Remains of the Singer Factory Wittenberge, Germany - some images

[Constabulary]

On my last weekend road trip I had the chance to visit the "Clock Tower" of the former Singer Factory in Wittenberge. I just wanted to see the clock tower because I thought it was the last remaining piece / building  of the former Singer factory. I had no idea that A LOT of the original buildings  are still present. I honestly though they teared it down in the early 1990´s. The buildings are still in use. Several smaller and larger Co.´s have rooms in there. The whole facility is now called VERITAS PARK named after the last sewing machine factory VERITAS. Why VERITAS and not Singer? Well, the Russians disassembled the Singer plant and took the machiens to Russia as war reparations but they never set up the factory again (they were not able to I have been told). After WWII Wittenberge was in the "Soviet Zone" behind the iron curtain so out of reach for the Singer Co.. After WWII they (not Singer of course) first produced under the name TEXTIMA for a while (until 1955 afaik) and later it has been renamed to VERITAS. 

I had ~2 hrs guided tour and took some pictures.

I don´t want to tell the history here, I just wanted to share some pictures because I really was impressed of what is still there.

Hope you like it

 

 

Edited September 9, 2019 by Constabulary

[jimi]

Thanks for the pictures Folker, very Nice. Yes a lot of buildings still left! would be a pity if they tore them down. In my City when all the jute mills closed down some still survived and were made into Flats. Others Snooker halls and big salesrooms.

[Scoutmom103]

Thank you Folker for sharing these pictures.  It is a pity when so many buildings are torn down and not revitalized.   

[CowboyBob]

Great pics,I'm surprised to see it's still there.THANKS !!

[mikesc]

Thank you for the pictures ( the place was huge )..especially those of the sculpted panels in the gates :)

[Wizcrafts]

Thanks Falker. They are part of history.

[Sheilajeanne]

Those photos inspired me to look up the history of the Singer company on Wikipedia. Interesting read! Thank you for the photos.

[Old Coach Saddlery]

Very cool thanks

[Sheilajeanne]

I now know why my mother purchased a Seamstress sewing machine during the 1940's rather than a Singer. For most of the first half of the 20th century, the demand for Singer sewing machines exceeded the supply, so no doubt, they were more expensive to buy than other brands. I remember my mom telling me the Seamstess was cheaper, and if she'd bought a Singer she would have been paying more just for the name.

A lot of the clothing I wore in the 1950's was sewn on that machine, and my sister-in-law, who is the sewer in my family, took it when my mom died at the age of 92. I don't know if it will ever be used again, as she has her own modern machine, but it's nice to know it's still in the family. 

[DrmCa]

Is that East Germany? Did they make Veritas machine brand there after the war? My mother owned a Veritas machine. It was a royal pain to saw with as it was very finicky about the top thread adjustment and just would not saw well most of the time. Can't remember if it was East German made.

[JJN]

@Constabulary Thanks for the photos. I want to start learning the history of Singer now.

Did you get to see the clockworks in the clock tower? I would love to see some photos that mechanism.

[Matt S]

Very interesting, Folker. I'm very glad the buildings are still in use.

I find it interesting that Singer set up major factories in at least three different locations (Germany, Scotland, US) and were producing largely the same models in each of those locations. I wonder if demand simply outstripped supply for a long time, or if there was enough of a cost savings (shipping, tariffs) that it was worth building such large and expensive factories?

[shoepatcher]

Folker,

Thanks for the pics.  Great story.  I am amazed so much of the compound still survives.  It was big and a lot going on there.  No Singers made in Germany at this factory after the war? Hitler did nothing with the complex during the war?

glenn

Edited September 9, 2019 by shoepatcher

[fredk]

Thanks for sharing the photos. Its so good see the factory preserved. Those gates are simply magnificient

A. Its only on a forum like this that we enjoy looking at photos of an old factory!

B, 

2 hours ago, Matt S said:

I find it interesting that Singer set up major factories in at least three different locations (Germany, Scotland, US) and were producing largely the same models in each of those locations. I wonder if demand simply outstripped supply for a long time, or if there was enough of a cost savings (shipping, tariffs) that it was worth building such large and expensive factories?

I can't say for Germany, but in the UK in the early years of the 20th century import taxes on goods could be as high as 75%. The sewing machine was a luxury item so was taxed at about 50% on imported ones. Thats why Henry Ford opened his first English factory in Manchester in 1917 - to get round the import taxation of 25% to 50% on Ford vehicles. Plus goods made in Britain and exported were given a tax relief. So it would make commercial sense for Singer to have a British factory. Also at that time Scottish steel and iron was superior to any in Europe and Scotland had a very big iron producing industry.

[dikman]

Thanks mate, great photos and quite remarkable that the buildings not only survived but can still be used. If you didn't say where they were taken that "industrial style" of building could be anywhere in the UK.

[Constabulary]

13 hours ago, DrmCa said:

Is that East Germany? Did they make Veritas machine brand there after the war? My mother owned a Veritas machine. It was a royal pain to saw with as it was very finicky about the top thread adjustment and just would not saw well most of the time. Can't remember if it was East German made.

Yes, former East Germany (GDR). Well Veritas was the brand name, it´s well possible that other sewing machine manufacturers used Veritas as a model name too.

 

13 hours ago, JJN said:

@Constabulary Thanks for the photos. I want to start learning the history of Singer now.

Did you get to see the clockworks in the clock tower? I would love to see some photos that mechanism.

Unfortunately not. But in the exhibition they had some pictures of the clockwork. Not sure if the pics are online available.

