Pundt & Kohn OHG (general partnership) was a German timber import and wood processing company. It was founded in 1862 by F. J. S. Kohn in Geestemünde. Until it was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1944, it was one of the oldest and most important companies in its branch on the lower Weser. The company was dissolved in the third generation in 1967 after the death of its last owner, Hans Kohnert.J. Dirk Peters: Aus der Geschichte des Weser-Yachtclubs Bremerhaven. "Niederdeutsches Heimatblatt", Mitteilungsblatt der Männer vom Morgenstern, March 2005, Nr. 663 (about the use of former P & K timber storage halls on the transverse canal since 1966 by the Weser Yacht Club, Bremen, including photo)Jürgen Rabbel: Vergessenes Kapitel der Geestemünder Geschichte. "Nordsee-Zeitung" (Bremerhaven), 30 November 2019 (über die Sonderausstellung: "Kapitäne und Holzfabrikanten" (die Geschichte von P&K, online) des Historischen Museums, Bremerhaven)Neue Sonderausstellung im HMB. Geschichte der Unternehmerfamilie Kohn in Geestemünde, ohne Autor, "Aktuelle Elbe-Weser. Die-Wochenzeitung für die Region", 27. Dez. 2019, p. 9Rückblick auf die „Sonderausstellung Holzgroßhandel Pundt & Kohn, no author, "Weser-Kurier", 5. January 2020
The rise and fall of the company is considered exemplary for the history of a medium-sized Hanseatic family company,* Vom Holzhändler zum Fabrikanten, exhibition online 6/20, Zeitreisen an der Küste, Historical Museum, Bremerhaven ('From timber dealer to factory owner', time travel on the coast, in German) which Thomas Mann also used as an example for his literary monument, the social novel on the Buddenbrooks.Jürgen Rabbel: Vergessenes Kapitel der Geestemünder Geschichte. "Nordsee-Zeitung" (Bremerhaven), 30 November 2019 (review of a special exhibition "Kapitäne und Holzfabrikanten" on the history of 'Pundt&Kohn' by the 'Historisches Museum', Bremerhaven)
History Founding (1863–1879) The sailing ship captain and shipowner Franz Johann Syabbe Kohn founded this wood import company in Geestemünde in 1862. He expanded a warehouse, with two floors and three cellars, on the Geestemünd dike near the old Geeste bridge to the residential office and warehouse. That summer, the firm merged with the timber trade of Captain Dietrich Pundt, also located on the Geeste dike. They cofounded Pundt & Kohn (P & K). Business flourished thanks to the construction of new port facilities on the Geeste river and the growing demand for pit timber, railway sleepers, and construction timber for residential and factory buildings.Wilhelm Treue (1980): Zur Geschichte des Deutschen Holzhandels. Ein Viertel Jahrhundert, University: Duisburg-Essen: "Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte", vol. 25, issue 1, pp. 12–27 Once the domestic supply of wood could no longer meet this great demand, the company shifted to importing wood, mainly from Scandinavia, Russia and partly from America, from where precious woods were obtained.Stefanie Bietz: Holzhandel und Möbelkonsum in Europa Zur Selbstdarstellung bürgerlicher Gesellschaftskreise um 1900. Themenportal Europäische Geschichte, Band 1, 2010, clio-online Given the weight of the goods, the waterway was by far the most cost-efficient transport until well into the 19th century.Christian Lotz (2013): Entgrenzungen des Holzhandels und Erinnerungen (Blurring of boundaries of the timber trade and memories, in German), Umwelt und Erinnerungen, No. 132, accessed: 2 February 2016 (in German) Wood importing companies concentrated on the lower reaches of rivers, such as the Weser and the Elbe, from which the imported and processed wood was distributed by barge and later by rail. This also applied to the P & K company, whose first wood storage areas were in Deichstraße (later called Bussestraße) directly on the Geeste dike shortly before the confluence of the Geeste with the Weser. Here the owner's original residential and office building stood until the Second World War. After five years of cooperation, co-owner Pundt left the company in 1868 due to illness. From then on, Kohn continued the timber import business, and supported his shipping company with ships and ship shares (‘’Guayana’’ and the Briggs ‘’Marianne’’, ‘’Auguste’’ and ‘’Salia’’), until he died on August 13, 1879. Son Franz took over the family business.
Prime-age and second generation (1879–1909)
The company outgrew its storage areas on the Geeste. In the new industrial port of Geestemünde, construction and storage areas were available, which were also separated from the Geeste by a lock. Therefore, these areas were unaffected by tides and largely ice-free. On the west and north side of the cross-canal, the connecting waterway between the main canal and Geestemünde, inaugurated in 1877, P & K built new storage sheds extending 300 m. Large two-story storage buildings were designed for import. Open storage buildings completed the picture. Storage space reached more than 10,000 m2. Around 1890 the company imported approximately 30,000 cubic meters of wood annually, compared to 25,000 solid cubic meters of its major competitor Chr. Külken, founded in Geestemünde in 1872.
To facilitate their imports, P & K founded its own steamship shipping company at the end of the 1880s with two ships of 750 and 1,150 tons, specially prepared for timber imports. Further ships were planned in 1890.Paul Hirschfeld: Hannovers Großindustrie und Großhandel (Hanover's large-scale industry and wholesaling, in German), eds.: Deutsche Export-Bank, Berlin. Publisher: Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1891, pp. 310–311 A new office building at Schönianstraße 15 was built then. In 1887 the Kohn family moved into a new villa at nearby Borriesstraße 6.
