Ackermann twisting mill
The Ackermann twisting mill in Heilbronn's Sontheim district was a mechanical twisting mill . The company was founded by Friedrich Ackermann in 1868 and, after initial economic difficulties, converted into a stock corporation in 1882 . By the end of the 19th century, the twisting mill had developed into one of the most important companies of its kind in Germany and was able to maintain this leading position until after the Second World War . In 1957 the Ackermann twisting mill merged with the Göggingen sewing thread factory to form Ackermann-Göggingen AG , the largest European sewing material manufacturer at the time. From 1980 onwards, production was relocated to Augsburg and a large part of the production facilities in Sontheim were then torn down. Today only a few buildings remind of the former twisting mill.
history
Company foundation in Sontheim
In 1842 Friedrich Ackermann (1818–1869) opened a yarn, merchandise and haberdashery shop in Heilbronn at Lohtorstraße 31. From 1868 Ackermann began to prepare for the production of his own spun and twisted goods, for which he bought the baroque from Heilbronn factory owner Bruckmann Teutonic order summer house in Sontheim and founded the mechanical twisting mill Ackermann & Cie. Ackermann had acquired the factory's spinning and twisting machines from England at the World Exhibition in Paris, and the first workers were trained by English engineers. The factory opened on July 20, 1869. A key, later a crossed double key, was chosen as the company logo, based on the sandstone coat of arms of the Teutonic Order Commander Georg Adolph Speth Freiherr von und zu Schülzburg.
After the death of the founder, the Heilbronn trading company and the Sontheim production were separated in the second generation. The Sontheimer twisting mill operated under the management of Karl Ackermann as Mechanische Zwirnerei C. Ackermann & Cie, Sontheim near Heilbronn. A large number of factory buildings were built around the summer house, in which knitting and sewing threads were produced. Opposite the administration building was the Ackermann director's villa .
Stock company from 1882
The twisting mill in Sontheim ran into economic difficulties from around 1878 and had to open bankruptcy proceedings in 1882. Mainly at the instigation of the Bönnigheim entrepreneur Max Amann, however, financiers quickly found who brought together a share capital of 1 million marks in order to re-establish the company in 1882 as a joint stock company Mechanische Zwirnerei Heilbronn, later Zwirnerei Ackermann AG. The first chairman of the supervisory board was Gustav Hauck . The previous production facilities were enlarged by 75 percent; in addition to sewing threads, crochet threads and darning threads were also produced. Within a few years, the company grew into one of the most important yarn manufacturers in Germany. In 1897 there were 650 employees, in 1907 there were 760. Sales at that time were 3 million pounds of yarn. In 1905 the AG had a capital of 1.5 million marks. The trading company in Heilbronner Bahnhofstrasse 5–7 sold not only sewing threads from Sontheim but also wool threads.
The First World War had an extremely negative effect on the twisting mill and the entire industry in terms of raw material sources and sales. In 1920, Ackermann merged with 13 other companies to form the Association of German Cotton Sewing Thread Factories (Sewing Thread Association) GmbH, which had a joint sales company in Munich and, in the course of the inflation after the First World War , when importing the wooden bobbins required for yarn production from Sweden and Finland became impossible, when Holzwarenfabrik Königsberg GmbH was founded in Königsberg in 1921 , which annually delivered 85 million thread spools. The takeover survived high inflation and the global economic crisis. In the mid-1930s there were over 1000 employees.
The twisting mill gained importance in Sontheim not only as an employer, but also because of its social commitment. A company health insurance fund had already been established in 1893 . Around 1898, the twisting mill contributed to the construction of the Protestant St. Matthew's Church through generous donations . In 1902 the twisting mill built a bridge on the Neckar in Sontheim. In 1907 the twisting mill donated a total of 35,000 Reichsmarks for the construction of the Protestant parsonage and a day nursery, which was called Ackermannstift after its inauguration in 1908 and served the Protestant parish for various charitable purposes. The Catholic parish received grants to purchase a new organ. The founder's grandson, Friedrich Ackermann (1856–1928), became an honorary citizen of Sontheim. In 1933, the twisting mill financed the conversion of the old cemetery chapel in the neighboring old cemetery to become the Sontheim war memorial for those who fell in the First World War, in which the majority of the workforce had been drafted.
