Verlade- und Transportanlagen Adolf Bleichert & Co
THE ABANDONED FACTORY IN GERMANY
This is the abandoned factory ‘Verlade- und Transportanlagen Adolf Bleichert & Co’ in Leipzig. The factory buildings, built by architect Max Bösenberg are now reconverted to lofts and studios.
Adolf Bleichert was born in 1845 in Dessau. In 1974, he founds ‘Bleichert und Otto’ together with Theodor Otto in Schkeuditz. It relocates to Leipzig in the same year. Two years later, the two businessmen separate their companies again, Bleichert runs its own company in which he produces cable cars, under a new name.
In 1881 Bleichert relocated the entire company to Gohlis, new factory rooms were inaugurated, and the 100th cable car was built. At this time, 90 employees work in the company. In 1897, the factory enlarges, builds new administration buildings, and grows the workforce to 200 workers. In 1899, the company celebrates its 25th anniversary and completes the 1000th cable car.
Chilecito-La Mejicana
In the spring of 1900 Adolf Bleichert suffers from tuberculosis with no prospect of recovery. After Bleichert’s death in 1901, Karl Streitzig implemented all proposals, enlarged the factory, and separated it into two sections. They sold the longest and highest cable car to Chilecito-La Mejicana in Argentina. The Argentine government built the 34-kilometer airway in 1903 to transport copper and silver ore from the mines. It goes up to the mountain station at 4603 meters altitude and overcomes a height difference of 3500 meters.
During the First World War, troops utilized Bleichert rails at the front for transporting ammunition, food, and wounded soldiers. From 1919 to 1922, the company constructed new production halls in Eutritzsch, as residential buildings surrounded the site in Gohlis, preventing further expansion there. During this time, Bleichert’s company becomes increasingly important for the construction of passenger cable cars. In 1930 the company went bankrupted by the global economic crisis, but in 1932 a successor was found. During the Second World War, Bleichert produced war materials, so the factories were bombed and seriously damaged.
Schwermaschinenbau Verlade- und Transportanlagen Leipzig
Starting from 1955 the factory is officially named ‘Schwermaschinenbau Verlade- und Transportanlagen Leipzig’. The company is developing into an influential large-scale enterprise of heavy machinery construction, producing cranes, shovels, and forklifts. In 1990 the employees tried with demonstrations and occupations to avert the imminent closure of the plant, but without success. The production is finally stopped. I visited the ‘Verlade- und Transportanlagen Adolf Bleichert & Co’ in 2009.
