1923 Lutz (Ludwig) Overlack

The director, Lutz Overlack, is a jolly bird. Not without reason was he born on Carnival Monday in 1892. Highly gifted in communication, clever and quick-witted, he always has a joke in store and shines in social gatherings. In short: the ideal salesman.

Lutz must also have dreamed of owning a car at one time, as the offer from the Westphalian Motor Vehicle Company dated March 28, 1923 reveals. The Wanderer passenger car with 5/15 hp and leather seats was to cost 30 million marks. Six months later, the same amount of money would buy only half a kilo of beef. The hyperinflation of 1923 plunged the entire country into deepest misery. So no cars were bought in the Lower Rhine region either – the management traveled by bicycle, and goods were delivered by horse and cart or a rickety delivery van.

1924 Heinrich Overlack

After only a few months in his own company, Curt Stäuber dies unexpectedly of a ruptured appendix in January 1923. As a consequence, Ludwig Overlack mobilizes his brothers. Ed, the elder, has made his fortune as director of a tin mine in Bolivia and is to contribute the necessary capital; the younger brother Heinrich becomes a partner on site.

Unlike his brothers, Heinrich took part in the First World War as an air force officer – and survived. He is more reserved than Lutz. On January 1, 1924, he joins the company, which from now on trades as “Gebrüder Overlack (Overlack Brothers) Chemical Factory”. Heinrich takes over the areas of operations, technology, finance and personnel.

In a letter from October 1924, he makes it clear to his brother Ed what his money is to be used for: „The amount is exclusively for the acquisition or construction of a factory. The factory is a vital necessity for us, since with today's expenses, duties and taxes in Germany, nothing is earned in trade.“ Neither a suitable building site nor a factory ready for takeover has yet been found. The general economic situation is difficult for start-ups: „Certainly many things will improve in the next year, but whether times will be as rosy as Lutz - the eternal happy optimist – assumes, I personally still doubt. We don't need to have any concerns: the company stands firm and secure; it will provide a good living for both of us and a good income for you; but perhaps Overlack's recognised efficiency will succeed in turning it into a large company in time. We won't let go ...“

1925 About the roots. The prehistory

In September 1902, Carl Langerfeld Jr. applies for a concession to build a factory on what was then Dahlener Strasse and is now Aachener Strasse in Mönchengladbach. It is a genuine manufacturing plant with a machine house, boiler houses, rooms for evaporating acids and an accumulator room. In addition to extensive storage facilities, there is also a horse stable, a harness room and a wagon shed. The largest building in the center of the site is the actual factory building. In 1913, Langerfeld applies for a shed extension to process the raw product "China gall".

Then the first world war comes.

Around 1925, the Overlack Brothers acquire the present company site on Aachener Strasse with this Langerfeld chemical factory. The seller at that time is the widow Niedergesäs, who would continue to live in the "turret villa" on the neighboring property until her old age. As the successor to Carl Langerfeld, her husband ran his chemical factory for only a short time. After Fritz Niedergesäs is killed in the First World War, his widow Toni wants to retire from the company. Lutz and Heinrich Overlack are ready to take over.

1926 Ed Overlack

Ed Overlack, the oldest of the three Overlack brothers, is the adventurer of the family. At the age of 23, he sets off for South America in 1914, becomes director of a tin mine in Bolivia and returns to Germany in 1926 as a relatively wealthy man. He already meets his future wife Elisabeth, who wants to work as a teacher in Osorno, Chile, on the crossing to South America in 1914. Fortunately for young Ed, he misses the First World War, but his first-born Hans-Lutz is killed in the Second World War at a very young age.

Ed is lucky to live in Bolivia in the twenties, which are so unstable in Germany, and to be paid in Bolivianos, which he exchanges for English pounds. Before returning, he tries to invest his money wisely, putting it, among other things, in the young company of his brothers. The surety bond of 1926 probably secured the brothers' investments in the Langerfeld company.

The South American part of the family history has been compiled in a wonderful book by Ed's youngest daughter Christa from a multitude of private letters and memories: "Who even knows Araca? Family Life in the Bolivian Andes 1914–1926".  There, Ed's financial involvement in the "Gebrüder Overlack Chemische Fabrik" is also put into perspective: "Know-how, drive and self-confidence were available, what was missing was start-up capital. And that is what Brother Ed is asked for. So he comes in with money on the condition of partnership. He must have had great confidence in his brothers' ability."

