Brass Factory E.
Production at this plant began more than 300 years ago. It is considered the first industrial center of the region. In the Prussian era, a settlement was constructed for the workers who - unsusual at the time - were seen as a valuable resource by the management.
In the 1870s, about 200 people were employed in the company. Metal sheets, wires, cauldrons and metal tubes were produced, as well as bullet casings, detonators and grenades in the context of extensive armament orders.
The number of workers rose to more than 2000 by the end of the First World War, and in 1917, construction began on an extension pf the factory.
In the 1930s, model houses were built with facades made of copper sheet - the so-called copper houses.
They were designed to be easily transported and quickly assembled. These houses are still used as residential buildings today. After the National Socialists had risen to power in Germany, the former junior chief emigrated due to the Jewish background of the family.
In 1945, the new plant was dismantled on the orders of the Soviet military administration. In the 1950s, the company was rebuilt into a rolling mill; it became the most modern rolling mill in the GDR.
In 1989, the factory was partially shut down and in 1993 was acquired by an Eastern European steel company.
Following a petition for bankruptcy and lack of investors, the remainder of the mill finally ceased production in the early 2010s.
