“Thode & Michael Papierfabrik in Hainsberg” Do these words spark your curiosity? We are standing before the Papierfabrik Freital. It is a testament to Freital’s industrial heritage. This historic paper mill has been a cornerstone of the community since 1838. It continues to produce high-quality recycled paper.
Gerhardt Friedrich Thode and Wilhelm Eduard Michael founded the mill. Thode was a merchant from Dresden. Michael was a pharmacist from Chemnitz. In 1842, production began with one paper machine. That first year, the mill produced 77,000 kg of fine paper. The company had 60 employees.
Thode’s sons Friedrich Edmund and Robert Wilhelm took over. It was 1844. They handled the technical and commercial management. A second paper machine was installed in 1851.
The owners sold the company in 1856. The buyer was Allgemeine Deutsche Creditanstalt in Leipzig. The company became a public limited company. It was named Thode’sche Papierfabrik zu Hainsberg.
By 1858, the Papierfabrik Freital employed about 550 workers. They produced 3,052,298 pounds of paper. The value was 416,690 Thaler.
A third paper machine was added in 1859. It was a Donkin machine. Its sieve was 82 inches wide. A fourth paper machine followed in 1863. It had a working width of 60 inches. This machine made tissue paper.
One of Saxony’s first gas plants was built here in 1865. It had three furnaces and eight retorts.
The Rabenauer Mühle was added to the mill in 1868. This was a wood grinding shop. In 1869, they built one of Germany’s first straw pulping plants. This supplemented raw material production.
The Papierfabrik Freital added its fifth paper machine in 1874. In 1890, one of the older paper machines was replaced. It was replaced with a new machine for newsprint. The mill specialized in fine and medium-fine grades.
The Hainsberg paper mill leased the ice on its two pond systems in 1897. The lease went to the Dresdner Felsenkeller brewery. The price was 1400 RM. There was also a bridge toll of 80 RM.
The straw pulping plant and the newsprint machine were shut down in 1901. They had been built in 1890. A new bleachery was built in 1913.
In 1914, paper machines 1 and 2 were converted. They were converted to produce spinning papers. These were spun into wood fiber and cellulose yarns.
The mill got a new boiler house in 1921. It had a 75-meter-high chimney. It also got an electric power center. A new, fast paper machine was installed in 1923. It was installed by the Füllner company.
A 750-horsepower back-pressure steam turbine went into operation in 1928.
The Köttewitz paper and cardboard factory was added to Hainsberg in 1936. It had two paper machines. In 1937, the Gröba paper mill near Riesa was added.
Production in Hainsberg stopped on May 6, 1945. It restarted on May 15 with one paper machine. Soviet officers used the first paper. They organized the printing of the Tägliche Rundschau in Dresden. The Soviet military administration took over the factory on June 9. The company Thode’sche Papierfabrik Hainsberg and the legal form of a public limited company remained. The Tägliche Rundschau was the main shareholder. Its share was 67%.
The public limited company was dissolved on June 30, 1952. The Papierfabrik Freital was taken over on October 1. It was taken over by the Zentrale Druckerei, Einkaufs- und Revisionsgesellschaft mbH (Zentrag).
In 1973, Hainsberg began using recycled paper for the first time. It was due to a shortage of raw materials. The VEB Papierfabrik Hainsberg became part of Kombinat Zellstoff und Papier in Heidenau in 1979. The merger happened on January 1.
After German reunification, Dresden Papier AG was founded on July 1, 1990. It included the newly founded Papierfabrik Hainsberg GmbH. The factory began specializing in the production of graphic recycling papers.
In the afternoon of August 12, 2002, the Weisseritz flooded the factory. It also flooded the town of Freital. The force was irresistible. The factory gradually resumed operations. It started on October 9.
Hoya Papier GmbH took over Papierfabrik Freital in 2010. It became the majority shareholder. The company offers its recycling printing papers as volume papers. They are sold under the Lettura®Bulk label. This happened in 2023.
The Papierfabrik Freital stands as a symbol. It is a symbol of resilience and innovation. It shows the enduring legacy of papermaking in this region.