A proud cover photo
The industrial chimney with the Opel inscription rises into the sky. “Chimneys are landmarks,” writes the editorial team, “just like the towers of the cathedrals in our cities, the high chimneys are symbols, symbols of the places of work.”
“Under the Opel Tower” was an alternative title for the employee newspaper that was available at the time. But in the course of a competition, the employees voted to keep the provisional title “Opel Post”.
The first issue is preceded by a greeting from CEO Edward W. Zdunek: “The Werkzeitung can and will – I am convinced of this – do a lot to promote this cooperation and, moreover, the spirit of mutual trust that is necessary for this.”
Exciting contemporary historical framework
The first issue of the Opel Post documents how quickly the factory was rebuilt after its destruction in the bombing raids in 1944/45 – and at the same time production was getting back on track. To do this, parts production was first brought back up and running and machines that had been relocated to areas on the left bank of the Rhine during the war were brought back.
The following were already assembled in the Rüsselsheim factory between 1946 and June 1949:
17,643 Opel Blitz trucks13,512 Opel Olympia1,920 Opel Captainover 16,000 Frigidaire refrigerators
1945 Mass of rubble and rubble on the factory streets.
1949 Olympia and Captain are already rolling off the production line again.
A story in which things get hot
“A true inferno greets the visitor who enters the entrance unsuspectingly. He drives back in fright because all hell is really going on here.”
The report on the forge of the Opel factory provides insights into a working world that can no longer be applied to today’s standards: “The men in front of the gas ovens are hit in the face by embers of over 1000 degrees,” writes the author. Compressing machines process the hot iron blocks “as if they were made of wax”.
“The drop forge is one of the largest, best equipped and most efficient forges on the continent,” Master St. is quoted in the text. 49 long-distance gas-heated furnaces are available to heat the forge. The employees carried out the reconstruction of the forge with a lot of manual work using pulleys and winches. Because: There was no heavy machinery or a crane.
Interesting insights
Music in the canteen
It was a long-held plan, reports the Opel Post, to found a factory orchestra to hold concerts during the lunch break. It started on May 6, 1949. “The first free concert of our new orchestra took place with timpani and trumpets,” says the employee newspaper.
100,000th Olympics
In June 1949 the 100,000th run. Example of the 1.5 liter model of the Olympia across the line, as reported by the Opel Post. After the Laubfrosch and the 1.2-liter Opel, the Olympia was the third Opel model to exceed the 100,000-unit number limit. The photo shows production manager Eberlein handing over the anniversary Olympia to Mr. Gaedertz, domestic sales manager.
Exercise during your lunch break
Employees were asked to “show excerpts from their sporting work during their lunch break in order to promote their sport.” In the picture: an employee on a single-person art bike.
You can download the complete first edition here.
March 2024