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Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1850 - 1992 (Creation)
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Extent and medium
82 m
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Archival history
The foundation of Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG (GBAG) goes back to Friedrich Grillo's efforts to combine all mines in the Essener Mulde with foreign participation into one company under German management. In addition to satisfying the increased national consciousness since the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871, he hoped that the increased size of the company would stabilise production and sales in a fragmented market dominated by small businesses, although only two of the five plants in question could be taken over. While Charles Détillieux, the main owner of the Rheinelbe and Alma collieries in Gelsenkirchen, accepted the offer, the acquisition of the Dahlbusch collieries, led by Joseph Chaudron, and Shamrock and Hibernia, led by William Thomas Mulvany, did not succeed, since these, for their part, converted their trade unions into joint-stock companies and were therefore not interested in the sale.On 3 January 1873, GBAG with a capital of 4.5 million talers was thus created with significant participation by Adolph von Hansemann, the owner of Berliner Disconto-Gesellschaft, and Grillo. The first directors of the company were August Demmler and Emil Kirdorf, the 25-year-old former commercial director of the Holland colliery, who took over sole management after Demmler's departure in 1875 and had a decisive influence on the development of GBAG into Europe's largest mining group. In 1878 the company, which had not suffered any losses during the founding crisis due to the good storage conditions and the gas coal demand of its two collieries, Rheinelbe and Alma, but regularly generated surpluses, began to expand its property. In 1883 it acquired the Ver. Stein and Hardenberg mine field with the Minister Stein and Fürst Hardenberg mines and increased its share capital from 13.5 to 20.25 million marks. Production rose to over 1 million tonnes with a total workforce of 2,700. In the following years, GBAG continued its targeted purchasing policy and already 20 years later had the largest mine field property in the Ruhr area. In 1887, the Erin colliery in Castrop followed and in 1888/1892 the Westfälische Grubenverein and the Hansa, Zollern and Germania collieries in Dortmund, as well as the Kuxe of the Monopol trade union from 1888 to 1897. In 1898 there were the Westhausen collieries in Dortmund, 1899 Ver. Bonifacius in Essen (- Kray), 1904 Ver. Hamburg and Franziska and the Kuxen majority of the undissected field Gewerkschaft Prinz Schönaich, west of Hamm. At the turn of the century, the share capital amounted to 69 million marks, a workforce of almost 25,000 men produced over 6.5 million tons of coal from 16 pits. Since the mid-1880s, GBAG had supported the joint efforts of the Ruhr mining industry to adapt production to sales by forming price and production conventions and sales associations. After it had already joined the Westphalian Coke Syndicate in 1890, the Rheinisch-Westfälische Kohlen-Syndikat in Essen was formed in 1893 with Kirdorf's decisive involvement, and more than 90 Ruhr mining companies divided up its members in the year of its foundation. In order to increase coal sales through the self-consumption of some smelting works and to be prepared in case the syndicate agreement was not extended, it merged in 1907, after three years of existence of a syndicate, with the Aachener Hütten-Aktien-Verein and the Schalker Gruben- und Hüttenverein, the former bringing into the company extensive ore fields in Rothe Erde near Aachen in addition to its plants in Luxembourg, Lorraine and Eschweiler, the second the Pluto-Thies and Pluto-Wilhelm mines. With the participation of 6