In the Second World War, too, many employees were drafted into the Wehrmacht, the drafted employees were replaced by conscripted women, and production continued until the factories were damaged by fighting in the spring of 1945. In an air raid on September 10, 1944, the business premises of the trading house in Bahnhofstrasse were completely destroyed. The trading operation was then relocated to Affaltrach , where the Ackermann family had also moved. The air raid on Heilbronn on December 4, 1944 caused further destruction and deaths among employees . After the Americans occupied Affaltrach on April 14, 1945, the Ackermann company premises there were occupied by them, and all of the camps, including the misappropriated Affaltrach synagogue , were looted. The trading house was only able to resume business in Heilbronn in 1949, while production in Sontheim with 250 workers was continued in July 1945.
The production plant in Sontheim gradually changed its product range after the Second World War, with the production of linen threads beginning in 1946 and crochet thread production being discontinued in 1952 .
Ackermannstift, donated by the twisting mill in 1908
War memorial, donated by the twisting mill in 1933
Merger to form Ackermann-Göggingen AG
In 1957 the thread factory Ackermann merged with the sewing thread factory Göggingen to form Ackermann-Göggingen AG , based in Augsburg. With this merger of the two largest German sewing material manufacturers at the time, the new company became the largest sewing material manufacturer in Europe. The company's range comprised around 18,000 items.
The development of automatic sewing machines , multi-needle machines and knitting machines resulted in the conversion from native to synthetic fibers from 1960 , which were produced in Sontheim under the brand names Syncord , Synton and Rasant . The yarns were sold by Garnindustrie GmbH, based in Munich. This marketed the products in more than 50 countries, with exports accounting for 20% of sales.
Production was carried out in Sontheim until 1982, after which most of the buildings were quickly demolished and the areas that were gained were built over. The 30 meter high remainder of the once 82 meter high chimney was demolished on August 2, 1984. The Augsburg factory was taken over in 1993 by the Bönnigheim yarn manufacturer Amann & Sons .
Brand name "key thread"
A brand name used by the Ackermann twisting mill for a long time was the term key yarn. This goes back to the sandstone coat of arms of the Teutonic Order Commander Georg Adolph Speth Freiherr von und zu Schülzburg, who had the building erected in the 17th century, on the administration building in Sontheim. The three keys that are supposed to be seen on his coat of arms are actually wolf traps in terms of their meaning, but were misinterpreted as keys. A single key and a woman's head drawn in profile were already used as registered trademarks of the company in advertisements in the 1870s, and the term key thread also dates back to that time. On the price list No. 32 of July 3, 1895, a crossed double key was shown as a factory mark for the first time.
The Schlüsselgarnweg has been a reminder of this brand name in Heilbronn-Sontheim since 1998 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Uwe Jacobi: That was the 20th century in Heilbronn . Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2001, ISBN 3-86134-703-2 , p. 9
literature
- Karl Eckert: History of the company Zwirnerei Ackermann AG. In: Sontheim 1188–1988. Historical memories on the occasion of the 800th anniversary . Sontheimer Open Circle, Sontheim 1988
- Hubert Weckbach: "Unexcused absence from work will be punished" - In 1882 the Ackermann twisting mill set up work regulations . In: Swabia and Franconia. Local history supplement of the Heilbronn voice . 36th year, no. 11 . Heilbronner Voice publishing house, November 1990, ZDB -ID 128017-X .
- Christhard Schrenk, Hubert Weckbach: "... for your account and risk". Invoices and letterheads from Heilbronn companies. Heilbronn City Archives, Heilbronn 1994, ISBN 3-928990-48-9 ( Small series of publications by the Heilbronn City Archives. Volume 30).
