WesWorld

Repository for data pertaining to the subject; excludes diversified industrial combines (e.g. Krupp)

The Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG (VESTAG) was formed on 14 January 1926 through the merger of several of the leading mining and metallurgical companies of Germany, including the works of August Thyssen, the Phoenix AG für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb, the Rheinische Stahlwerke AG, those portions of the Deutsch-Luxemburgische Bergwerks und Hütten AG that lay within the postwar German borders, the Bochumer Verein für Bergbau und Gußstahlfabrikation and the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks AG. As such it commands a dominant position in German metallurgy, representing an unprecedented combination of mines, steelworks and finishing plants. The firm operates twenty-eight coal mines, sixty-six separate metallurgical plants and numerous other industrial facilities, employing altogether more than 240,000 workers with an annual turnover in excess of three billion Reichsmarks. It is responsible for more than fifteen percent of German coal production and more than thirty percent of German steel-making capacity. The headquarters of the firm is located in the city of Düsseldorf.

The first chief executive officer of the enterprise was Albert Vögler, who served until 1935. The first chairman of the board of directors was Fritz Thyssen, while Ernst Poensgen, Carl Rabes and Gustav Knepper were also members of the board of directors.

In 1927 VESTAG organised the Deutsche Edelstahlwerke AG to bring under one firm the bulk of Germany’s high quality steel mills. Employing more than 15,000 workers this subsidiary firm remains the largest maker of high grade stainless and specialty steels in Europe. The headquarters of this subsidiary firm is located in the city of Krefeld.

In 1928 it organised Ruhrstahl AG to take charge of a number of specialist steel mills located in the heart of the Ruhr, including: the Henrichshütte Hattingen AG, from the locomotive manufacturer Henschel & Sohn AG, the Oberkassel and Gelsenkirchen works of the Rheinisch-Westfälische Stahl und Walzwerke AG, the Annener Gußstahlwerk in Witten-Annen, the Gußstahl-Werk in Witten and the Brackwede works of the Vereinigte Press und Hammerwerke Dahlhausen-Bielefeld AG. The headquarters of this subsidiary firm is located in the city of Witten.

In 1929 it organised the Mitteldeutsche Stahlwerke AG as part of the merger of the interests of Friedrich Flick with those of the Vereinigte Stahlwerke. The Flick interests included the Oberschlesische Eisenindustrie AG, the Bismarckhütte AG and the Kattowitzer AG für Bergbau und der Eisenhüttenbetrieb, with its interests in Czech and Polish metallurgical firms. Through the Mitteldeutsche Stahlwerke VESTAG also came to control the Linke-Hofmann-Busch-Werke AG, a consortium of railway equipment manufacturing firms in Saxony and Silesia.

In 1930 it acquired the firm Deutsche Maschinenbau AG, with its headquarters in the city of Duisburg. This firm had been created in 1910 through the merger of the Märkischen Maschinenbau-Anstalt L. Stuckenholz AG, of Wetter an der Ruhr, the Duisburger Maschinenbau AG of Duisburg, und the Benrather Maschinenfabrik GmbH of Benrath. This subsidiary specialises in the manufacture of cranes and other large industrial machines.

In addition to those cited above the numerous subsidiary and affiliate firms of the Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG include:

Brandenburger Eisenwerke GmbH, Brandenburg an der Havel (iron and steel)
Eisenwerk Maximilianshütte AG, Werk Haidhof (iron and steel)
Eisenwerk Maximilianshütte AG, Werk Sulzbach-Rosenberg (iron and steel)
Eisenwerk Maximilianshütte AG, Werk Unterwellenborn (iron and steel)
Fahrzeug und Motoren-Werke GmbH, Breslau (motor vehicles)
Hanseatische Kettenwerk GmbH, Hamburg-Langenhorn (tracked vehicles)
Harpener Bergbau AG, Dortmund (coal)
Hochofenwerke Lübeck AG, Lübeck (blast furnaces for iron)
Karlshütte Maschinen und Stahlbau GmbH, Waldenburg (machinery)
Linke-Hofmann-Busch-Werke AG, Breslau (railway equipment)
Märkische Walzwerk AG, Strausberg (rolling mills)
Maschinenfabrik Donauwörth GmbH, Donauwörth (armaments and machinery)
Mitteldeutsche Stahlwerke AG, Gröditz (iron and steel)
Nordseewerke GmbH, Emden (shipbuilding)
Presswerk Westfalen AG, Kierspe-Bahnhof (steel stamping)
Rawack und Grünfeld AG, Rostock (iron ore trading)
Siegener Eisenindustrie AG, Ernsdorf (specialty steels)
Spandauer Stahlindustrie GmbH, Berlin-Spandau (high quality steel)
Waggon und Maschinenfabrik AG vormals Busch, Bautzen (railway equipment)
Waggonfabrik Gebruder Schöndorff AG, Düsseldorf (railway equipment)
Westfälische Union Drahtindustrie AG, Hamm (wire rolling mills)

The iron and steel-making plants controlled by the Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG include:

August Thyssen-Hütte AG, Duisburg-Hamborn
Eisenwerke Gelsenkirchen AG, Gelsenkirchen
Eisenwerke Mühlheim-Meiderich AG, Mülheim (Ruhr)
Gußstahlwerk Bochumer Verein AG, Bochum
Gußstahlwerk Gelsenkirchen AG, Gelsenkirchen
Gußstahlwerk Oberkassel AG, Düsseldorf-Oberkassel
Gußstahlwerk Witten AG, Witten (Ruhr)
Hüttenwerk Dortmund AG, Dortmund
Hüttenwerk Geisweid AG, Geisweid
Hüttenwerk Hörde AG, Dortmund-Hörde
Hüttenwerk Huckingen AG, Duisburg
Hüttenwerk Ilsede Peine AG, Peine
Hüttenwerk Niederrhein AG, Duisburg
Hüttenwerk Oberhausen AG, Oberhausen
Hüttenwerk Rheinhausen AG, Rheinhausen
Hüttenwerk Ruhrort-Meiderich AG, Duisburg
Hüttenwerk Union AG, Dortmund
Rheinische Röhrenwerke AG, Mülheim (Ruhr)
Stahl und Röhrenwerk Reisholz AG, Düsseldorf-Reisholz
Stahl und Walzwerk Großenbaum AG, Duisburg-Großenbaum
Stahlwerk Hagen AG, Hagen
Stahlwerke Bochum AG, Bochum


The specialty steel-making plants controlled by the Deutsche Edelstahlwerke AG include:

Bergische Stahlindustrie AG, Remscheid-Honsberg
Felix Bischoff GmbH, Duisburg
Krefelder Stahlwerke AG, Krefeld
Magnetfabrik der Dortmunder Union GmbH, Dortmund-Aplerbeck
Stahlwerk Richard Lindenberg AG, Remscheid-Hasten
Stahlwerke Brüninghaus AG, Werdohl

This firm was founded in 1920 through the merger of the long-established Aktiengesellschaft Buderus'sche Eisenwerke and the Röchlingsche Eisen und Stahlwerk AG – a union of two of Germany’s larger metallurgical firms, with wide-ranging interests in iron, coal and steel. It acts as a holding company for a number of operating firms as detailed below.

In 1934 the firm acquired the assets of the Hessen-Nassauischer Hüttenverein, including an iron works in Oberscheld, six iron foundries, and extensive properties of iron ore mines. This acquisition strengthened its material base and further diversified its production activities. This firm was reorganised as Hessische Berg und Hüttenwerke AG.

The core of the group’s business in the production of steel rails and wire, cast iron, iron foundry products and wide variety of iron and steel castings, forgings and semi-manufactures.

