"The Soul of the Company"

Bruno Borchardt, general director and board member of Polyphonwerke and Deutsche Grammophon from 1917 to 1933

Bruno Borchardt, ca. 1937/38 (dates according to Georges Borchardt)

DGG archive.

The life-span of Deutsche Grammophon, a record label that today can look back on a history of about 125 years, could have been a good deal shorter: with the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the future of this record label – a German subsidiary of The Gramophone Company in Hayes, Great Britain – was suddenly in doubt. In Britain German assets were seized, in Germany company shares held by British owners (including those of Deutsche Grammophon) were confiscated and offered for sale. Deutsche Grammophon muddled through until the ownership issue was finally settled, but the war economy and separation from the original parent company affected the production as the company was cut off from British supplies.[1] Profits shrank, in the 1916/1917 business year no dividends were paid. On 24 April 1917, the Leipzig-based Polyphon-Musikwerke finally took over Deutsche Grammophon, a merger that was to last about 15 years[2].

 

Deutsche Grammophon's connection with Polyphon during the interwar years is well-known, but it is a historical detail that tends to be overlooked – in the ups and downs of the tangled ownership structures of later times, it seems almost marginal. Yet this interregnum was anything but arbitrary. The new Polyphon-Grammophon corporation was the creation of one single man, that of its general director and sole executive Bruno Borchardt, who was in charge of the group from 1917 to 1933. Unfortunately, today Borchardt is forgotten. But without his personal initiative and business acumen, the last chapter in the life of Deutsche Grammophon might already have been written in the 1920s. Reason enough to take a closer look at the work of this extraordinary entrepreneurial personality.

 

Bruno Curt Borchardt was born in Berlin on 19 August 1886, the youngest of five children of the merchant Salomon (Sally) Borchardt. For several generations, the family ran the linen factory Gebrüder Borchardt, which was one of the leading companies in the German textile industry in the first half of the 20th century with a share capital of 10 million marks (1923)[3]. As Borchardt's son Georges recalls[4] , there was no place for Bruno (as the third of three sons) in the family business. Nevertheless, thanks to the family's prosperity, he was able to pursue a leading career from the very beginning[5].

 

In his search for a suitable field of activity, Borchardt decided early on in favour of the rapidly developing record industry that was emerging around the turn of the century. Whether his decision was influenced by a personal interest in the field and its great potential is quite possible, but cannot be proven; however, Borchardt's early trips to the USA and Canada are remarkable and show that he ventured across the big pond even before the First World War; thus he had the chance to gain first-hand impressions of the great technological advances made in the record industry there[6].

 

At the end of 1913, as an authorized signatory of Carl-Lindström-Werke in Berlin (together with Sigismund Salomon), Borchardt became managing director of the Lindström subsidiaries Dacapo Records and Lyrophon[7]. Shortly after, he made a major business move: in 1916, aged just 30, Bruno Borchardt took over the position of general manager of Polyphon-Musikwerke in Leipzig[8].

 

The roots of this company, founded in 1895, lay in the manufacture of musical reproduction equipment, among them large disc-operated music boxes playing with musica lcombs containing tuned steel teeth. In the years before the First World War,   the company's portfolio included talking machines and drives, from 1904 even automobiles (Dux-Werke) and from 1908 (with the company's own Polyphon Record label) gramophone records. Polyphon were well aware that as manufacturers of gramophones, i.e. the “hardware”, they necessarily needed to supply the “software” gramophone records as well. An advertisement of the company for the Leipzig Trade Fair in 1913 seems like a pictorial farewell to the old mechanical musical works: the future of the record industry lay in the production of gramophone records, prominently placed in the front left-hand corner of the illustration[9].

