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Osram


Osram
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Wikipedia: Osram

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A German manufacturer of lighting including automobile lighting systems. The brand was registered in 1906.

History

The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Osram page on 21 July 2020, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

OsRam Licht AG is a German multinational lighting manufacturer headquartered in Munich, Germany. The "Osram" name is derived from osmium and Wolfram (German for tungsten, also used in English), as both these elements were commonly used for lighting filaments at the time the company was founded.

OSRAM was founded in 1919 by the merger of the lighting businesses of Auergesellschaft, Siemens & Halske and Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG). On 5 July 2013, OSRAM was spun off from Siemens, and the listing of its stock began on 8 July 2013 on Frankfurt Stock Exchange. After a bidding war with Bain Capital, OSRAM was successfully acquired by AMS, in December, 2019.

In 1906 the Osram incandescent lamp was developed by Carl Auer von Welsbach. The brand name of OSRAM was "born" in 1906 and registered by the Deutsche Gasglühlicht-Anstalt (also known as Auer-Gesellschaft). The British General Electric Company imported Osram filaments for their own production of light bulbs. In 1919 Auergesellschaft, Siemens & Halske and Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG) combined their electric-lamp production with the formation of the company Osram.

Following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, co-founder William Meinhardt and the other Jewish members of the managing board were forced to step down. During the rule of his successor Hermann Schlüpmann organisations close to the Nazi Party such as DAF became increasingly influential among the company's workforce. In March 1933 Osram funded 40,000 Reichsmark for a secret campaign fund of German industrialist in support the Nazi Party.

During World War II Osram used forced laborers in its plants in Berlin. Due to the continuous bombing of Berlin during the war, the production was partially relocated to East German cities from 1942 onward. The production of molybdenum and tungsten products, which were classified as important for the war effort, was outsourced to the city of Plauen. Following arrangements between Osram officials and members of the SS, two subcamps of Flossenbürg concentration camp were installed next to the factory site to secure the company's supply with slave laborers. In a subcamp in Leitzmeritz, prisoners were used to build underground facilities as part of the secret project Richard II to secure the production of molybdenum and tungsten during air raids. At least 4,500 prisoners died in the camp, while Osram never moved into the space due to the course of war.

In 1998 Osram acquired the lamp business of ECE Industries India Ltd at a cost of $9.55 million. In 2009 Osram acquired TRAXON Technologies. In 2011 Osram acquired Siteco.

On 8 July 2013 Siemens spun Osram off, and it listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.


Article Index

DateArticleAuthor/Source
2 October 2012Jean-Marc Vogel devient Président d'OSRAM France Osram





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