Subsidiary operating companies of the firm include:

Bruderus Drahtwerk Köln AG, Köln (wire and cables)
Buderus'sche Handelsgesellschaft mbH, Berlin (wholesale distribution of iron and steel products)
Drahtwerk Luisenthal AG, Völklingen (wire and cables)
Drahtwerk St. Ingbert AG, St. Ingbert (wire and cables)
Edelstahlwerke Buderus AG, Wetzlar (specialty steels)
Hessische Berg und Hüttenwerke AG, Wetzlar (iron and coal production)
Metallhüttenwerke Lübeck GmbH, Lübeck-Herrenwyk (metal alloys)
Neunkircher Eisenwerk AG, Neunkirchen (iron and steel products)
Saarbrücker Eisenhüttengesellschaft AG, Saarbrücken-Burbach (iron and steel products)
Stahlwerke Bruderus-Hedwigshütte AG, Wetzlar (iron and steel products)
Stahlwerke Bruderus-Sophienhütte AG, Wetzlar (iron and steel products)
Stahlwerke Buderus-Röchling AG, Hannover-Melle (iron and steel products)
Stahlwerke Röchling-Burbach AG, Dillingen (iron and steel products)
Stahlwerke Röchling-Völkingen AG, Völkingen (iron and steel products)


Affiliated companies of the firm include:

Ferrum GmbH, Dinkelscherben (research laboratories)
Sieger Heizkesselwerk, Buschhütten (high pressure boilers)

Founded in 1881 the Österreichisch-Alpine Montangesellschaft is the leading steelmaker in the Austrian provinces. It facilities include an integrated steel mill in Donawitz, a blast furnace complex at Eisenerz in the Steiermark and a steel finishing plant at Zeltweg.

Following the reunification of 1933, the company renovated its physical plant and introduced the use of an oxygen blast in the making of Thomas steel, thereby achieving significant reductions in cost.

In 1935 is acquired the shares of the Schoeller Stahlwerke AG, a manufacturer of specialty steels, and in 1936 the Bleckmann Stahlwerke, a custom rolling mill. In 1937 is joined with Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz to form the Eisenwerke Oberdonau, which opened a new steel mill at Linz. The firm of Böhler was acquired in 1939, adding to the firm’s product line an established position in the field of ordnance and munitions. Through its acquisition of Böhler the firm was also able to strengthen its network of affiliates in south-eastern Europe.


Subsidiaries of the firm include:

Bleckmann Stahlwerke AG, Mürzzuschlag (rolled iron and steel products)
Gebruder Böhler - Hütte Enzesfeld AG, Enzesfeld (rolling mill products)
Gebruder Böhler - Hütte Kapfenberg AG, Kapfenberg (ordnance and specialty steels)
Gebruder Böhler - Hütte Sonntagberg AG, Sonntagberg (metal alloys)
Schoeller Stahlwerke AG, Ternitz (specialty steels)


Affiliated companies of the firm include:

In Germany

Eisenwerke Oberdonau AG, Werke Linz (steel)
Eisenwerke Oberdonau AG, St. Valentin (military vehicles)


Abroad

Magyar Allami Vas-es-Acel Gepgyar Reszvenytarsasag, Budapest, Hungary (iron and steel)
Poldina hut a.s., Kladno, Czechoslovakia (specialty steels and forgings)

This enterprise was founded in 1927 by the province of Bavaria, in succession to the regalities formerly belonging to the Crown of Bavaria. Over the preceding centuries the kings of Bavaria had set up or acquired a number of mine and mineral processing facilities, including: coal mines in Peißenberg and Peiting; an ironworks at Bodenmais; the Luitpoldhütte steel works in Amberg and other metallurgical plants in Bergen, Bodenwöhr, Obereichstätt, Sonthofen, Weiherhammer; a salt mine at Berchtesgaden; saline wells at Bad Reichenhall and various peat works in the Chiemgau district. Where these properties had formerly fed the privy purse of the House of Wittelsbach they subsequently subsidised the Bavarian state budget, helping to support economic growth in the period following the Great War.