Advertisement Polyphon-Musikwerke 1913

Phonographische Zeitschrift 14 (1913), p. 165

A major corporation

Less than a year after his appointment as general manager, on 24 April 1917 Borchardt scored a major coup: Polyphon-Musikwerke was the highest bidder for the British shares in Deutsche Grammophon AG, seized by the German Reich according to a Bundesrat decree of 31 July 1916. The Polyphon headquarters remained in Leipzig, as did the Deutsche Grammophon factory in Hanover, but the administration of both companies was merged in a prestigious building in Berlin: from 1918 onwards the parent company, renamed "Polyphonwerke AG", resided at Markgrafenstraße 76, as did the subsidiaries Deutsche Grammophon AG and Grammophon-Spezialhaus GmbH. General director and sole member of the board of the newly formed Polyphon-Grammophon group from 1918 was Bruno Borchardt, who was also invested in his company as a shareholder[10]. Shortly after the acquisition of the British shares in 1917, Borchardt confidently announced that “the company [= Polyphonwerke] is well supplied with orders from the army administration until the beginning of next year [1918] and in peacetime, we expect very good results in connection with the acquisition of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft“[11]. In the middle of the First World War, entrepreneur Bruno Borchardt was already planning for the time after. With the acquisition of Deutsche Grammophon, in one fell swoop Polyphonwerke strengthened the entire product line from gramophones to records and took over one of its most powerful competitors in the record market.

 

Polyphon-Grammophon offices, Markgrafenstraße 76

Frontview

The newly created company was immensely important to Bruno Borchardt, this at least suggests the presidential exterior of the headquarters the company moved into in 1918. Only the best would do: the huge building complex on Markgrafenstraße, formerly (from 1852 to 1905) site of the Siemens & Halske company[12], had a floor space of about 29202 impressive square feet[13]. Apart from management, administration, export department, exhibition and storage rooms, it also housed several recording studios as well es a laboratory; in 1920 several rooms on the second floor were converted into an in-house concert hall. The fact that the company was more than a mere record company was further underlined with a 50-page image brochure Der Konzern Polyphon-Grammophon[14], complete with gold-embossed leather cover, a publication "intended to give an overview of the economic, cultural and artistic significance of the company", "probably the largest company in the speech machine industry"[15].  In 1928, when new Polyphonwerke AG shares were once again being issued, in the accompanying prospectuses of the relevant stock exchange journals the internal hierarchy was described with almost surgical clarity: "The object of the company is the manufacture and distribution of mechanical musical works, talking machines and articles of precision engineering in general. [...] Deutsche Grammophon Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin, is a supporting company of Polyphonwerke AG.; it merely manufactures records for sale to the parent company"[16]. In the Borchardt era, Deutsche Grammophon (one of six “supporting companies”[17]) is not an independent venture, but is integrated into the Polyphon group as a subsidiary supplier.

Bruno Borchardt's office

Illustrations from Max Chop: Der Konzern Polyphon-Grammophon c.1920

As general director of the Polyphon-Grammophon group, Bruno Borchardt was responsible for all corporate decisions. Borchardt appointed Hugo Wünsch, an authorised signatory of Polyphonwerke, as "Titulardirektor"[18] of Deutsche Grammophon; Joseph Berliner, Emil Berliner's brother, initially remained a member of the board[19]. The supervisory board was made up of high-ranking personalities from the world of business and politics: In the Borchardt era, it included representatives of several banks based in Leipzig, Berlin and Dresden, as well as several politicians of the Weimar Republic, including the later Reichskanzler Gustav Stresemann, Reichswirtschaftsminister Hans von Raumer and the Geheimer Regierungsrat Hermann Paasche. The opening of the Polyphon concert hall on the second floor of the company's headquarters at Markgrafenstraße 76 in October 1920 was attended by the current Kultusminister (minister for education) Konrad Haenisch, as well as Reichskanzler Constantin Fehrenbach, who gave "a half-humorous, half-serious speech" at a subsequent informal get-together, "commenting that the flourishing gramophone industry played an important nationwide role in the field of arts and culture"[20]. From the start, the best possible networking with the highest circles of business and politics was established.

