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Siemens: Difference between revisions
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===== Dawning of the era of electrical engineering ===== | ===== Dawning of the era of electrical engineering ===== | ||
[[File:1950 Siemens spin-dryer.jpg|thumb|1950's advertisement for the Siemens spin-dryer. (Source: Siemens Corporate Archives)]] | |||
In addition to communications technology, Werner Siemens succeeded in laying the cornerstone for electrical engineering with the discovery of the dynamo-electric principle in 1866. This dynamo for the first time allowed mechanical energy to be converted cost-effectively into electricity. The machine was the trigger for a series of other groundbreaking Siemens technologies, including the first electrical railway, the first electrical street lighting and the first electrical elevator.<ref>Siemens AG (Ed): 150 Jahre Siemens, pages 12-13.</ref> | In addition to communications technology, Werner Siemens succeeded in laying the cornerstone for electrical engineering with the discovery of the dynamo-electric principle in 1866. This dynamo for the first time allowed mechanical energy to be converted cost-effectively into electricity. The machine was the trigger for a series of other groundbreaking Siemens technologies, including the first electrical railway, the first electrical street lighting and the first electrical elevator.<ref>Siemens AG (Ed): 150 Jahre Siemens, pages 12-13.</ref> | ||
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===== Wartime economy ===== | ===== Wartime economy ===== | ||
The international network of subsidiaries and associated companies was broken up with the outbreak of World War I. Property, material assets as well as patents and property rights abroad were confiscated. The international business had to be rebuilt again when the war ended. Former subsidiaries, such as the English Siemens Brothers & Co., were now competitors. As before the war, Siemens succeeded in keeping the business going with the aid of large orders. The largest of these projects was the electrification of the entire Irish Free State, which was completed in 1930. Siemens had re-established 193 overseas branch offices before the outbreak of World War II in 1939. | The international network of subsidiaries and associated companies was broken up with the outbreak of World War I. Property, material assets as well as patents and property rights abroad were confiscated. The international business had to be rebuilt again when the war ended. Former subsidiaries, such as the English Siemens Brothers & Co., were now competitors. As before the war, Siemens succeeded in keeping the business going with the aid of large orders. The largest of these projects was the electrification of the entire Irish Free State, which was completed in 1930. Siemens had re-established 193 overseas branch offices before the outbreak of World War II in 1939. | ||
[[File:1971 Siemens kitchen.jpg|thumb|1971 advertisement for Siemens kitchen appliances. (Source: Siemens Corporate Archives)]] | |||
Siemens benefited in National Socialist Germany from the flow of orders stimulated by preparations for war. With revenue of 1.3 billion Reichsmark, the company group became the most successful German electrical company. The labor shortage that ensued during the war years was increasingly compensated for by forced labor in the 1940s, with the result that some 50,000 of Siemens' entire 244,000 strong workforce were working as forced laborers in 1944.<ref>Siemens AG (Ed): 150 Jahre Siemens, pages 58-59.</ref> In 1942, the "Siemenslager Ravensbrück" camp was established in the immediate vicinity of the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where detainees manufactured telephone sets, radios and measuring instruments for Siemens. Siemens products deemed important for the war effort were produced additionally in the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Lublin. | Siemens benefited in National Socialist Germany from the flow of orders stimulated by preparations for war. With revenue of 1.3 billion Reichsmark, the company group became the most successful German electrical company. The labor shortage that ensued during the war years was increasingly compensated for by forced labor in the 1940s, with the result that some 50,000 of Siemens' entire 244,000 strong workforce were working as forced laborers in 1944.<ref>Siemens AG (Ed): 150 Jahre Siemens, pages 58-59.</ref> In 1942, the "Siemenslager Ravensbrück" camp was established in the immediate vicinity of the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where detainees manufactured telephone sets, radios and measuring instruments for Siemens. Siemens products deemed important for the war effort were produced additionally in the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Lublin. | ||