User:Eli185/Doll & Co.

Doll & Co. was a German toy manufacturer founded in Nuremberg in 1898. The company's product range mainly comprised steam engines and model railroads. In 1938, the company was Aryanized and taken over by its competitor Fleischmann.

History

Blick auf das Fabrikgelände am Nürnberger Kirchenweg 13 im März 2012.

In 1898, John Sondheim and the tinsmith Peter Doll founded a toy manufacturing company in Nuremberg. In the early phase, the company concentrated on the production of immobile steam engines. Foreign sales markets were found in Great Britain and Ireland as well as outside Europe in the United States. Production was initially located in rented premises on Bergstraße in the Burgviertel district, but the company later built its own factory building with a residential building at Kirchenweg 13, which still exists today[2].

Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, one of Sondheim's nephews, Max Bein, joined the company. From this point onwards, Doll received a creative boost and developed various market innovations, in particular clock movements. After the war, in the 1920s, the steam engine production line was revived. In addition, model trains were built, a steam-powered toy car and a similarly powered truck.

Triebwagen der Fa. Doll & Co.; auch als „Fliegender Hamburger“ bekannt

In 1938, the company became the focus of the Nuremberg Race Laws, as the company founders were of Jewish origin and the Nazi regime demanded the Aryanization of the company. Doll had 250 employees at this time. Max Bein had to sell the company for a fraction of its value. The family managed to escape the Holocaust. The daughters were sent to England on a Kindertransport in 1939, while the parents managed to flee via Holland to the United States at the last moment when war broke out, where the family reunited near Boston in October 1940.

The Fleischmann company took over Doll and was thus able to add 0-gauge model railroads and steam engines to its existing product range. The “Doll” brand remained until 1949 and thus beyond the Second World War. The Doll company founders turned down a later offer from Fleischmann to return their shares and had them paid out instead.

The logo was “DC” in red on a green or white oval surface.

Railroads

The railroads were produced almost exclusively in nominal size 0 and in high quality.

Literature

• Gustav Reder: Mit Uhrwerk, Dampf und Strom. Vom Spielzeug zur Modelleisenbahn. Verlag: Alba Publikation, Düsseldorf 1970 (2. Auflage 1988). ISBN 978-3-8709-4455-1.
• Rudger Huber: Blechspielzeug. Autos – Motorräder, Weltbild 1995. ISBN 3-8289-0794-6.
• Jim G. Tobias: ... und wir waren Deutsche!. Jüdische Emigranten erinnern sich. Ein Lesebuch. ANTOGO Verlag Nürnberg, 2009. (Kapitel: Elizabeth Miller, S. 84 ff.). ISBN 978-3-938286-38-8.

References

[[Category:Manufacturing companies based in Nuremberg]] [[Category:1938 disestablishments]] [[Category:Companies established in 1898]] [[Category:Model railroad manufacturers]] [[Category:Companies acquired from Jews under Nazi rule]]