1927 The family I

In the garden of their parents' house in Hindenburgstraße in Krefeld, the Overlack family gathers for a photo session. It may have been 1927, or perhaps a few years earlier. In any case, the parents Eduard Sr. and Sophie proudly show themselves with their children and daughter-in-law Lisbeth, who snuggles up to her husband Heinrich on the left of the picture. In the foreground, the baby of the family, Lotte, is sitting next to Lutz, and to the right of the parents stand the sisters Lene and Martha. The photographer of this shot is Ed.

And this is how Ed's daughter Christa recalls the family history in her book:

"My grandfather Eduard had taken over his father's brickyard as the youngest of 13 siblings. In the 90s of the 19th century, like everywhere else, his business went badly, and that just at the time when he had married and started a family. He had taken his wife Sophie Girmes – my grandmother – from a large farm on the outskirts of town, which today is remembered only by a street, the 'Girmesgath'. Well, his chosen one must have turned out a bit weak as the fifth of six siblings, because in his family it was said: 'What do you want with this consumptive girl?' An outright misjudgment – she lived to be 85! She had six children, always nicely alternating sons and daughters, and became an energetic and resolute mother and housewife who knew how to keep the family and the initially meager income together.

Meanwhile, with skill and great dedication, the father got the business back on track. He succeeded in bringing together all of the approximately 20 'ring kiln owners' and founded the first 'Rhenish Brick Syndicate', which he presided over as managing director for decades and in which work was very successful from then on."

1928 A real factory

In its first decades, "Gebr. Overlack, Chemische Fabrik" is still a real production facility. Innovative processes for the manufacture of new products are very welcome - there could actually be a sensational discovery among them that becomes a bestseller. The agreement with the chemist Hans Lewitzki of October 1928 concerned the production of an aviva agent based on starch syrup. Such preparations are still used today in textile finishing to increase the suppleness of fibers, yarns and fabrics. Does Lewitzki's secret recipe still play a role in this? ... We do not know.

1929 The family II

The history of a family business in the 1920s always also tells family history. There is evidence that the company pays the unmarried sisters of the managing director brothers, Lene and Lotte, a small salary for a long time. In return, the two have been running the Krefeld office since June 1925, working from their parents' home. The reason for their commitment: long-distance calls were expensive in those years, and since neighboring Krefeld was an important sales market for "Gebr. Overlack", the sisters' efforts made it possible for Krefeld customers to place their orders at local rates.

The photographer of this picture is Lutz, and Ed is now standing between his younger sisters Lene and Martha.

Once again Ed's daughter, Christa Mehrgardt:

"My grandfather was universally recognized and respected, not only because of his competence and justice, but also because of his balancing and kindly manner in dealing with everyone – and because of his generosity. Once, when he walked across the railroad tracks to his work for the first time again after a long illness in the spring, the crossing guard called out to him: 'Happy New Year, Mr. Overlack!' Of course, he had not yet received his New Year's money, as was customary. And it was just as clear that he would immediately make up for what he had missed.

The family with the growing number of children was cheerful and lively, because all of them were endowed with a good portion of Rhenish temperament and humor. Krefeld, the hometown, was a beautiful and well-kept city, prosperous and known for its numerous velvet and silk weaving mills as well as its dye works. Its peculiarity was emphasized by the saying, 'There are good, there are bad, and there are Krefelders.'"

1930 Max Meer – "Death of a Salesman"

How is business done in 1930? How is customer contact maintained? The contract of April 15, 1930 between the company "Gebr. Overlack" and Max Meer reveals it. Agents are sought-after and important business partners. They are paid on a commission basis, i.e. they act as self-employed persons.

Arthur Miller's 1949 classic "Death of a Salesman" proves that this cannot always have been profitable.

A small piece of evidence for this can also be found in the personnel file of the Overlack archive: sometime in the spring of 1931, Max Meer must have asked his business partners for a loan; this was granted and secured in an unusual way.

Anyone who wants to know more can browse through the file.

1931 Wage reduction

Bad times for employees! Mass layoffs are taking place in the Ruhr mining industry at the beginning of January. After an arbitration commission set up by the government decided on a six percent wage cut, the miners are allowed to return to their jobs. The Overlack company also informs its workers and employees on January 30, 1931, that it reserves the right to a comparable wage cut – under the general clause: "if employment deteriorates." We do not know whether this wage cut actually occurred.

In any case, in March 1931 the number of unemployed in Germany was just under 5 million. By no means do all the unemployed receive benefits from unemployment insurance. Real income falls, poverty grows. Germany is heading for dark times.