A January birth marked the beginning of Deutsche Edelstahlwerke AG in 1927. This alliance united several stainless steel plants. Imagine 15000 employees. Deutsche Edelstahlwerke was once Europe’s largest stainless steel producer.
Today the successor company runs two electric steel plants. These are in Siegen and Witten. It produces 600 stainless steel variations. These long products range from 4 to 1000 mm. This happens across five locations.
Initially Deutsche Edelstahlwerke AG was formed by Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG. It consolidated their stainless steel activities. The company headquarters were first in Bochum. By the end of 1929 the headquarters moved to Krefeld. This was due to a concentration on the Krefeld location.
Several sites formed the core of Deutsche Edelstahlwerke. These included Krefeld’s Krefelder Stahlwerke AG. August Thyssen founded it in 1900. Parts of Bochum’s “Werk Stahlindustrie” were included. The magnet factory in Dortmund-Aplerbeck was also part of it. This factory was formerly part of Dortmunder Union’s Aplerbecker Hütte. Werdohl’s Stahlwerke Brüninghaus AG joined too. It had been there since 1862.
During World War II Deutsche Edelstahlwerke produced armor. This was for tanks and guns. They also made grenades, guns, and steel helmets. Walter Rohland, a board member, significantly expanded DEW’s armaments production. This production sometimes involved forced laborers. Prisoners from concentration camps were used.
After the war the Allies wanted to dismantle the Deutsche Edelstahlwerke plants. However they were persuaded to only dismantle a portion. Following the reorganization of the mining industry in the early 1950s some plants remained with the newly founded DEW. The headquarters were in Krefeld. Other operations were consolidated into Stahlwerke Südwestfalen AG. The Bochum plant also rejoined Deutsche Edelstahlwerke. Besides castings, it produced magnets.
By 1955 the remaining Deutsche Edelstahlwerke plants produced about 35% of Germany’s stainless steel. They also made about 50% of its electric steel. In 1957 August-Thyssen-Hütte AG acquired a majority stake in Deutsche Edelstahlwerke AG. This drove the diversification of the Thyssen Group. It also secured its own electric steel capacity again.
In 1964 Dieter Spethmann became CEO of Deutsche Edelstahlwerke. Later he led the entire Thyssen Group. In 1970 DEW took over Stahl- und Walzwerk C. Kuhbier & Sohn. This plant rolled stainless steel precision strip until 2024.
August-Thyssen-Hütte and Rheinstahl merged in 1973. In 1974/1975 Deutsche Edelstahlwerke AG merged with Edelstahlwerk Witten AG. This formed Thyssen Edelstahlwerke AG. The magnet factory and centrifugal casting production in Bochum closed. However the casting division remained as Thyssen Feingusswerk Bochum.
Thyssen sold the Dortmund magnet production to Tridelta in the same year. In 1992 Thyssen Edelstahlwerke AG merged with Thyssen Stahl AG. In 1994 it was spun off again as Edelstahl Witten-Krefeld GmbH.
In the early 1980s the steel crisis led to strong concentration movements abroad. Thyssen and Krupp agreed to cooperate in the stainless steel sector. In 1995 Krupp Nirosta GmbH and Thyssen Stahl Rostfrei merged. They formed Krupp Thyssen Nirosta GmbH. In March 2005 ThyssenKrupp sold Edelstahlwerke Witten-Krefeld to Swiss Steel AG.
Today most of the original Deutsche Edelstahlwerke AG plants still exist. The Krefeld site operates as Deutsche Edelstahlwerke Specialty Steel. It is part of the Schmolz & Bickenbach Group. The Siegen, Hagen, and Witten sites also belong to Deutsche Edelstahlwerke Specialty Steel.
The legacy of Deutsche Edelstahlwerke continues. It shapes specialty steel production even today. The plant in Siegen produces about 110 kg of CO2 per ton of crude steel. This is over 90% below the global average.