“Oil!” A distant shout perhaps once echoed around here at Thöls Ölfabrik. This place was more than just a factory. It was the heart of an industrial empire. Let’s step back in time to explore its story.
In 1883 Johann Friedrich Thöls founded the “Harburger Ölfabrik F. Thöls.” It became the origin of his son Friedrich Thöls’ grand ventures. Friedrich Thöls expanded the business. In 1891 he partnered with Consul Robert Francke to establish the “Palmkernölfabrik Robert Francke.” This palm oil factory joined the Thöls enterprise in 1894. Later in 1899 he acquired the Palmkernöl- und Cocosölfabrik “Gaiser & Co.”
Friedrich Thöls founded the “Harburger Stärkefabrik Friedrich Thöls” in 1900. This factory produced rice starch. A weaving mill was established in 1902. It manufactured press and filter cloths. Later, it also produced textile drive belts and conveyor belts. All Thöls companies were consolidated in 1906. They became “F. Thöls’ Vereinigte Harburger Oelfabriken Aktiengesellschaft.” Friedrich Thöls led the company as General Director. He stepped down from the leadership in 1922.
The city of Harburg honored him with honorary citizenship in 1927. Imagine the scale of this operation. Before World War II F. Thöls’ Vereinigte Oelfabriken AG had 1,500 employees. They operated up to five sites in Harburg. Small quantities of linseed oil were produced at Werk Citadelle on the Schloßinsel. Large palm oil batches were processed at Seehafen and am Westlichen Bahnhofskanal.
Unilever produced soaps and detergents here until 1985. You might recognize the name “Sunlicht”. The 16-cell silo for oil fruits from 1935, located on Schellerdamm was converted into an office building in 2003.
The weaving mill building constructed around 1920 on Harburger Schloßstrasse still stands. You can still see the company name on it. In 1978 the Hamburg University of Technology was established here. The university library occupied a floor on the fourth floor until March 1983.
Let’s not forget Henri Noblée. This entrepreneur founded a hydrocarbon plant in 1855. He produced lighting oil and gas from coal. From the 1860s Noblée entered the vegetable oil business. He used raw materials from colonies. In 1872 Noblée expanded the operation with Max Thöls. They extracted oil from palm kernels, copra, soybeans, and linseed. This oil was used for soap production. The plant built in 1908 could process about 150,000 tons of oilseeds per year.
Only remnants of the plant survived the destruction of World War II. The Noblée administration building dates back to 1952. Since 1999 the plant has belonged to Archer Daniels Midland AG. They shifted the pressing operations and discontinued production in Harburg in 2023.
Thöls Ölfabrik leaves behind a rich legacy. Its buildings have been repurposed. However its impact on Harburg’s industrial history remains.