n the Rheinisch-Westfälischen Bergwerks-GmbH in Cologne, founded in 1905 as a reaction to the so-called "Lex Gamp", which abolished the freedom of mining, the ownership of GBAG increased again by 15 maximum fields to 286 million m2.1905 was another step towards diversification of the company structure with the takeover of the majority of the shipping and coal trading company Raab Karcher
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Content:GBAG from its foundation to the formation of Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG 1926:Foundation / Company Bodies:Foundation / Constitution 1872-1955 (4)Board of Directors / Supervisory Board 1873-1929 (22)General Meetings 1874-1926 (23)Annual Reports 1874-1925 (13)Group Administration / Group Expansion:Mine Directorate / Board of Directors 1875-1926 (75)Board of Directors of GBAG 1907-1921 (19)GBAG Group of Interests / Deutsch-Lux / Bochumer Verein / Montangruppe Siemens-Rheinelbe-Schuckert-Union 1922-1926 (6)Aachener Hütten-Aktien-Verein 1864-1920 (65)Düsseldorf Department (Röhrenwerke Hüsten) 1899-1924 (11)Schalker Verein 1889-1926 (3)Deutsch-Luxemburgische Bergwerks- und Hütten AG 1901-1933 (28) Siemens-Rheinelbe-Schuckert-Union 1920-1961 (8)Group expansion Hard coal 1873-1933 (16)Group expansion Ore 1906-1935 (28)Group expansion Trading 1874-1932 (16)First World War / Ruhr occupation 1873-1926 (18)GBAG (monopoly) from 1926 to 1933:Annual Reports 1925-1933 (8)Annual General Meetings / Supervisory Board 1919-1940 (9)Executive Board 1926-1940 (7)Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG from 1926 to 1933:Foundation 1925-1932 (8)Annual Reports 1926-1931 (6)Annual Reports of the Head Office Statistics 1926-1933 (17)Administrative Committee / Metallurgical Committee 1926-1944 (3)Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG from 1933 to 1954:Reorganisation 1933 1930-1938 (5)Annual Reports 1933-1947 (34)Liquidation 1947-1957 (9)Mining Department of Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG from 1926 to 1933:Annual Reports 1926-1933 (9)Mining Committee / Board of Management 1926-1933 (7)GBAG from 1933 to 1953:Reorganization / Organization 1933, 1936 (2)Annual Reports 1933-1952 (15)Annual General Meetings / Supervisory Board 1934-1955 (6)Mining Committee 1926-1953 (32)Military Government 1945-1956 (11)GBAG from 1953 to 1968 and Gelsenberg AG:Reorganization of Mining (Dr. Hans Korsch / Law 75 / Law 27) 1947-1965 (86)Reorganization of the GBAG / Group Transformation 1933-1970 (72)Group Administration:Annual Reports 1953-1975 (24)Annual General Meetings 1955-1974 (24)Supervisory Board 1953-1969 (30)Board of Management 1951-1969 (38)Formation of Ruhrkohle AG:Constitution of the Company as a Whole (Dr. Friedrich Funke on the Supervisory Board) 1967-1969 (10)Siebener Committee for the Settlement of Open Questions (Chairman Dr. Friedrich Funke on the Supervisory Board) 1967-1969 (10)Siebener Committee for the Settlement of Open Questions) Hans Korsch) 1969-1970 (9)Supervisory Board / Executive Bodies 1968-1970 (11)Superordinate Administration / Management of GBAG and its Companies:Authorized 1937-1968 (3)Litigation / Law 1904-1969 (16)Mining damage 1913-1970 (65)Real estate / land 1902-1970 (36)Finances 1873-1973 (52)Taxes 1875-1968 (17)Organization / rules of procedure 1881-1968 (15)Planning 1928-1953 (6)Operational development / reports 1873-1968 (133)Staff 