This concern was organised in 1920 by the province of Saxony-Anhalt and a consortium of banks to continue and expand the exploitation of the middle-German brown coal field. Its first major undertaking was the establishment of the brown-coal mining and processing plant at Böhlen, which rapidly grew into a major source of coal, electrical power and chemical by-products for use in the rebuilding German chemical industry. In 1923 it acquired the works of Riebeck'sche Montangesellschaft, itself the successor to the Weissenfels-Zeitz Bergwerks-verein; the Riebeck’sche firm was another major firm in the Saxon brown-coal industry – whose subsidiaries included the Romonta Montanwachfabriken in Amsdorf and the Concordia lignite mine at Aschersleben. In 1936 it acquired a paraffin wax factory in Messel in Hesse, while in 1937 it undertook construction of the Espenhain brown-coal mining and processing complex.

Subsidiaries of the firm include:

Braunkohlegrube Concordia AG, Aschersleben (brown coal)
Braunkohlen und Großkraftwerk Böhlen AG, Böhlen (electricity generation, coal tar derivatives, phenolics and chemicals)
Braunkohlen und Großkraftwerk Espenhain AG, Espenhain (electricity generation, coal tar derivatives and chemicals)
Paraffin und Mineralölwerk Messel AG, Messel (paraffin waxes and derivatives)
Romonta Montanwachfabriken AG, Amsdorf (brown coal, paraffin waxes, chemicals)

The core of this concern can be found in its largest subsidiary, the Schwäbische Hüttenwerke, which was organised in 1921 by Hermann von Hanniken in May 1921 to acquire from the state of Württemburg its traditional blast furnaces. The earliest of these, Königsbronn, dated to 1365, and were no longer able to compete with modern steel mills. With financial backing from the Deutsche Bank and the Gutehoffnungshütte steel works, von Hanniken was able to re-equip these venerable facilities for the production of ferroalloys, which became the firm’s major product line.

Süddeutsches Eisen und Metallwerk itself was formed by von Hanniken in 1934 as a holding company to acquire and control several complementary metal-working and engineering firms in southwestern Germany. The first was a small shipbuilding and engine works at Mannheim, which specialised in the construction of river tugs and barges. In 1936 the Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Heilbronn, a manufacturer of road-making equipment, was purchased. The firm entered the field of packaging and processing machinery in 1938 through the acquisition of the Hesser machine works of Stuttgart, and in 1939 went on to acquire firm of Carl Drohmann.


Subsidiaries of the firm include:

Schwäbische Hüttenwerke AG, Werke Friedrichstal (ferroalloys and specialty steel forgings)
Schwäbische Hüttenwerke AG, Werke Königsbronn (ferroalloys)
Schwäbische Hüttenwerke AG, Werke Ludwigstal (ferroalloys and specialty steel forgings)
Schwäbische Hüttenwerke AG, Werke Wasseralfingen (ferroalloys)
Schwäbische Hüttenwerke AG, Werke Wilhelmstal (ferroalloys)

Hesser Maschinenfabrik AG, Stuttgart (packaging and industrial processing equipment)
Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Heilbronn AG, Heilbronn (road-making equipment)
Maschinenfabrik Carl Drohmann AG, Stuttgart (packaging machinery)
Schiffs und Maschinenbau AG, Mannheim (shipbuilding and ship repair)

In the year 1788 Friedrich Lohmann took a lease on property known as the Gut Berge near Witten, in the Ruhr Valley. In 1798 he founded there an iron works with blast furnace to smelt local ores for the manufacture of agricultural implements, which was then known as the Wittener Eisenhütte. Over the next decade Lohmann expanded both his properties and his ironworks, and from 1806 attempted the production of crucible steel, then a product in high demand; unfortunately, he was unsuccessful in this, and it was not until 1838 that the firm was able to successfully produce high quality steel. Nevertheless, the firm prospered an in 1822 the facilities included both a puddling furnace and a rolling and slitting mill. Under the direction of Friedrich Lohmann the younger the firm was able to shift from iron to steel production and by 1858 was employing more than seventy workers.

