The origin of this firm dates back to 1873 when the firm of Jürgens und Compagnie was established in Magdeburg as a manufacturer of machinery and merchant ironwork. In 1885 it passed into the firm hands of Eugen Polte (1849-1911) under whose leadership it grew into the leading manufacturing works in the city. The firm’s product line expanded into the manufacture of machine tools, pumps, armatures for the expanding electrical industry, aluminium production and fabrication, and, eventually munitions. The firm entered the armaments field in 1889 when the Prussian War Ministry issued it a contract for rifle cartridges, taking advantage of the strides the firm had made in automating the process of manufacturing munitions. In the Great War Polte grew to become the largest single manufacturer of small arms ammunition in Europe.
Following the death of Eugen Polte the firm was organised as a private limited-liability company and adopted its current style. Leadership of the firm continued to be provided by members of the Polte family and its relations.
Prior to the outbreak of the Great War the firm had begun to expand through the acquisition of related firms. In 1912 it acquired the Hirsch Kupfer und Messingwerk AG, Finow, expanding its product line into fabrication of copper and other light metals. In 1913 it acquired and subordinated the works of Louis Strube AG as the Maschinen und Armaturenfabrik Magdeburg-Buckau AG. Strube had long acted in concert with the Polte Works and its formal acquisition gave the firm no fewer than four manufacturing facilities in the city of Madgeburg.
In the wake of the Great War Polte was forced to give up the manufacture of munitions, which, for many years, had been among the most profitable of its products. But concentration on its core products – armatures, hydrants, pumps and industrial machinery – allowed it to weather the economic storms of the post-war period. It expanded into the production of specialist machine tools and larger fabrication machines for the automobile industry. Following the withdrawal of the Inter-Allied Control Commission in the middle 1920s, Polte also re-entered the munitions field, producing small arms ammunition.
It also continued to expand its activities through the acquisition of complimentary firms. In 1931 it acquired the Grüneberger Metallwarenfabrik GmbH of Grüneberg, reorganising it as Polte Metallwarenfabrik GmbH, Werk Grüneberg. The following year it acquired Pollux GmbH of Ludwigshafen am Rhein, a manufacturer of water pumps and turbines. In 1933 it acquired the Metallwerk Wolfenbüttel, which manufactured small arms and ammunition for the German Army. That same year it consolidated its position as a key producer of munitions by acquiring the Metallwerk Odertal GmbH, of Bad Lauterberg im Harz, one of the largest ammunition plants in Germany at that time.
The Polte concern also expanded its activities through the creation of new subsidiaries, establishing metal fabrication plants in Genthin and in Madgeburg-Neustadt, primarily for the production of artillery components and shell casings, and undertaking to manage construct and manage two ammunition plants on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, at Rudisleben bei Arnstadt and Duderstadt.
Subsidiary companies of the firm include:
Hirsch Kupfer und Messingwerk AG, Finow
Maschinen und Armaturenfabrik Magdeburg-Buckau AG
Metallwerk Odertal GmbH, Bad Lauterberg im Harz
Metallwerk Wolfenbüttel GmbH, Wolfenbüttel
Pollux GmbH, Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Polte Armaturen und Maschinenfabrik AG, Neueswerke, Magdeburg-Wilhelmstadt
Polte Armaturen und Maschinenfabrik AG, Stammwerke, Magdeburg-Sudenstadt
Polte Armaturen und Maschinenfabrik AG, Werk Fichtestraße, Magdeburg-Sudenstadt
Polte Metallwarenfabrik GmbH, Werk Genthin, Genthin
Polte Metallwarenfabrik GmbH, Werk Grüneberg, Grüneberg
Polte Metallwarenfabrik GmbH, Werk Magdeburg-Neustadt, Magdeburg-Neustadt
Polte Patronen und Munitionsmaschinenfabrik GmbH, Werk Arnstadt, Rudisleben bei Arnstadt
Polte Patronen und Munitionsmaschinenfabrik GmbH, Werk Duderstadt, Duderstadt
Affiliated companies of the firm include:
Ambi-Budd Presswerke AG, Berlin-Johannisthal
Sellier und Bellot Patronen und Metallwarenfabrik AG, Schönebeck on the Elbe
Vereinigte Armaturen und Maschinenfabriken AG, Wien