Talking about history
Deutschen Grammophon 1898-1956
95-minute audio document, compiled by Rainer Maillard 2023
Tape recording of five discussions between management, employees and retirees of Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft from 1956/1957 about the history of the company. A fascinating document of contemporary history.
Chronological classification
The exact background to the invitations to the discussion rounds cannot currently be reconstructed beyond doubt. The Deutsche Grammophone Gesellschaft had lost almost all of its documents and records during the Second World War, both in the administration in Berlin and in the factory in Hanover. This must have given rise to the idea of asking active and former employees in Hanover about their memories in order to rebuild lost knowledge. The date in early 1956 can certainly be explained by the fact that the move of the management from Hanover to Hamburg, planned for April 1956, was approaching.
Starting on January 6, 1956, the management issued invitations to five evenings at 6 p.m. on Fridays in the factory canteen in Podbielskistrasse. Snacks and drinks were served. The discussion was led alternately by the managing directors Dr. Walter Betcke and Dr. Hans-Werner Steinhausen. Each evening, a period of time was discussed in chronological order.
Recording of the talks
The DGG recording department was responsible for recording the discussion. The sound engineers (Gerhard Henjes and Ernst Kwoll) distributed microphones at the tables and mixed the conversations with a mixer in the next room. This allowed the participants to remain relaxed at their seats and take part in the conversation as the mood took them. The total playing time of the 22 tapes is 6 ½ hours. Recordings were made on AEG magnetophones with 1/4 inch track width, 76cm/second in mono. However, the archived tapes are already a copy. Why the original tapes were not archived is unknown. There are sound cuts in the copies in at least three places.
The transcript
After the recordings, a transcript with carbon paper was made in several copies. The transcript attempted to be transcribed verbatim, but there are cuts and rewordings. The transcript does not document who is speaking.
The "lost" second round of talks
Neither tapes nor transcripts exist of the second round of talks on January 20, 1956. The reason for the loss is unknown. In order not to ignore this period, a small re-recording was made 21 months later.
Previous utilization
Excerpts from the transcription of the pensioners' talks can be found in the following publications:
- Edwin Hein: 65 Jahre Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. 1898-1963, Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft (ed.), Hamburg: 1963.
- 100 Jahre Schallplatte: von Hannover in die Welt : Beiträge und Katalog zur Ausstellung vom 29. September 1987 bis 10. Januar 1988 im Historischen Museum Am Hohen Ufer, Hannover.
- Heinz R. Niemann: Ein Name und die Vielstimmigkeit, 1895-1995 HUNDERT JAHRE POLYPHON, Polyphon Film & Fernsehgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg, Hamburg 1995
- Sophie Fetthauer: Deutsche Grammophon - Geschichte eines Schallplattenunternehmens im "Dritten Reich", Hamburg 2000
The tapes have not yet been used as a source.
The compilation
In 2019, an 88-minute compilation was made from the 6 1/2 hours of conversations on tape and played in the Emil Berliner Studios. A revision (95 minutes) was made in 2023.
The compilation covers all topics of the interviews. Slips of the tongue, repetitions, subordinate clauses and excessively long pauses for thought were shortened or cut out. Only some of Walter Buhre's longer technical descriptions in the second round of talks were rearranged to make the content easier to understand.
