Company chronicle
Company chronicle
1879: The idea of a "Reichsdruckerei"
The birth of ReichsdruckereiAt the end of the 19th century, Postmaster General Heinrich von Stephan saw the many opportunities which the government purchase of the Decker Royal Printing Office would offer. He dreamt of recruiting for his public authority a "staff with a certain civil servant quality" which would not be able to strike in response to sudden upheaval.
 |
In brief, Stephan dreamt of a government-owned printing house which was to receive the exclusive rights for the production of all sovereign documents, including banknotes and postage stamps, and which was to be a permanently willing servant and loyal partner to the state. The merger of the "Oberhofbuchdruckerei", which changed hands in 1877 for the stately sum of 6.78 million Reich marks, with the Prussian State Printing Office that had been located on Berlin's Oranienstraße since 1852 marked the birth of "Reichsdruckerei" on 6 July 1879 which promptly started working for the state. |
In the heart of the Reich's capital city
 |
Karl Ferdinand Busse, first director of Reichsdruckerei and at the same time a very ambitious master builder, launched an extensive expansion project on the spacious premises of the former Prussian State Printing Office. Reminiscent of the existing, richly ornamented brick buildings, his new complex of buildings on Alte Jakobstraße and the 35-metre high corner tower set a striking accent in a relatively modest neighbourhood, continuing the company's premises further along Kommandantenstraße in subsequent years. |
... more