The history of the brickworks
In 1909, Gustav Beermann and Friedrich Bobe, a building contractor from Sylbach, founded what is now the Lage brickworks. Together, they invested in the construction of a ring kiln. Like many other brickworks owners in Lippe, Gustav Beermann and his wife also ran a farm. To this end, they cultivated the land that was not needed for clay extraction. The Beermann brickworks was a family business. In the early 1960s, their sons Friedel and Erich Beermann took over the brickworks from their father. The brickworks ceased operations in 1979.
The history of the brickworks is described in detail in the exhibition at Villa Beermann.
The exhibition at Villa Beermann presents the family and company history of the Beermann brickworks at its original location. In the former residence of company founder Gustav Beermann, visitors learn how the family lived and worked in the small village of Sylbach, what stresses the workforce was exposed to in their daily work, and why the brickworks had to cease operations after seventy successful years.
From 1909 to 1979, the Beermann brickworks produced bricks for the region. Since 2001, the Lage Brickworks Museum has been showing how the brickmakers of Lippe lived and worked. In addition to the historic factory site, the Beermann Villa has been preserved from this period, providing insight into the life of the Beermann family. The former company villa was built in 1922 on the site of a horse stable. The villa was initially home to the brickworks owner Gustav Beermann, his wife Emilie and their five children. Later, Gustav Beermann's two sons and successors, Friedel and Erich, also moved into the house with their families. In the early 1950s, Friedel Beermann's family moved into the newly built residential buildings in the former clay pit. In the end, only the grandson of the company's founder, Lothar Beermann, lived in the building.
After the death of the grandson of company founder Gustav Beermann in 2003, the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe acquired the building from the heirs. The building, which was in need of renovation, was then extended and converted for museum use in the following years. The focus was on preserving as many traces of life in the former company villa as possible and creating exhibition spaces that could be used for the new permanent exhibition on the ground floor and for temporary exhibitions on the upper floor.
The brickworks workforce
As in all brickworks, work at the Beermann brickworks was seasonal. In February/March, a few employees began working in the clay pit. It was not until the end of March that bricks were actually fired. Employment peaked in late summer. From October/November onwards, only a few men continued to work at the brickworks. They placed the dried bricks in the kiln, worked as burners on the ring kiln or removed the finished bricks from the ring kiln. From the end of November onwards, all the machines were cleaned, repaired and overhauled.
The number of employees fluctuated greatly throughout the company's history. The biggest cuts came when operations were suspended during the two world wars. Significant reductions resulted from the switch to machine operation in 1922 and the purchase of the bucket chain excavator, which mechanised work in the clay pit.
In the exhibition, visitors can see for the first time two staff photos from 1912 and around 1914, which were donated to the museum last year by descendants of the former brickworks accountant. Former staff members talk about life and work at the Beermann brickworks at two audio stations in the exhibition.
The Beermann Family
Gustav Beermann and Emilie Ruthe married in 1915 – the beginning of a large family with five children and three grandchildren: their firstborn daughter Klara was followed by twins Gustav and Else, then son Erich and finally the baby of the family, Friedel. The three sons were to take over the family business together. However, as Gustav Junior was killed in action during the Second World War, only Erich and Friedel followed in their father's footsteps.
Villa Beermann remained the centre of the family clan even after the children had started their own families. While Gustav and Emilie lived in the basement of the company villa, Erich lived with his wife Hildegard and son Lothar on the upper floor. Friedel lived with his wife Waltraud not far from his parents' house on Lambrachtweg, as did his daughters Klara, who ran her parents' household, and Else, who was the landlady of the Jägerkrug pub.
Sylbach: A place that doesn't even exist...
With the connection to the Cologne-Minden railway network at the end of the 19th century, new residents and businesses settled in Holzhausen in the vicinity of the railway station – including the Beermann brickworks in 1909. The railway station was named after the nearby Sylbach manor. This name quickly became established for the area located on the border between the Bad Salzuflen municipality of Holzhausen and the Lagenser municipality of Waddenhausen. In 1903, Sylbach became the postal address for the area, and local clubs and associations adopted the name in their titles. With the municipal reorganisation of 1 January 1970, the part of Sylbach belonging to Bad Salzuflen finally became an official district of Holzhausen. At the beginning of the 20th century, Sylbach developed into a lively district with restaurants, shops, clubs and festivals. A walk along today's Sylbacher Straße, from the ‘Schöne Aussicht’ to the ‘Jägerkrug’, offers a glimpse of the former face of the district and its connections with the Beermann family.
Brickworks in the region
The Beermann brickworks was a typical brickworks. Most of these often family-run businesses produced 3-4 million bricks. Until a few decades ago, there were brickworks in almost every town. The heavy bricks were not suitable for long transport routes. Today, only old street names such as ‘Ziegelstraße’ (Brick Street), ‘An der Tonkuhle’ (At the Clay Pit) or ‘Am Lehmstich’ (At the Clay Pit) bear witness to these brickworks. Only a few large brickworks still produce bricks in the region today. What remains are the changes to the landscape, such as pits, ponds and landfills. Brick production was always characterised by a coexistence of different production methods. While a few hand-moulded brickworks managed to survive until the middle of the 20th century, large fully mechanised factories already existed in 1890. In the exhibition, visitors can see a slide show of many unique and never-before-seen pictures of the brickworks, the workforce and the workplaces of the last 100 years.