Germany / Thuringia / Sitzendorf:

[1] : Sitzendorfer Porzellanmanufaktur Georg Macheleidt (1760 until 1762)

In the year 1760 the candidate of theology Georg Heinrich Macheleidt who was born 1723 in Cursdorf and had been living in Sitzendorf for a few years received a concession from Prince Johann-Friedrich von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt to establish a porcelain factory in Sitzendorf. After initial success, the whole factory was moved to the town of Volkstedt by order of the Prince just two years later.

[2] : Sitzendorfer Porzellanmanufaktur Wilhelm Liebmann (1850 until 1858)

Wilhelm Liebmann, a landlord and resident of Sitzendorf born in the town of Lichte, was honoured with the permission of re-establishing a porcelain production factory in Sitzendorf in the year 1850. The newly-founded business quickly earned a very good reputation, but only a few years after opening it was largely destroyed in a terrible blaze (1858) which left only the kilns operational. Together with his new partner Wilhelm Oertel, everything could be quickly rebuilt but Liebmann still decided to retire; at this time the company already owned a second mill and occupied 60 employees.

[3] : Sitzendorfer Porzellanfabrik Gebrüder Voigt (1858 until 1896)

He was replaced by the brothers Alfred and Carl Wilhelm Voigt who now became chairmen and slowly started to change the product range, one of the highlights later being the introduction of lace figurines decorated in Meissen style in 1884. Business went very well and in 1890 enabled them to open a subsidiary in the town of Unterweißbach; both factories together gave work to 300 employees. In the same year, the town of Sitzendorf itself started to introduced its own electricity (110 Volts AC) which was generated via steam engine. This resulted in a large improvement of working conditions as all work during early morning and late evening hours up until then had to be done in the dull light of oil lamps.

[4] : Sitzendorfer Porzellanfabrik Gebrüder Voigt A.G. (1896 until 1932)

In 1896 the company was re-structured as limited company (stock corporation) with a foundation stock of one million German Marks. The major shareholder of the company at that time was the secret councilor of commerce Albert Schönau who in 1902 also became responsible for the change in the company mark. Between 1899 and 1900 the railway line that connected Oberrottenbach and Katzhütte took up service and Sitzendorf finally received its own railway station. During the same period, the factory was modernized and the kilns and other ovens were converted so that they were able to use coal instead of wood. These two independent facts resulted in cheaper production and transport which made the factory more competitive. It should be noted here that nearly all businessmen and factory owners of the Königsee district had been fighting for the railway line since 1872 as they had seen the possibilities that this new transportation method offered for the region.

The next years seemed quite promising but the disastrous effects of WWI followed later by the worldwide economoc crisis in the late twenties nearly ruined the company and so the Unterweißbach branch was closed in 1928. In the year 1932 the situation began to stabilize under the leadership of the former authorized representatives Reinhold Rebhan and Max Krauße who had become the new proprietors and changed the name back to 'Sitzendorfer Porzellanmanufaktur A.G.'.

[5] : Sitzendorfer Porzellanmanufaktur A.G. (1932 until 1972)

From the beginning of World War II in 1939, nearly all workers were moved to factories concentrating on war-related production and export activities drastically decreased as the former customer countries had now of course become enemies. In the last months of 1944 the defence plant 'Prototyp-Werke Zell-Hamersbach' was moved from the town of Bromberg over into the area of Thuringia and a part of it was relocated in small shacks in the yard of the 'Sitzendorfer Porzellanmanufaktur', producing defence related goods from October onwards.

Reinhold Rebhan retired as director in 1948 but the company remained in the hands of his son Rolf Rebhan who successfully continued to lead the company through the next years; one of the highlights during that period was the celebration of the 100 year factory anniversary in 1950. In 1958 the company was managed with government engagement as were most larger East German companies during that time. Due to the old fashioned production lines and the lack of skilled workers, productivity decreased more and more which resulted in a complete loss of competitiveness on the world market.

[6] : V.E.B. Sitzendorfer Porzellanmanufaktur (1972 until 1990)

The factory was completely nationalized in the year 1972 and the still existing shacks in the yard that now contained a small tool factory were removed after this moved into the former gas works. The now vacant area was used to build a new production complex and in 1974 the complete porcelain production was converted to primary use electricity - people knowing the many advantages of gas fired kilns of course instantly twitch at this thought. But after that the East German state lost interest in the factory and over the next years, the factory slowly degraded as more and more urgently needed repairs and modernizations were simply ignored.

Directed by Rolf Rebhan's son-in-law Uwe Hermann, the very successful 135th anniversary celebrations went ahead in 1985. By then the East German state was not only drastically loosing ground politically; the financial situation of the whole state was catastrophic and the East German government slowly realized that large amounts of foreign currency would be needed to change the situation. As that could be easily earned by enabling the existing porcelain factories to work more efficiently, factories all over the country were adapted and modernized as the state leaders tried to make up for years of mismanagement. For the Sitzendorf factory this process resulted in the construction of a representative sales room as well as an urgently needed mold storage, but the largest change was the conversion to gas fired kilns as this required the construction of an ugly but effective bridge across the Schwarza river in 1989 which reconnected the factory with the district gas mains.

[7] : Sitzendorfer Porzellanmanufaktur G.m.b.H. (June 1st 1990 until ...)

After German reunification the factory was reprivatized and refounded as limited partnership on June 1st 1990. Rolf Rebhan's daughter Carla Hermann became the complementary while her husband Uwe Hermann together with Mr. Hans-Jürgen Schmidt joined as limited partners. Under new management, a completely new tourist-based concept was developed and at the end of 1990, a completely new sales room was built for this purpose.

After the reconstruction of the old dining hall in 1992, a cosy little restaurant named 'Schatztruhe' (Treasure Trove) was opened which already had to expand in 1994, using the converted flat that formerly belonged to the caretaker. This step also resulted in an additional restaurant, 'Zum Rundofen' (Round Kiln). During 1993 the old warehouse was refurbished and a new sales room for antique furniture and porcelain adornment with performance show emerged. Finally, the regional museum 'Dampfmaschine' (Steam Engine) was established on the premises in 1994 and from the day of the opening ceremony on June 29th until November 1st already had fascinated over 8,000 visitors - a really impressive number for such a small museum.

In 1995 the city of Sitzendorf celebrated its 625th anniversary and at the same time the Sitzendorf factory looked back on 145 years of Thuringian porcelain culture and history, an event that was topped in the year 2000 when the factory proudly celebrated its 150th anniversary with many high class forms of entertainment. One highlight was a procession through the town of Sitzendorf, reflecting the history of porcelain influence in the area by presenting the whole development in 24 themes. One of the last big changes in Sitzendorf followed the new construction of the gas network in the town which resulted in a direct link from the factory to the new gas pipes via the main road - the ugly and by now very delapidated steel bridge that had bothered the citizens since 1989 was finally torn down.

Mark Comments:

One mark not shown here represents a coat of arms that includes the name 'SITZENDORF'; this was registered at the R.W.Z.R. under №·210·321 on May 17th 1916, however I have until not found it shown anywhere. The application for trademark registration of the Sitzendorf mark with the filled pearls was filed at the East German trademark office on March 24th 1954 and filed under №·DD605678, registered on April 30th 1955. Note that the registration was renewed in 2004.