 

Recording department offices

Illustrations from Max Chop: Der Konzern Polyphon-Grammophon c.1920

Laboratory of the recording department

Illustrations from Max Chop: Der Konzern Polyphon-Grammophon c.1920

New recording department, new repertoire

From 1918, a major part of Deutsche Grammophon's successful pre-war repertoire was restricted from export due to the separation from the British Gramophone Company – a deficiency that had to be addressed as quickly as possible by Borchardt, Wünsch and their staff. Since some of the original DG sound engineers had left for VOX in the early 1920s (among them brothers Max and Franz Hampe[21] and chief engineer Wilhelm Wagner), the recording department was completely restructured. Violinist and conductor Hans B. Hasse was appointed as new head, he was assisted by Paul Goile, Carl Ehrich, Oskar Blaesche, Walter Buhre, Fritz König and other newly engaged engineers. At first, recordings were made mainly in the in-house recording studios in Markgrafenstraße, but towards the end of the 1920s mobile equipment was increasingly used so that public concert halls came into play for recordings.

 

Among the classical music stars who recorded with Deutsche Grammophon as part of the Polyphon corporation were Wilhelm Furtwängler, Richard Strauss, Hans Pfitzner, Wilhelm Kempff, Wilhelm Backhaus and numerous other renowned artists of the time. Until the mid-1920s, both record labels of the group, Polyphon Record and Deutsche Grammophon, continued to operate side by side[22]. Deutsche Grammophon focussed mainly on classical music, the forte of Polyphon Record was popular music, recordings with popular dance orchestras, marches and humorous repertoire. However, the categories were never clearly defined: Deutsche Grammophon's bestsellers in the 1920s included not only works from the classical repertoire, but also recordings with the Tanzorchester Stern, violinist Efim Schachmeister or Eric Borchard, the "Paganini of the saxophone"[23] with his Atlantic Jazzband.

 

International trade relations

One of Borchardt's special concerns was the strengthening of export activities: in 1919, an Austrian Polyphon branch was founded for distribution purposes, followed by offices in Denmark and Sweden in 1920 and 1921 respectively. In 1924, the Polydor label was founded for the foreign distribution of the Deutsche Grammophon repertoire as post-WWI, the original in-house brand "Die Stimme seines Herrn" was restricted to domestic use. In order to further develop international trade relations, Fritz Schönheimer, head of the export department, went on two trips around the world (1926 and 1928) "to further expand the export business and to finalise negotiations.[24] In the wake of Schönheimer's consultations in Japan, the Nippon Polydor Chikounki K.K. distribution office (with record factory) was founded in Tokyo in 1928. In 1929, sound engineer Walter Buhre was sent from Berlin to take over as factory and recording manager of the Japanese branch[25]. The foundation of the Société Phonographique Française Polydor in Paris in 1929 (with in-house recording studios and pressing plant) also had the purpose of expanding promising markets and facilitating trade with foreign countries by avoiding import restrictions and foreign exchange difficulties. As Erna Elchlepp notes, who ran the Société from 1929 to 1932 together with Bruno Borchardt's nephew Herbert, Paris was chosen because from there "Belgium, Egypt and the colonies of these countries could be supplied with records"[26]. Here, too, a sound engineer (Fritz König) was sent to Paris from Berlin. Within Europe, exclusive sales representatives were appointed and intensive trade relations were developed with the Middle East.[27]

 

Walter Buhre in the “laboratory for electrical recordings of Deutsche Grammophon AG”

Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau 46 (1926), p. 1028

The leap from acoustical to electrical recordings

At an early stage Polyphon-Grammophon focussed on the development of an electrical recording process to replace the old acoustical principle. In 1922, sound engineer Walter Buhre was engaged to work on this, first from Leipzig and later in the Berlin offices. By the end of 1925, the results of his experiments were ready to be introduced to the market. The company was thus able to enter the new electric recording age with “home-grown” resources – a fundamental step, especially since the competitors were also successfully working on the development of electrical systems of their own. The technical foundations were laid, but this was only the beginning. In October 1926, Bruno Borchardt secured exclusive European distribution rights for the most attractive American jazz repertoire of the time through an agreement with the Brunswick-Balke-Collander Company based in Chicago: Polyphon-Grammophon were allowed to use the original matrices of the Brunswick label to manufacture records in their own factories for distribution in Europe. In return, Brunswick were supplied with matrices from Polyphon-Grammophon's classical repertoire for production and distribution of records in the USA. Apart from this advantageous international distribution agreement,

