Company chronicle

1879: The idea of a "Reichsdruckerei"

From 1880: The birth of a major Berlin-based company

1929: 50 years of Reichsdruckerei

From 1930: Bombed, ruined and broken

From 1945: Rising out of the ashes

From 1950: In a divided city

1979: 100th anniversary of Reichsdruckerei / Bundesdruckerei

From 1989 The dawn of a new era

From 1994: The road to privatisation

From 2000: A new millennium

From 2005: International recognition as a systems supplier

From 2009: The Bundesdruckerei

Company chronicle

From 1945: Rising out of the ashes

A difficult new beginning
For Reichsdruckerei, the first salvage and clean-up work marked the beginning of a struggle for survival that was to last many years. On 16 May 1945, the Magistrate of the City of Berlin appointed by the Soviet occupants seized the entire moveable and immoveable assets, all facilities and rights of Reichsdruckerei and ordered the "state printing office under magistrate administration" to resume work as quickly as possible. Over the next three years, production took place under difficult makeshift conditions. But when at the end of 1948, the "blockade" led to the political division of Berlin, these extremely difficult working conditions were exacerbated by a dramatic fall in orders.

Due to the tense political situation, the administration units of the "Combined Economic Area" formed by the British and US allies demanded that a second state-owned printing company be set up in the safe west. The continuous decline in public orders lost to the new Frankfurt branch threatened to deal the final blow to the printing house in Berlin.

The birth of Bundesdruckerei
1. September 1949 heralded a new era of certainty. The central administration of postal and telecommunication services took over the management of the Berlin and Frankfurt branches of the Government Printing Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, so that the gradual reconstruction of the facility in Berlin could start. Three years later, the federal government and the Berlin magistrate signed the official take-over agreement and the Government Printing Office of the Federal Republic of Germany became "Bundesdruckerei".

Company chronicle From 1945: Rising out of the ashes

Company chronicle

From 1945: Rising out of the ashes