Expansion of the company began in earnest in the Gründerzeit, with the rising demand for railway products and cast steel. By 1910 the firm had become known as a specialist in the production of high-alloy tool and high-speed steels as well as ferroalloys. New production facilities were constructed in Herbede, to which all activities were transferred in 1925. The firm is presently one of the nation’s largest producers of tool steel.

Located in the Daadetal of the Altenkirchen district, this firm was founded in 1728 to smelt local iron ores. In 1891 the ironworks was acquired by a syndicate of investors from Berlin who equipped it with modern furnaces and undertook the production of spiegeleisen and other specialty metals. During the Great War the firm’s output was concentrated on the production of munitions, but in the postwar period it return to its proper role as a specialty metals supplier to the steel industry. The monthly capacity of the plant is rated at 1,200 tons of ferroalloys and special steel castings and forgings.

The Hoesch family of Düren has long been associated with the metal-working industry of western Germany, having operated various metal processing plants in the Eifel and ironworks in Monschau, Lendersdorf and Eschweiler. In 1871 Leopold Hoesch, in partnership with his sons William and Albert, and his cousins Viktor and Eberhard, founded in Dortmund a new iron and steel plant. The choice of Dortmund was made to take advantage of the rich coal resources of the Ruhr and the availability of transport by rail and water for ore and other materials.

The firm survived the financial crisis that marked the close of the Gründerzeit and prospered under the careful management of its owners. In 1899 it acquired secure access to coal resources by purchase of the Kaiserstuhl colliery. In 1910 the firm was converted into a joint-stock company by the Hoesch family retained effective control of the firm. Thanks to access to capital and credit facilities the firm was able to resume normal operations following the Great War, and escaped being drawn into the VESTAG combine. In 1930 it merged with the Köln-Neu–Essener Bergwerksverein, further securing its access to coal resources.

In addition to the firm’s original Westfalenhütte in Dortmunder Nordosten, it operates the Hermannshütte complex in Dortmund-Hörde together with metalworking plants in Kreuztal-Ferndorf, Kreuztal-Eichen und Wissen; in addition it operates several mines in the Ruhr region and maintains its own fleet of river barges for the transport of raw materials.

This ironworks was established in 1738 near Alsdorf in the Altkirchen District under the supervision of the Prussian fisc; sold off later in the Eighteenth Century it functioned as a local source for iron products until its acquisition in 1880 by a group of Dortmund businessmen. Under their direction the firm engaged in the production of special cast iron products marketed under the name Kalterblasenes Siegerländer Spezialroheisen. The works were modernised in 1934 when the focus of the firm was changed to the manufacture of ferroalloys and specialty steels. It present annual production is estimated at 12,000 tons of ferroalloys and steel products.

The foundry and steel works of the Luitpoldhütte in Amberg reflect a continuation of ironworking that dates to the High Middle Ages. The modern exploitation of the iron resources of the region date from the Nineteenth Century with the Bavarian fisc began the exploitation of local iron resources to fuel the kingdom’s nascent industries. Modern blast furnaces were constructed in the 1880s, and in 1890 the first steel converters were erected; a pipe foundry followed in the last years of the Nineteenth Century. In 1915, when the works were fully engaged in production of war materials, employment had risen to more than twelve hundred.

The works emerged from the turmoil of the postwar period as a joint stock company, of whose capital sixty percent was held by the government of the province of Bavaria; the remaining capital was in the hands of private investors, and represented funds drawn into the firm for reconstruction and expansion. New foundry and forge facilities were constructed in the 1920s and the firm came to specialise in the production of high-grade steel castings and forgings for the machine-building industry. By 1940 employment had increased to more than two thousand, and the annual output of the enterprise amounted to more than 200,000 tons of raw steel, steel castings and steel forgings.