 

Borchardt was also interested in gaining access to US technical know-how. As Buhre reports, on his return from the United States Bruno Borchardt brought a recording device with him that General Electric had developed for Brunswick; this was rebuilt in the Polyphon-Grammophon workshop and further developed to suit the company's purposes[28]. Through the agreement with the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, Polyphon-Grammophon were also able to secure access to patents and rights of AEG in Berlin (which cooperated closely with General Electric) in the field of the rapidly developing electrical recording technologies[29]. The cooperation between the two companies soon intensified: in 1928, Polyphon-Grammophon joined forces with AEG and Siemens & Halske to found a company for the recording of sound films. Via this cooperation, technological knowledge was transferred between the three parent companies.[30]

“General director Bruno Borchardt of Polyphon-Grammophon, during his visit to New York, in the boardroom of the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company”

Phonographische Zeitschrift 28 (1927), p. 20

Boom years and the Great Depression

After a few years of expansion, in the 1920s the Polyphon-Grammophon group was able to post steady profits, not least thanks to Borchardt's business policy. Between 1925 and 1929, the dividend paid out by Polyphonwerke AG rose from 8% to a staggering 20%.[31] In the course of 1927 alone, turnover increased from 12 to 21 million marks. Polyphon-Grammophon accounted for the lion's share of the total German record turnover of 20 million units in 1927, outperforming the major competitor Carl Lindström[32]. An anecdote from 1928 reflects the carefree mood at Polyphon-Grammophon at that time. Good-humouredly, Bruno Borchardt one day asked Miss Else Herzog, the head of the expedition department: "Well, Herzogin[33], will we manage a sales volume of 1 million units this month?" She doubted this, but agreed to a bet with the general manager. The meringue with whipped cream that Borchardt offered as a betting debt did not appeal – Else Herzog preferred a ham sandwich.  Towards the end of the month, Bruno Borchardt "landed a huge order from the Weiß & Co. store behind the back of the expedition department; having won the bet, at the end of the month Borchardt presented Miss Herzog with a whole ham, which was devoured by the employees[34].

 

The boom times ended abruptly when, in the second half of 1929, the world economic crisis hit the entire record industry, including, of course, the Polyphon-Grammophon group. Sales plummeted dramatically, by 1931 no profits could be made, and the Polyphonwerke shares dropped from 486% (1929) to 50.5% (1932) of the issue price[35]. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the lavish dividends paid out in previous years had put an excessive strain on the group's financial resources[36]. In view of the dramatic fall in prices, Borchardt had to restructure quickly. The founding of Polydor Holding in Basle in 1930 suggests that the effects of the Great Depression may not have come as a complete surprise to him. The capital of the branches in Vienna, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Paris was transferred to the Polydor Holding. Apparently this was a precautionary measure to protect the assets of the foreign branches. Borchardt himself took over the chairmanship of the Swiss-based Polydor Holding.

However, additional restructuring measures were taken in Berlin: In September 1932, at a general meeting of the Polyphon-Grammophon group, a merger of Deutsche Grammophon AG in Berlin and Kraft Behrens in Leipzig with the Leipzig parent company Polyphonwerke was decreed and the assets transferred. Deutsche Grammophon AG in Berlin and Hanover were liquidated and merged with Polyphonwerke AG. For the duration of the liquidation, Deutsche Grammophon adopted the name "Deutsche Schallplatten- und Sprechmaschinen AG", while Polyphonwerke AG in Berlin and Leipzig renamed themselves "Deutsche Grammophon AG"[37]. This curious move apparently served the purpose of protecting the name "Deutsche Grammophon" as a brand beyond the liquidation. Despite these drastic measures (in the following years massive job cuts ensued), Bruno Borchardt does not seem to have lost faith in the future of his company: as late as 1932, he invested in the installation of a large recording studio at Lützowstraße 111/112 in Berlin for classical music[38].

