“We’re like a big family”
Ore Mountains. Otto Johannes Müller too came from a family of brush makers. Having just returned home from the war, he founded the company MÜHLE in 1945. Things got off to a modest start, but by the end of the 1940s the company already had over ten employees. And even after work, the boss took care of his employees. Eyewitnesses remember.
Gottfried Voigt: “My grandparents made sure that I was able to join MÜHLE in 1948. I was orphaned after the war, and they tried to make the best of me.”
Dietmar Fuchs: “My mother had been working for MÜHLE as well. I was still thinking about becoming a chef at the time, but when the senior boss approached me on the street and asked if I wanted to start here, I thought: nothing better could happen to me. I had friends here, since most of the employees came from the village.”
Gottfried Voigt: “The boss used to take me out in his car after work when he had errands to run. He also taught me some manners. Respect for old people, for example. I accepted everything.”
Dietmar Fuchs: “What’s special is the social environment. We’re like one big family.”
Hans-Jürgen Müller: “When employees and outsiders tell us that the working atmosphere at the company is special, this is the greatest compliment we can receive. As an entrepreneur, you have responsibility for your employees, you have to make people feel that they matter. I am very pleased that my sons continue to run the company in this spirit.”
Ute Mädler: “There always had been such a team spirit! No one ever was jealous.”
Despite some setbacks such as the fire that destroyed company buildings, goods and materials in 1949, things went steadily uphill. MÜHLE specialised in shaving brushes and in the 1960s delivered to over 30 countries in Europe and the Middle East. Otto Johannes Müller proved to be a talented entrepreneur – a talent that was not necessarily appreciated during the so-called real socialism.
Hans-Jürgen Müller: “Private companies did not fit into the ideological concept of the GDR. Therefore, in our case, the ideological screws were tightened very strongly as early as 1953. Material allocations were limited, my father had to cut back production and lay off employees.”
Although Hans-Jürgen feels an affinity with the company and is involved in its work, he cannot be sure that he will follow his father one day. He is certainly not prepared to have to do so at the age of 23, when his father suddenly dies and he himself is still at university.
Gottfried Voigt: “The boss’s death came as a shock to us. We were worried about how to go on. But then the transition worked well.”
Hans-Jürgen Müller cannot be happy about his flourishing company for long. The state takes things seriously: in April 1972, the company was expropriated. Only after reunification does the family get their company back.
Hans-Jürgen Müller: “It was a total cut. The fact that our company building suddenly had VEB (a Publicly Owned Enterprise in the former GDR) on it was bad – we always said Vaters ehemaliger Betrieb (papa’s old enterprise), but of course that was anything but funny.”
Ute Mädler: “After the nationalisation we were merged to bigger and bigger units and finally came to VEB Erzgebirge Pinselfabrik Schönheide, and later together with some other employees I was assigned to the administration of VEB Bürstenwerke.”
Dietmar Fuchs: “At that time, mechanisation was very much pushed forward, more and more special machines were used. The owners were pushed out more and more.”
Andreas Müller: “When my brother Christian and I were children, it didn’t feel like our company. After all it was state-owned back then. Although we were assigned to holiday work and my father warned us that we should put our foot down and allways be polite and greet everybody, we didn’t feel a great connection. It only grew after reunification, after reprivatisation, when we saw how much energy and passion went into it.”
Hans-Jürgen Müller: “I was skeptical. I knew that the start of the market economy era would not be easy for us, but I never thought that it would be so bad. We fought for three years to survive.”
Dietmar Fuchs: “In the beginning, there were only three of us.”
Gottfried Voigt: “There were no orders and no material.”
Hans-Jürgen Müller: “The difficult thing was that we had had our main customers in the socialist countries, especially in the Soviet Union. With the introduction of the Deutschmark, that was all over.”
Ute Mädler: “One thing I must say: Even when the situation was very difficult – we always got our pay.”
Hans-Jürgen Müller: “Things slowly got better when I made contacts in the old federal states and found a commercial agency. When we finally got into business with a large, former customer things started to improve.”
Since the turn of the millennium, the machinery has been continuously expanded, and more and more components are being made in-house. With the development of razors, stands, travel accessories and its own organic cosmetics series, the company is now one of the top addresses worldwide for everything to do with wet shaving. In 2007, Hans-Jürgen Müller handed over the management of the company to his sons.
Hans-Jürgen Müller: “From my point of view, the transition went smoothly. The sons are doing very well. What really moved us forward were our product innovations, they really got into it.”
Benjamin Zimmermann: “It is a trademark of ours that we do not produce anything off the peg. I am very pleased to be involved in the development of products. I remember working with Andreas on the design for the Stylo shaving brush and also on the design for the R89, our closed comb shaver.”
Even when times were difficult – MÜHLE always celebrated. This year there is a particularly good reason for it.
Gottfried Voigt: “The celebrations, that was always the best! The Christmas parties and the excursions, that was really great!”
Ute Mädler: “On Women’s Day the boss always invited us to a special outing celebrate.”
Gottfried Voigt: “When I came back here after a long time, I couldn’t find words to describe how it all turned out. And everything is so clean and perfect! The fact that Hans-Jürgen got his sons off to such a good start and that they continue to run the company in this way: I take my hat off!”
This text was first published in the printed version of 30 Grad in spring 2020.