This concern was founded in 1853 in Groß Ilsede by Carl Hostmann and the banking house of Ephraim Meyer und Sohn to smelt iron ore mined in the Peine district near Goslar. The original enterprise, known as Bergbau und Hüttengesellschaft zu Peine, entered bankruptcy in 1858, and its assets were purchased by the industrial entrepreneurs Fritz Hurtzig and Carl Haarmann, who formed the present firm. The first iron was smelted in 1861, and despite transport difficulties, production expanded in the following decades. In 1871 the firm came under the control of industrialist Gerhard Lucas Meyer, who oversaw the construction of a rolling mill and a third blast furnace, the latter completed in 1879. During the Great War the firm was a major supplier of conversion iron to the steel industry of the Ruhr, and despite financial difficulties the firm survived and prospered in the postwar period. In 1929 a connection with the Mittelland Canal eased the firm’s long-standing transport difficulties, promoting movement of coal to the furnaces and iron products to the factories requiring them.

Located in Ferlach, Carinthia, this specialty steel firm was founded in 1880. It originally manufactured iron and iron products using charcoal-fueled blast furnaces, but from 1910 it came to focus on the production of high-quality steels and ferro-alloys for the munitions and machine-building industries. The present facilities include two blast furnaces, which continue the use of charcoal; a Siemens-Martin steel shop and a pair of recently-installed electric furnaces which are used for the production of ferro-alloys. It employs 478 workers, and the plant capacity is 25,000 tons of conversion iron, 22,000 tons of specialty steels and 6,000 tons of ferro-alloys per annum.

It owns a fifty percent interest in the firm Stahlbau-Unternehmen Hutter und Schrantz AG, a steel fabricator, also located in Ferlach.

This iron ore mine was developed in the late 1930s to supply the steel mill complex at Salzgitter. First discovered through test borings in 1923, the mine was not exploited until 1934, when construction of the Schacht Worthlah was begun; construction of the Schacht Ohlendorf commenced three years later. The first ore was delivered from the mines in 1938, when production amounted to 23,000 tonnes. By 1940 this had been increased to 126,000 tonnes and to 193,000 tons in 1941. Activities at the mine are heavily mechanised, and production per miner is the highest in the nation, as befits its most modern mine. When the mine reaches its planned capacity, it is expected that iron ore can be extracted at an annual rate of 700,000 tonnes; this level is expected to be reached by 1945.

The area in the vicinity of the mines at Haverlahwiese was explored in the late Nineteenth Century but the mine itself was not founded until 1936, with the commencement of construction of the great steel complex at Salzgitter. The mine itself is an open cast operation, and the first of two large drag-line excavators was put into operation in 1939. In that year only 16,000 tonnes of ore was processed, but the targeted output of the mine is 1,500,000 tonnes of ore per year, which it is expected to meet in 1943. At the present time the mine employs some one thousand four hundred workers, but this is expected to rise to two thousand when the mine is operating at full capacity.

This enterprise came into existence in March 1923, at Government insistence, to consolidate and modernise the mining industry of the Siegerland. During the Great War the physical plant of the mines had been allowed to run down, and in the postwar conditions the mines required injection of considerable capital to restore their competitiveness. By offering guarantees and other credits, the Government was able to induce the mine owners to amalgamate and close down old and unprofitable workings, while modernising the remaining works. In 1932 completion of the flotation and processing works of the concern’s subsidiary, Siegener Flotationsgesellschaft, permitted enhanced recovery of metal from the mines’ output.