 

Escape to Paris

Due to the repressive measures of the National Socialist regime, for Bruno Borchardt and Fritz Schönheimer themselves, however, the situation in Berlin became untenable by the beginning of 1933. In order to escape the boycott of Jewish businesses and companies threatened for April, on 31 March 1933 both fled with their families via Switzerland to France. Schönheimer took over the management of Polydor in Paris, whereas Borchardt worked from Paris in his capacity as delegate of the board of directors of the Swiss Polydor Holding[39]. Both resigned from their positions at Deutsche Grammophon[40]. However, Borchardt did not sever the ties to his company completely, he remained in contact via his positions with Polydor Holding and Polydor in Paris. And last but not least, family connections remained: Bruno's nephew Herbert Borchardt served as artistic director of Polydor Paris, another nephew, Rudy Hamburger, worked as a sound engineer for Polydor Paris in the 1930s, and from 1935, Rudy's twin brother Werner Hamburger was employed at Nordisk Polydor in Copenhagen.

In January 1940, just a few months before the Germans invaded Paris, Bruno Borchardt succumbed to cancer. His wife Aenne and two of his siblings were deported and murdered in Auschwitz in 1943; his three children managed to survive undercover in France until the end of the war. In 1947, they emigrated to the United States[41].

 

In publications dealing with the history of Deutsche Grammophon, almost without exception reference is made to Emil Berliner, the inventor of the gramophone and the gramophone record, who with the help of his brothers Joseph and Jakob founded the company in Hanover in 1898. Bruno Borchardt on the other hand, who carried the Berliner brothers' company through the interwar years, is missing, even though he was closely connected to the venture as general director, as sole member of the board, as shareholder as well as through various family connections. Deutsche Grammophon, the largest subsidiary in the Polyphon-Grammophon group, was his company.

 

As can be gleaned from anecdotes, Bruno Borchardt was revered by his employees as a person worthy of unconditional respect, but they also appreciated him for his fairness; he was regarded as an unbreakable optimist[42]. Probably the most succinct assessment of Bruno Borchardt's abilities as head of the Polyphon-Grammophon group comes from the pen of the politician Hans von Raumer. In 1965, asked about memories from his time as a member of the board of Polyphon-Grammophon, the 95-year-old replied robustly: "I remember negotiating the contracts for the founding of Polydor Holding in Basle. I remember the difficulties that arose when the soul of the company, director Borchardt, left and, since there was no-one else suitable around, the unimaginative record salesman Wünsch was put in charge, who did not have what it took to steer the company through the serious crisis in the record industry. So in the end, liquidation was unavoidable."[43]

 

 

Biographical essay commissioned by Emil Berliner Studios, © 2023 Dr. Eva Zöllner.

With many thanks to Rainer Maillard for the inspiration and content support, and to Georges Borchardt for kindly answering my questions.

 