1874-1973 (50)Closures 1890-1968 (5)Publications / history 1873-1961, 1991, 1997 (32)Subsidiaries:Bochumer Bergbau AG 1953-1968 (8)Carolinenglück / Graf Moltke Bergbau AG 1953-1968 (2)Gewerkschaft Donar 1944-1964 (4)Dortmunder Bergbau AG 1953-1969 (8)Erin Bergbau AG 1953-1967 (24)Hansa Bergbau AG 1953-1968 (4)Rheinelbe Bergbau AG 1953-1970 (28)Raab Karcher GmbH 1943-1998 (13)Ver. Holzgesellschaften mbH 1927-1969 (36)Gelsenberg Benzin AG 1936-1953 (5)Westdeutsche Haushaltsversorgung (WEHAG) 1926-1969 (10)Housing companies 1885-1904, 1933-1968 (7)Coking plants / gas industry / chemicals:Allgemeine Gaswirtschaft 1924-1968 (21)Ruhrgas AG 1926-1970 (91)Thyssensche Gas- und Wasserwerke GmbH 1952-1969 (30)Ruhrchemie AG 1928-1958, 1972-1977 (45)Kokerei Alma 1949-1965 (20)Wasserwirtschaft 1876-1968 (70)Stromwirtschaft 1905-1970 (69)Verschiedene Beteiligungen 1918-1970 (41)Mitwirkung der GBAG in Vereinen / Verbänden / Gemeinschaftsorganisationen:Sales organisations 1876-1970 (73)Social organisations 1856-1974 (9)Mining organisations 1877-1974 (119)Participation in museums / exhibitions / congresses 1873-1968 (17)Travel reports for information on other mining areas 1922-1965 (56)Personalities 1873-1975 (273)Emil Kirdorf:Economic and Political Correspondence / Speeches 1873-1941 (25)Anniversaries of Service 1898, 1912-1930 (9)Birthdays 1922-1938 (14)Special Honours / Foundations 1893, 1911-1962 (10)Death / Funeral Ceremony 1938-1943 (13)Personal Circumstances 1873-1938 (10)Publications about Emil Kirdorf 1898-1964 (9)PhotosEisensteingruben / Eisensteinfelder der GBAG:Eisensteinzechen 1850-1992 (125)Stollenwassermutungen 1850-1957 (2)Tongruben 1966-1977 (1)Maps / Plans / RisseNachtrag VEBA Öl AG Reference BBA:Hamborner Bergbau AG, Duisburg-Hamborn (Bestand 18)Karl Oberste-Brink, Essen - Professor Dr. phil, Mine director (holdings 36)Essener Steinkohlenbergwerke AG, Essen (holdings 39)Bochumer Bergbau AG, Bochum (holdings 40)Rheinelbe Bergbau AG, Gelsenkirchen (holdings 41)Schachtanlage Minister Stein, Dortmund-Eving (holdings 43)Dortmunder Bergbau AG, Dortmund (holdings 47)Schachtanlage Erin, Castrop-Rauxel (holdings 63)Schachtanlagen Adolf von Hansemann/Hansa, Dortmund (holdings 108)References:GBAG 1873-1898. Festschrift commemorating the 25th anniversary of GBAG, o. O. 1898].Bruno Simmersbach: The economic development of the GBAG from 1873-1904, Freiberg 1906.F. A. Freundt: Capital and labour. GBAG 1873-1927, not specified. GBAG (ed.): 25 Jahre Bergbau der VSt bzw. der GBAG 1926-1951 sowie Bericht über die Geschäftsjahr 1951, o. O. (25 years of VSt mining and GBAG 1926-1951 respectively). [1952].Gerhard Gebhardt: Ruhr mining. History, structure and interdependence of its societies and organizations, Essen 1957, pp. 255-285.Ralf Stremmel: Im Spannungsfeld zwischen Staat und Wirtschaft, in: Der Archivar 50, 1997, Sp. 311-326.Ralf Stremmel / Manfred Rasch: Findbuch zu den Bestände Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG und Bergbau- und Industriewerte GmbH, 2 Vol., Duisburg 1996.Alfred Reckendrees: Das "Stahltrust-Projekt". The founding of Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG and its corporate development 1926-1933/34, Munich 2000 (= Series of publications on the "Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte". 5) References:Supplementary information in the ThyssenKrupp Konzernarchiv, Duisburg:Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG (holdings VSt)Bergbau- und Industriewerte GmbH (holdings BIW)
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Montanhistoric Documentation Centre >> Mining Archive >> Coal mining companies
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