Mines operated by the enterprise include:

Erzbergwerk San Fernando, Herdorf – established in 1855, produces iron ore and pyrites. Production (1940) – 200,000 tonnes
Grube Brüderbund, Eiserfeld – established in 1860, produces iron ore. Production (1940) – 60,000 tonnes
Grube Eisenzecher Zug, Eiserfeld – formed in 1885 through consolidation, produces iron ore. Production (1940) – 160,000 tonnes
Grube Eisernhardter Tiefbau, Eisern – established in 1859, produces iron ore. Production (1940) – 120,000 tonnes
Grube Eupel, Niederhövels – established in 1875, produces iron ore. Production (1940) – 90,000 tonnes
Grube Füsseberg, Daaden-Biersdorf – established in 1880, produces iron ore. Production (1940) – 150,000 tonnes
Grube Georg, Willroth – established in 1875, produces iron ore. Production (1940) – 130,000 tonnes
Grube Große Burg, Altenseebach – first opened in 1838, produces zinc, copper and lead, together with small amounts of silver and gold. Ore production (1940) – 40,500 tonnes
Grube Neue Haardt, Wiedenau – established in 1856, produces iron ore. Production (1940) – 110,000 tonnes
Grube Pfannenberger Einigkeit, Salchendorf – established in 1859, produces iron ore. Production (1940) – 150,000 tonnes
Grube Wolf, Herdorf – established in 1870, produces iron ore. Production (1940) – 60,000 tonnes

This firm is the handiwork of the brothers Peter and Florian Klöckner, who in the year 1906 formed Klöckner und Compagnie to undertake trading in iron and steel products. To this day Klöckner und Compagnie, headquartered in the city of Duisburg, remains a core component of is great industrial combine, with sales offices located throughout Europe.

In the wake of the Great War Peter Klöckner undertook to purchase the venerable Georgs-Marien Bergwerks und Hüttenverein of Georgsmarienhütte bei Osnabrück, reorganising the firm as Klöckner Werke AG Georgsmarienhütte, which provided Klöckner und Compagnie with its own steel mills. In 1923 the firm acquired the specialty iron and steel works of Hasper Hütte in Hagen-Haspe, further expanding its steel production capacity, and, between 1924 and 1926 it further acquired the Mannstaedt Works of Troisdorf, a producer and trader in stainless and specialty steels, iron and wire works in the city of Düsseldorf and in Castrop-Rauxel. In 1926 Klöckner und Compagnie decided to remain outside the Vereinigten Stahlwerke.

In 1933 Klöckner acquired the shares of Humboldt-Deutz Motoren AG, a diversified industrial combine in its own right. It had been formed in 1884 as Maschinenbauanstalt Humboldt, in Köln-Kalk, and specialised in the manufacture of materials handling equipment – conveyors, cranes, crushing machines and the like. In 1928 it had acquired the Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz AG, a manufacturer of industrial locomotives, and in 1930 had acquired the Isselburger Hütte AG as a captive steel supplier. It was at this time that the holding company Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG was created and the current style adopted.

The latter part of the 1930s saw continued expansion of the firm. In 1934 it entered the manufacture of aero engines through the acquisition of the Motorenfabrik Oberursel AG, and in 1935 the manufacture of heavy commercial vehicles, for which purpose it acquired the facilities of the defunct Roth Auto Werke AG at Ober-Rammstadt bei Darmstadt. In 1936 the specialist maker of fire-fighting equipment, C. D. Magirus AG, located in Ulm, was acquired and reorganised as Fahrzeugfabrik Magirus AG.

In 1937 Herr Peter Klöckner took a leading position in the newly formed steel firm Eisenwerke Oberdonau AG of Linz, as well as in the Aktiengesellschaft für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb AG located in Salzgitter, both ventures representing the firm’s expansion of steelmaking beyond the Ruhr.


Subsidiary companies of the firm include:

Klöckner und Compagnie, Duisburg (metals trading)
Fahrzeugmotorenfabrik Deutz AG, Ober-Rammstadt bei Darmstadt (commercial vehicles)
Fahrzeugmotorenfabrik Magirus AG, Ulm (fire-fighting equipment and commercial vehicles)
Isselburger Hütte AG, Isselburg (iron and steel)
Klöckner Werke AG, Castrop-Rauxel (iron and steel)
Klöckner Werke AG, Düsseldorf (iron and steel)
Klöckner Werke AG, Georgsmarienhütte (iron and steel)
Klöckner Werke AG, Hagen-Haspe (iron and steel)
Mannstaedt Werke AG, Troisdorf (specialty steels)
Maschinenbauanstalt Humboldt AG, Köln-Kalk (materials handling equipment)
Motorenfabrik Deutz AG, Köln-Deutz (industrial engines and motors)
Motorenfabrik Oberursel AG, Oberursel (aero engines and components)