  1. [1] In August 1914, Deutsche Grammophon reported: "The record factory in Hanover is still working to a limited extent, but gramophones cannot be delivered, since the wooden parts are produced exclusively in England.« Phonographische Zeitung 14 (1914), p. 619.
  2. [2] Phonographische Zeitschrift 18 (1917), p. 36.
  3. [3] See Leipziger Wochenschrift für Textilindustrie 26 (26 June 1923), p. 563.
  4. [4] Oral history interview with Georges Borchardt, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on 27 August 2021 (part 1) and 3 September 2021 (part 2), online: collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn739831
  5. [5] Nevertheless, Bruno Borchardt remained loyal to the family business Gebrüder Borchardt and served as a member of the supervisory board in later years.
  6. [6] Borchardt travelled to the US as early as 1908 (at the age of 22), and again in 1913. These trips may have been taken for educational purposes. However, surprisingly he went to New York twice in 1908 (in April and December); the final destination of his trip in April was Montreal. In 1904, the Berliner Gram-O-Phone record company, run by two of Emil Berliner's sons, was founded in Montreal; in 1906, two properties on Lenoir Street were purchased; and in 1908, the construction of the branch office was completed. Was it mere coincidence that Bruno Borchardt was present in Montreal at about the time of the opening? For the history of the Canadian Berliner company see the Musée des ondes Emile Berliner website, www.moeb.ca.
  7. [7] Cf. Phonographische Zeitschrift 15 No. 12 (1914), p. 271, also Michael Kinnear: bajakhana.com.au/ramagraph-ram-a-phone-disc-records-reading-indian-record-labels-part-8/.
  8. [8] In succession to director Karl A. Maurer. Apparently, Borchardt had big plans from the start, in 1916 the share capital was immediately increased from 1.25 to 2.5 million marks, cf. Phonographische Zeitung 17 (1916), p. 36.
  9. [9] Advertisement from Phonographische Zeitschrift 14 (1913), p. 207.
  10. [10] Cf. Edwin Hein, “Grammophon – Ein Name macht Firmengeschichte”, unpublished manuscript, DGG archive/Technikmuseum.
  11. [11] Cf. Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau 37 (1916/1917), p. 266. Borchardt probably refers to orders for the Dux Automobilwerke Leipzig. Founded in 1904, Dux Automobilwerke started as a subsidiary company of Polyphon-Musikwerke; on 19 September 1916 it was set up as an independent enterprise. As a founding member, Polyphon-Musikwerke remained invested in the new Dux Automobilwerke AG. The Dux supervisory board overlapped with that of Polyphon-Grammophon: Dr. Gustav Stresemann acted as vice-chairman of the supervisory board, of which Bruno Borchardt was also a member. Originally, Dux Automobilwerke built luxury cars. During WWI, they supplied the German Army with utility vehicles, cf. www.industrie-kultur-ost.de/datenbanken/online-ruinen-datenbank/dux-automobilwerke-leipzig/
  12. [12] For a visual impression of the complex in the days of Siemens and Halske (then Markgrafenstraße 94) see www.siemens.com/de/de/unternehmen/konzern/geschichte/specials/siemens-in-berlin/sib-berliner-werk.html
  13. [13] After the Siemens & Halske era, the site was redeveloped; the architect of the commercial building on Markgrafenstraße was retired government architect Johannes Hirte. Cf. Wochenschrift des Architekten-Vereins zu Berlin 21 (23 May 1908), pp. 117-119. Originally conceived as a department store, the office building offered state-of-the-art facilities; it featured glass-roofed rooms facing the courtyard for exhibition purposes, teak-covered shop windows, and the interiors were fitted with "rich wood panelling" up to 2.5 metres high. The fourth floor was also designed for exhibition purposes and had a ceiling height of no fewer than 7 metres (cf. op. cit., pp. 118-119).
  14. [14] Max Chop: Der Konzern Polyphon-Grammophon, Berlin 1920?
  15. [15] Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau 41, 1920/21, p. 879.
  16. [16] Münchner Neueste Nachrichten 194, 10 January 1928, p. 15.
  17. [17] At that time, these were Grammophon Spezialhaus GmbH, Kraft Behrens GmbH, Polyphon-Grammophon-Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH, Polyphon Sprechmaschinen- und Schallplatten GmbH in Vienna and Nordisk Polyphon A./S. in Copenhagen.
  18. [18] Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau 37 (1916/1917), p. 268.
