Company chronicle

From 1950: In a divided city

 

The "city in the divided city"
While rehabilitation work was underway on the premises of the new Bundesdruckerei, the ruins of the street buildings on Kommandantenstraße, which also marked the border with the eastern sector of the city, still did not provide a secure property border. This was why at the beginning of the 1950s a decision was made to build a four-metre high brick wall, almost in anticipation of the events of 17 June 1953 and the building of the Berlin wall just a few years later. When the political situation became critical in the early 1960s, Bundesdruckerei's management did not hesitate to close its access on Kommandantenstraße, encountering at close hand life in a divided city.

Rehabilitation and development work continued within the secure bounds of the "city in the divided city". Karl Ferdinand Busse's impressive corner tower, the ruins of which were not demolished until 1956, was replaced by a new administration complex which has formed the border of the property along Oranienstraße since the late 1950s. Berlin once again became home to Bundesdruckerei's headquarters. However, the property which was used by the company for more than a century became increasingly enshrouded in the shadow of the Berlin wall.

First successes in the young Federal Republic of Germany
Bundesdruckerei's economic situation was also very difficult at that time. In 1955, the company finally received a first small banknote printing order to print the 5-DM bills. Up to that point in time, the currency of the young west German state had been produced in the UK, the US and France. In 1959, the Bundesbank finally published an invitation to tender for the production of new banknotes. Bundesdruckerei in Berlin at first only received the contract to produce the 50-DM bill and then some time later was commissioned to produce the 10-DM banknote. All other bills were produced by Typographisches Institut Giesecke & Devrient in Munich which in light of Berlin's instable political situation was considered by the Bundesbank to be much more secure.

When the federal ID card was introduced in 1960, document production at Bundesdruckerei gradually picked up. At the same time, the company increasingly invested in foreign business. This led to the production of postage stamps for Venezuela, alcohol revenue stamps for Ethiopia, postage stamps for Tanzania and passports for Peru to name but just a few.

In the 1970s, the company published an exciting edition of hand-printed facsimiles by Francesco de Goya (1746 - 1828), reviving its tradition of artistic printing. At this time, the German Patent Office commissioned Bundesdruckerei to produce the microfilm punch-hole cards for disclosure, public inspection and patent publications, as well as documents for registered designs. The company also started producing banknotes for Venezuela, Peru, Colombia and Israel.