Neue Augsburger Kattunfabrik in the 19th and 20th centuries

The economic success of Schöppler & Hartmann in the first six decades of the 19th century is closely linked to the name of Karl Ludwig Forster (1788-1877), who transformed the factory into an industrial enterprise. Forster cooperated with important engineers and chemists of his time, including Benoît Fourneyron (1802-1867), Johann Gottfried Dingler (1778-1855) and Wilhelm Kurrer (1782-1862). The American Civil War (1861-1865) and the resulting cotton shortage plunged the company into serious difficulties for the first time. These intensified from 1871 onwards when Alsace-Lorraine and its immensely competitive textile industry joined the German Empire. The transformation of Schöppler & Hartmann into the "Augsburger Kattunfabrik" public limited company in 1880 promised to be the company’s salvation. Just five years later, the company was completely restructured, now as the "Neue Augsburger Kattunfabrik" (NAK). While NAK managed to hold its own during the Empire period, the two world wars in the 20th century caused drastic changes in the company’s history. After the First World War, financial investment by the Jewish-owned textile company Kahn & Arnold saved the floundering company, but this was Aryanised in 1938. After the Second World War, it made a new economic comeback, but after decades of success, the increasingly fierce international competition as part of the progressive liberalisation of the world market made itself felt, sealing the company’s fate and ending its long history with bankruptcy in 1996.