  19. [19] After disagreements with Borchardt, Joseph Berliner ceded his post as early as 1921, cf. Robert Blanke's comments in the so-called "Pensionärsgespräche" with former DGG employees recorded in Hanover in 1956, tapes in the DGG archive.
  20. [20] Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau 41 (1920/21), p. 247.
  21. [21] "On 31 January the Hampe brothers, who worked for the Gramophone Co. Ltd. as recording engineers for about 20 years, left the Grammophon-Polyphon group. Nothing is known about the gentlemen's future plans, but we assume they will not have bid our industry goodbye for good." Phonographische Zeitschrift 22 (1921), p. 72. Georg Knöpfke, head of advertising and authorised signatory of Polyphon-Grammophon, also left the company (on 31 September 1921), see Phonographische Zeitschrift 22 (1921), p. 692.
  22. [22] After the end of the acoustical era, the Polyphon label was no longer used in Germany; in Scandinavia it seems to have been in use until the 1940s, see grammophon-platten.de/page.php
  23. [23] Phonographische Zeitschrift 25 (1924), p. 320.
  24. [24] Erna Elchlepp: “Mein Leben bei der Grammophon”. Unpublished manuscript, private archive, p. 2.
  25. [25] Buhre did not return to Germany until after the end of WWII, cf. Elchlepp: “Mein Leben bei der Grammophon”, p. 4.
  26. [26] Erna Elchlepp: “Mein Leben bei der Grammophon”, p. 5.
  27. [27] See Edwin Hein: “Ein Name macht Geschichte”. Unpublished manuskript, Technikmuseum.
  28. [28] Cf. Walter Buhre's comments in the “Pensionärsgespräche”.
  29. [29] Cf. The Talking Machine World 22, 15 December 1926, also Edwin Hein, “Grammophon – Ein Name macht Firmengeschichte”.
  30. [30] ”The new company [Klangfilm GmbH] thus benefits from the great experience of the two large companies [AEG and Siemens & Halske] in the construction of microphones, loudspeakers and radio sets [...]. Polyphonwerke put their many years of experience in the field of music recording as well as extensive connections with artists at the disposal of the new company."Berliner Börsenzeitung, 1 September 1928, p. 10.
  31. [31] Cf. Edwin Hein: “Grammophon – Ein Name macht Firmengeschichte”.
  32. [32] Cf. Phonographische Zeitschrift 19 (1928), p. 532
  33. [33] Else Herzog was nicknamed “Herzogin” (“Duchess”) by her colleagues.
  34. [34] Matthias Sarneck, “Aus der Geschichte der Deutschen Grammophon-Gesellschaft”, unpublished manuscript, DGG archive, p. 5.
  35. [35] Cf. Peter Tschmuck, Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry (2012), p. 74
  36. [36] Cf. comments on this by several DGG employees in the "Pensionärsgespräche".
  37. [37] Cf. Edwin Hein: “Ein Name macht Geschichte”.
  38. [38] Cf. comments by Rainer Maillard in the video: Polyphon- & Grammophon-Konzert on 31 March 2023 in den Emil Berliner Studios, www.youtube.com/watch
  39. [39] See also the articles on Fritz Schönheimer and Bruno Borchardt in LexM (Lexikon verfolgter Musiker und Musikerinnen der NS-Zeit): www.lexm.uni-hamburg.de/object/lexm_lexmperson_00001092 and www.lexm.uni-hamburg.de/object/lexm_lexmperson_00000851
  40. [40] The chairmanship of Deutsche Grammophon was taken over by Hugo Wünsch and the lawyer Walter Betcke during the 1933 business year, cf. Edwin Hein, “Die Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft: eine deutsche Schallplattengeschichte”, p. 200.
  41. [41] Cf. the recollections of Bruno Borchardt's son Georges in: www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/05/23/the-life-and-times-of-literary-agent-georges-borchardt/
  42. [42] See for example Erna Elchlepp's refusal to take over the director's secretariat, which Bruno Borchardt acknowledged not with the dreaded dismissal but with a salary increase and the granting of commercial power of attorney. Cf. Eva Zöllner: “'Ich würde alles genau wieder so machen!' – Erna Elchlepps Leben bei der Deutschen Grammophon”, see www.evazoellner.de/texte/erna-elchlepp/ oder emil-berliner-studios.com/historie
  43. [43] Letter from Hans von Raumer to Edwin Hein dated 10 March 1965, unpublished manuscript, DGG Archive. Von Raumer doesn't refer to 1932, but to the liquidation of the old Deutsche Grammophon AG in 1937 (when Telefunken founded the Deutsche Grammophon GmbH), a result (in von Raumer's opinion) of Hugo Wünsch's poor management of Deutsche Grammophon in the years after Borchardt.