Affiliated companies of the firm include:

In Germany

Aktiengesellschaft für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb AG, Salzgitter (steel)
Eisenwerke Oberdonau AG, Werke Linz (steel)
Eisenwerke Oberdonau AG, St. Valentin (military vehicles)

Abroad

Plovdiv Pozharnikar Tovaren Avtomobil Stroitel, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (fire-fighting equipment)
Ferro Vas-es-Erckereskedelmi Reszvenytarsasag, Budapest, Hungary (manganese mining)

This firm was created in 1908 to act as a holding company for the various metallurgical interests of the Mannesman family and the patents it held relating to the production of seamless steel and steel-alloy tubes. In the years before the Great War it grew to be a major integrated steel production and trading concern, with subsidiary companies operating in Great Britain, Russia, Italy and Bohemia, most of which were confiscated by the victorious allies following the conclusion of hostilities.

Nevertheless the firm was able to rebuild and expand in the postwar era, with its increasing demand for seamless tubes for marine, aviation and industrial uses. The firm also diversified its interests backward into basic steel production and forward into mechanical engineering, both through founding of new facilities and through the acquisition of existing firms. In 1924 it acquired Monheimer Ketten und Metallwaren Industrie and in 1926 the machine works of the Gebruder Meer, while in 1929 it opened a new integrated steel works at Duisburg.

In 1932 it acquired the Düsseldorfer Röhren und Eisenwalzwerke from the Vereinigte Stahlwerke and integrated its activities with the rest of the Mannesman enterprise. In 1934 it took a quarter-share interest in the Magdeburg machine works of Richard Wolf, and in 1936 obtained a one-third share interest in the Treuenbrietzen metal fabrication firm in exchange for a large loan for that firm’s expansion. The Stahlwerke Harkort-Eicken was merged into the firm in 1938.


Subsidiary companies of the firm include:

Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG, Bous (steel and alloy tubes)
Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG, Duisburg-Huckingen (integrated steelmaking)
Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG, Düsseldorf-Rath (steel and alloy tubes)
Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG, Witten (steel and alloy tubes)
Maschinenfabrik Meer AG, Mönchengladbach (industrial plant equipment)
Monheimer Ketten und Metallwaren Industrie AG, Düsseldorf-Monheim
Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke GmbH, Wien (steel and alloy tubes)
Saarbrücker Gussstahlwerke AG, Saarlouis (specialty steels)
Stahlwerke Harkort -Eicken GmbH, Düsseldorf-Hagen (specialty steels)


Affiliated companies of the firm include:

In Germany

Maschinenbau R. Wolf GmbH, Magdeburg-Buckau (machine tools and industrial plant equipment)
Metallwarenfabrik Treuenbrietzen GmbH, Werke Sebaldushof, Sebaldushof (mechanical engineering and metal fabrication)
Metallwarenfabrik Treuenbrietzen GmbH, Werke Selterhof, Selterhof (mechanical engineering and metal fabrication)


Abroad

Bulgarska Trubna Industria, Sofia, Bulgaria (steel and alloy tubes)
Hollandsche Draad en Kabelfabrik Maatschappij N.V., Rotterdam, the Netherlands (tube and cable)
Prazska zelezarska spolecnost, Prague, Czechoslovakia (iron and steel, mechanical engineering)

This firm, located in the city of Mühlheim in the Breisgau, was established in 1934 to manufacture steel rod and shapes for the construction industry. Its facilities include two electric melting furnaces, a rod-rolling mill and a forge for steel shapes. It relies primarily on steel scrap, and employs more than four hundred workers.