Together with the two other large timber importing and processing companies in Geestemünde, Chr. Kuelken and Rogge, P & K systematically expanded the timber trade until the 1890s. It shipped via inland waterway to the Upper Weser region, and by rail to the Ruhr region and other industrial centers. However, the customs union of the Lower Weser towns (1888) and the inclusion of the timber harbour in a much larger spatial and economic sales area led to growth. Timber imports on the Lower Weser tripled within just a decade.Julius Marchet: Der Holzhandel Norddeutschlands ('The timber trade in Northern Germany', in German). Publisher: F. Deuticke, Leipzig, Vienna, 1908Richard Zimmermann: Deutschlands Holzbedarf. Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft / Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics. vol.. 50 (4), 1894, pp. 573–582
The various stages of development of industrial woodworking in the 19th century, which developed cyclically, had a decisive influence on P & K operations.Hermann Schwiebert (2016): Der Holzhafen - Geestemünde in alten und neuen Ansichten ('The timber harbor - Geestemünde in old and new views', in German). In: DeichSPIEGEL - Das online Magazin aus Bremerhaven, accessed: 17 February 2016 Planing machines played a key role in this. As early as 1877, P & K applied for a permit for a sawmill and planing mill on the cross channel. In 1890, P & K built a modern sawing and planing mill with round rod production at the head of the cross-canal, between Industriestraße, Kanalstraße and Sägestraße, which traded under the name Geestemünder Holzindustriewerke Backhaus & Co. In contrast to the unrealized project of 1877, the company now had a direct rail connection to Industriestraße.* 'Vom Holzhändler zum Fabricant' ('From timber trader to manufacturer', in German), exhibition online 6/20, Zeitreisen an der Küste ('Time travels at the coast', in German), Historical Museum, Bremerhaven
At that time, P & K was one of the oldest and largest companies in this branch of the Lower Weser, and P & K was by far the largest in terms of turnover."Due to its national economic and commercial importance, "Pundt & Kohn" was mentioned in the Brockhaus Encyclopedia as early as 1894". see: Brockhaus’ encyclopaedia (1894). Leipzig, Berlin, Vienna: F. A. Brockhaus, 14. ed., 1894-1896, keyword: 'Geestendorf (Bremerhaven)', p. 640. - quoted in: Bickelmann, Hartmut (1996): Von Geestendorf nach Geestemünde ('From Geestendorf to Geestemünde', in German). In: Männer vom Morgenstern, yearbook, No. 75, Bremerhaven: 1996: 149-235
Expansion and third generation (1909–1945)
Pundt & Kohn was a major creditor to the insolvent J.H. Krumnack, a furniture factory, steam sawmill, and timber dealer in Melle.Business correspondence: Krumnack – Pundt & Kohn For this reason and also out of family interests, P & K took it over on September 27, 1909 in a foreclosure auction.Opening letter to liquidation proceedings dated April 6th, 1909. - Business correspondence: Krumnack – Pundt & Kohn After Franz died in 1909, his son Hans continued the business. His older son, Gerhard, took over the management of the Melle factory, which was renamed Meller Möbelfabrik Ltd (trading name: MMM) in 1909. Its main business was furniture manufacturing as entered in the commercial register.Sabine Grigo (1986): Die Möbelindustrie im Grönegau und im angrenzenden Ravensberg-Lippe ('The furniture industry in Grönegau and the neighboring Ravensberg-Lippe', in German). In: Der Grönegau – Meller Jahrbuch, vol. 4, 1986, pp. 46–58 The sole owner was the general partnership (OHG) Pundt & Kohn in Geestemünde, in which both brothers were personally liable and authorized signatories.
Later they founded the company Unterweser Holzhandel Ltd, Wesermünde (‘Lower Weser timber trade’, Wesermuende). The sole owner was their mother, Johanne Kohn, Franz's widow, who died in 1909. Hans was the managing director, who together with his brother Gerhard, combined four companies within the framework of a group of legally independent businesses: the parent company Pundt & Kohn, MMM, Backhaus & Co and Unterweser Holzhandel Ltd. This served the purpose of tax avoidance, in part through profit transfer as well as offsetting profits and losses between them, which reflected different businesses, wages, and taxes, depending on size and situation. The value of P & K's timber stocks was , according to the 1926 trade tax declaration. That would correspond to a purchasing power of about € million in 2017. Apart from that, the tax flexibility was vital for P & K because of the severe losses in the Great Depression (1929–32), from which the furniture factory in Melle suffered less. During this time, P & K declared life-threatening losses of over due to the failure of trade credit receivables of business customers who had gone bankrupt.Business tax files of P & K, 1929–1932, municipal archive, Bremerhaven
In 1937, Hans applied to change the family and company name to ‘Kohnert'. This was approved by the ministry on August 14, 1937. The reason was growing hostility vis à vis the company and family because Kohn "sounded" Jewish. In 1941 senator Kohnert was appointed Wehrwirtschaftsführer (1941–1945) and President of the newly created Chamber of Commerce of the Gau of East Hanover (1943–1945). During the war, timber imports at P & K concentrated on (neutral) Sweden, and in particular on the Kramfors sawmill in the Härnösand Municipality in northern Sweden.
Reconstruction and the end (1945–1967) The P & K factories, as well as the mansion of the Kohnert family, were completely destroyed during the Allied bombing raids on Bremerhaven on September 18, 1944.P & K war damages files, 24 March 1945 ff, Town archive, Bremerhaven