They BTW have approx 20 domestic machines in their exhibition (mainly Singer domestic machines and some Veritas),  2 TEXTIMA industrial machines (Textima 17 and 31 - which are the same as the Singer 17K and 31K) but I did not take pics because I`m not really interested in domestic machines.

 

9 hours ago, shoepatcher said:

Folker,

Thanks for the pics.  Great story.  I am amazed so much of the compound still survives.  It was big and a lot going on there.  No Singers made in Germany at this factory after the war? Hitler did nothing with the complex during the war?

glenn

During WWII Singer Wittenberge still produced sewing machines as well as artillery shells and maybe other armaments. Durkopp did that as well.

Imagine that - Singer USA produced weapons in WWII (like the .45 Mod. 1911) for fighting the Germans and Singer Germany produces Artillery shells for fighting the Allied troops. Crazy! But what could Singer USA / Singer UK do at that time - not much I think. However - finally Europe and Germany have been liberated  - fortunately!!! And I´m still grateful for that!

Story goes that the Singer plant was not bombed whereas the City of Wittenberge got bombed as well as a factory right on the other side of the Elbe river in direct view of the Singer factory - if that is true - I don´t know. Not sure if they were able to drop bomb that princely in WWII.

After WWII (from mid 1950´s onward) Singer produced sewing machines in Karlsruhe (West Germany) where they took over the Haid & Neu sewing machine factory. Thats where the "G" Models came from (like 111G156, 212G141, 307G2 and the like) They closed in 1982 - sadly!

 

1 hour ago, dikman said:

Thanks mate, great photos and quite remarkable that the buildings not only survived but can still be used. If you didn't say where they were taken that "industrial style" of building could be anywhere in the UK. 

Not all of them but approx 40 Co´s found their space in this facility as well as a school and I hope they will restore the unused buildings as well.

Yeah - I really like these old brick building very much! Sadly the plant in Kilbowie, UK has been demolished. Or does someone know if some of the buildings have survived?

How is it in Elisabeth, NJ - all demolished?

 

I just found this Video - looks small , right? I´m pretty sure there where more buildings back then.

 

Edited September 10, 2019 by Constabulary

[CaptainBlack]

Folker, keep on sharing the history you find. Pictures and all the paragraphs you wish to write. We will be here to read it and soak it up. Thanks, Matthew.

[Wizcrafts]

19 minutes ago, Professor said:

I partly restored my Mom's and Granma's ( and possibly Great Granma) Singer foot pedal machine, using the table and top hatch from the stripped down cabinet of a later model to replace the oil perished wood.

This reply is totally off topic and not even about an industrial leather sewing machine. It is a hijack of the existing topic. All such replies will be hidden.

[Bert51]

Thanks Wiz.

[Mizzy]

Constabulary thank you so much for the pictures and information. I have German heritage, and because of this, I tend to collect Singers with G like my 307g, 111g, and 212g. I know a lot more about what the G means now! 

[toxo]

Thanks Folker. Amazing stuff. How many machines were turned out daily in it's most productive time?

What resolution did you use to get so many pics in one post?

[Constabulary]

I do not know the output numbers. I´m "a bit" Singer crazy but I´m not really a historian. I know some facts but not really all details. I hope I can do the guided tour again one day. The tour guide said there are still old tunnels they have used for moving parts / machines between the different sections of the plant and they want to make them public one day - if possible (and safe).

I have used an external picture host (https://postimages.org) and have linked the pictures here. That was the fastest and easiest way to post a large number of pictures and that way I could put them all in 1 post.

BTW - found this picture on Wikipedia - seems it is pre 1928 because I cannot see the clock tower. Pic give a good impression of the size of the plant:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nähmaschinenwerk_Wittenberge#/media/Datei:Wittenberge_Singer-Nähmaschinenfabrik.jpg

 

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by Constabulary

[toxo]

5 minutes ago, Constabulary said:

I do not know the output numbers. I´m "a bit" Singer crazy but I´m not really a historian. I know some facts but not really all details. I hope I can do the guided tour again one day. The tour guide said there are still old tunnels they have used for moving parts / machines between the different sections of the plant and they want to make them public one day - if possible (and safe).

I have used an external picture host (https://postimages.org) and have linked the pictures here. That was the fastest and easiest way to post a large umber of pictures and that way I could put them all in 1 post.

BTW - found this picture on Wikipedia - seems it is pre 1928 because I cannot see the clock tower. Pic give a good impression of the size of the plant:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nähmaschinenwerk_Wittenberge#/media/Datei:Wittenberge_Singer-Nähmaschinenfabrik.jpg

 

 

I have an old copy of Fireworks MX that can degrade an image but I've never experimented with how much I can take out without making a difference. Clearly I can go a lot further as evidenced by your post.

[Gregg From Keystone Sewing]

Thanks for sharing, the images look a lot like part of Philadelphia here in the United States.

 

 

 

[mikesc]

Constabulary..the day that postimages.org closes ( and all the free image hosters do eventually ) all the images that you linked to in your post will disappear from the post here..I had not looked at the page source code before, so did not know that was what you had had to do.

So that we do not lose them..I have made screen captures at original resolution..including your text post and title..6 Screen captures were required to avoid the upload limit here..and I think that my screen capture script "tops" out at just below 60megs anyway..

I have tried to upload your total images as screen captures in 2, 3,4,5 and 6 "bites"..anything smaller than 6 "bites" and the site software throws an error..I originally only had to make 2 screen captures to get all your images, but I have been trialling and erroring for around 30 minutes for around 30 minutes now to get the site to play ball. HTH M :)

images are .png..you can zoom into them to see them at full resolution..smallest is about300kb..biggest is about 15megs..others are 7 megs or 10 megs or so