onwards, the Wilhelmshütte, with around 300 employees and the neighboring Harz axle works, was an important operation for the war effort. The production of stoves and ovens could continue. The so-called Russian camp was located on the company premises. According to the camp list of the Belgian National Tracing Service, there were about 30 civilian Russian forced laborers and about 25 Italians there until 1945. In August 1945, 53 Poles were still housed there. One department made bombs that were filled with explosives elsewhere. When the American troops reached the factory on April 9, 1945, they were greeted enthusiastically by Italian Badoglio soldiers. The Italians had become opponents of the war under Prime Minister Pietro Badoglio in 1943/44 and were captured by the Wehrmacht and brought to Bornum.
After the war, the company was able to steadily expand its market position and modernize production. The management took over from 1949 to 1966 Herrmann Müller (born 1894, died after 1964), who previously worked in the Hildesheim Senkingwerk. Company apartments were built for the employees on the company premises and in the village of Bornum . By 1952 there were 400 employees again. On December 20, 1954 the company took over the tower clock and bell casting factory J. F. Weule in Bockenem. It had gone bankrupt in 1953 after 117 years of existence. Production was resumed and the range was expanded to include stove and oven parts. The management of both companies was now carried out from Bockenem. In 1955 a semi-automatic foundry with an output of 450 tons per month started operations, in 1965 it was further developed into a fully automatic foundry with sand preparation and molding.
End of operation
Negative impact on the business development reflected the fact that in the 1960s when domestic heating the fuel oil of coal rank expired. Heavy, cast-iron stoves were no longer required for this. The orders for the foundry were soon missing. In addition, one partner left in 1965, so that the banks withdrew their loan commitments. As a result, Wilhelmshütte had to file for bankruptcy on January 17, 1966 and around 600 employees became unemployed. The ultra-modern machines could only be sold for scrap value. Since the bankruptcy, the company buildings in Bornum have been rented to smaller companies. The Weule factory site in Bockenem was only cleared in 1987. The hut's historic blast furnace from 1783 has been accessible as an industrial monument since September 17, 1982 after renovation .
literature
- Friedrich Günther: The Ambergau . Sendet, Walluf / Hannover 1887, ISBN 3-500-29430-8 (unchanged reprint 1974).
- Wilhelm Ackenhausen: Bornum and its surroundings in the middle Ambergau . Bornum municipal administration, Bornum 1962, DNB 450019403 (Ortschronik von Bornum).
- Manfred Klaube: The brown years - the Ambergau during the Nazi era . Paper plane, Clausthal-Zellerfeld 1995, ISBN 3-931443-20-5 .
- Manfred Klaube: The Ambergau . Economic, social and political history. Ed .: City of Bockenem. Paper plane, Clausthal-Zellerfeld 2001, ISBN 3-89720-530-0 .
- Gudrun Fiedler, Hans-Ulrich Ludewig (eds.): Forced labor and war economy in the state of Braunschweig . 1939-1945. Appelhans, Braunschweig 2003, ISBN 3-930292-78-5 , p. 411 .
- Manfred Klaube: War and post-war years in the provinces . Bockenem and the Ambergau 1939 to 1949. Self-published, Bockenem 2008, DNB 993323103 .
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 58 ′ 27.6 ″ N , 10 ° 8 ′ 3.8 ″ E