I was born in 1956 in Gdansk called once Danzig - the very place of the outbreak of the Second World War on September 1,1939, the place from where communism began to fall apart in 1980. Solidarnosc was born here! (so did Mr D.G. Fahrenheit in 1686). Some people still remember the electrician Lech Walesa from Gdansk shipyard who started the great change in this part of the world.

I have been honored to work for Solidarnosc international affairs since 1990. Before that I was a historian researcher studying Polish-Norwegian economic relations between 1919-1939. For six years of my life I have studied Scandinavian languages and history and literature of Scandinavia. My thoughts circle tirelessly around the past. My passion for old lamps is a part of this process.

I remember that life of a man is only a short moment in the history of collected items. Most lanterns will survive me. But first I have to protect them from destruction, to take them into light again from obscurity of forgotten lofts, cellars and other magic places.

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF ANDRZEJ MATLA

ENJOY THE SLIDESHOW!

Kästner &Toebelmann Lamp Factory was the fourth of five oldest lamp factories established in Erfurt, Thuringia/South East Germany in the late 1800s. The oldest one was Fr.Stübgen &Co. (est.1843) manufacturer of famous BAT lanterns, the second one- C.A.Kleemann (est.1851), third one-C.Klöpfel&Sohn (est.1867). The youngest of them was Toebelmann&Grimm (est.1882).

Franz Kästner and Siegfried Bernhard Heinrich Toebelmann started their business on August 1st, 1874, when Franz Kästner entered the business operated by Toebelmann under the company of Siegfried Toebelmann. In 1899 Siegfried Toebelmann died. The business was transferred to the shareholder Fr.Kästner with all assets and liabilities.

Hermann Kästerner

At its early days the company employed 20-25 people. Around 1904, it was large in the production and development of petroleum lamps. They used modern American press machines. The establishment expanded to over 6000 sqm and around 1914 at the peak of its potential it employed about 700 people. The success of the lamp factory can also be seen in the income of its owners. The manufacturer Franz Kaestner is among the multi-millionaires in Erfurt. He is a member of the General Assembly of the Chamber of Commerce in Erfurt from 1881 to 1905.

1901, Franz (Friedrich) Kästner jr. entered the company as a personally liable partner, his brother Hermann Kästner did so in 1912. The same year Franz  Kästner left the company. He died two years later. Hermann took over the management in the war year 1914. 

In 1913, Franz Friedrich Kästner like his father before was also elected to the General Meeting of the Chamber of Commerce. He was also a member of the Commission of the German Trade Association for Patent, Pattern and Sign Protection.

Prior to 1914 K&T was one of the 16 Erfurt companies with between 201 and 1000 employees. During the Great War the company produced most probably also for military purposes.

 In 1922, Kästner & Toebelmann and Stübgen & Co. were named as the largest lamp companies in Germany. The production of hurricane lanterns was particularly important at this time. However, utility and luxury lamps are also being manufactured. Very many of these lamps and lanterns went to export to Asia and several European markets.

At the end of the 1920s K&T faced financial problems caused by the global economic crisis but also caused by  extravagant way of living and old fashioned way of managing the business. They decided to resign from the production of petroleum lamps and to focus entirely on the production of electric lights. Electric lighting has been manufactured at K&T since the end of the 19th century!

1931- The companies Nier, Stübgen, Frowo and HASAG were looking at the manufacturing facilities of K&T to prevent the entry of external competitors.  At the end of 1931, HASAG AG (Hugo Schneider) purchased the hurricane lantern department from K&T buying machines, tools and trade marks from K&T.
For two years -1933 and 1934- K&T produced Hasag-Panzer lanterns. The company made two models for  HASAG:“Hasag Panzer” and“Hasag Colibri”.

From 1935 on, Fr. Stübgen produced the same lanterns for HASAG company.

1934 Kästner & Toebelmann celebrated its 60th anniversary. Publications emphasized that K&T lamps had been around the world for 60 years.

In 1934 Hermann Kästner died in Erfurt, his son Rudolf later fell in the Second World War on the front.

In 1939 the liquidation of the Kästner & Toebelmann company was finally completed
From then on K&T became a history “gone with the wind.”

Between 1890 and 1925 the company launched the following models of hurricane lanterns:

Panzer-Sturmtrotz 
Panzer-Cuirass 
Double Tank 
Panzer-Dreadnought 
Armored Sturgeon Bird 
Panzer-Lloyd (hot air lantern)
Panzer-Lloyd (cold air lamp)
Panzer-Colibri
Panzer-Radium
Panzer-Phoenix
Panzer-Fenix (Sweden Export)
Panzer-Lighthouse

*Compiled by Andrzej Matla*

Sources:
Privatarchiv J. Wekenmann, Tamara Hawich: Manufakturen, Maschinen, Manager, IHK Erfurt; 2001, Aufstieg und Niedergang der Firma Kaestner & Toebelmann, unveröffentliches Manuskript Simon Brändlin, Staatsarchiv Chemnitz