The participants
Mr. Appel (worker)
Adolf Birth (worker)
Dr. Walter Betcke (legal advisor, board member and managing director) from 1927 at DGG
Mr. Birkstrup (worker)
Robert Blanke (authorized signatory) with DGG from 1907
Walter Buhre (sound engineer) with DGG from 1922
Mr. Daukstrum (workerr)
Mr. Fenger (worker)
Mr. Fritz (worker)
Ernst Kwoll (engineer in the recording department) with DGG from 1949
Dietrich Moormann (worker) already with DGG before 1914
Ernst Roediger (management) with DGG from the 1920s
Alexander Schaaf (engineer) worked for Siemens and DGG from 1938
Hans-Werner Steinhausen (management) with DGG from 1950
Theodor Söffker (electroplating) with DGG from 1900
Mr. Spitter (worker)
Mr. Thiery (worker)
Mr. Wehrmann (press operator) with DGG from 1902
Hans Wolter (commercial clerk) with DGG from 1903
And some other - as yet unidentified - employees
(The spelling of some names may be different)
1890-1918 (1st round of talks: January 6, 1956)
00:00 Welcome by Dr. Walter Betcke
00:24 First pressing trials 1870-1898
01:58 Mr. Söffker reports on his hiring on 30.3.1900
02:13 Mr. Hawd (Gramophone Company)
03:24 Cow hair in the plate
04:11 Zinc etching
05:53 Mr. Wehrmann reports on his work from 1902
06:34 Labels
07:01 Mr. Wolter in the warehouse since 1903
08:34 Shipping plates
08:48 DG as an English company
08:57 Financing by English banks
09:16 Factories abroad
10:09 About Joseph Berliner
11:08 Introduction of the vacation in Hanover by Joseph Berliner
12:52 Joseph Berliner leaving the DGG
13:23 Price question, circulation & record prices
15:57 Bestseller
17:10 Otto Reuter
17:39 Record shipments to Japan and China
18:07 Recording expedition to Belgium
18:40 Amplified sound: gramophone with three funnels
19:10 Mr. Roediger and Mr. Wolter on the Auxetophone
20:56 Mr. Roediger on the influence of radio
21:33 Mr. Betcke on Leo B. Cohn (Leo B. Curth)
22:35 Nikitsch records from the year 1913
23:15 Mr. Wehrmann about the outbreak of World War 1
1918-1930 (2nd round, catch-up date: September 4, 1957)
24:37 Welcome by Ernst Kwoll
25:06 Mr. Blanke on the 1918 revolution
26:26 Occupation of the Rhineland
26:52 Hyperinflation
27:05 Record price during the inflation
27:45 Christmas business 1923
28:23 Classical artists
28:50 Pop & dance music
29:22 Father-mother system from 1922
29:34 New composition of shellac records
30:14 Wax casting process until 1922
30:53 Silver plating 1924 Dr. Hagemann
32:44 Number of hand presses per hour
33:06 Walter Buhre reports on the work on the manual and automatic presses
34:07 Background noise - About the cutting sapphires
35:08 Pick-up waxes
36:04 Mr. Buhre on the development of the electric recording process
36:41 Employment of Mr. Buhre in 1922
36:56 The first electrical recordings 1924
39:01 1927 Apparatus from Brunswick by general director Bruno Borchardt
39:34 About electric cutting boxes
40:02 About electric pickups 1927
40:52 Playback with loudspeakers
41:30 Walter Buhre in Japan
42:57 Sales in Japan help DGG
43:47 High dynamics in recordings
44:52 About the limiters for contract pressings after the war
45:36 Mr. Wolter on delivery times
45:56 Fast delivery to Copenhagen
1930-1939 (3rd round of talks: February 3, 1956)
47:24 About the economic & financial crisis
49:48 About unemployment
50:27 Hiring National Socialists
54:59 About the Jewish employees in Berlin in 1933
56:39 About Obmann Pinkes in Berlin
57:39 Chief narcissist Felske
59:01 About Chairman Schindler in Hanover
1:00:04 Boycott on April 1, 1933
1:00:48 Flight of the Borchardt family on March 31, 1933
1:02:48 Liquidation of DGG AG/ foundation of DGG GmbH with Telefunken
1:06:03 Upswing after new foundation
1:06:55 DGG's economic problems between 1931 and 1937
1:12:25 Gestapo in the house
1:14:13 Destruction of matrices
1:15:03 Max Hansen
1939-1955 (4th round of talks: February 17, 1956)
1:17:38 Start of the war
1:18:49 Shellac delivery via Russia after the outbreak of war
1:19:39 Attack on the factory in 1943
1:20:13 Air-raid shelter for Russian forced laborers
1:20:51 Death of Mrs. Söffker and Mrs. Emrich
1:22:01 Emergency work 1944-1945
1:23:00 Condition in May 1945
1:23:35 Measures in view of the imminent division of Germany
1:23:56 Removal of the matrices
1:25:12 Capitulation & invasion
1:27:03 House searches by the Americans
1:29:28 English soldiers (HMV) take a look at the factory
1:30:12 Steinhausen on technical development since 1948
1:31:04 Steinhausen on the introduction of the vinyl LP & single
Final session: (March 3, 1956)
1:33:51 Closing words