By BAYERN TOURISMUS Marketing GmbH
German Basket Museum
For a long time, children were always carried. In the 17th century, there were a few pulled carriages incorporating a basket on wheels. These became more widespread in the 19th century in Germany, while in England pushchairs were already being mass-produced.
The German pushchair industry started in Zeitz. Initially, metalworker Friederich Degelow started making individual pulled carriages, and this was taken on by the wainright and cartwright Ernst Albert Naether who further developed their form, function, and appearance.
Franconian wicker baskets that children could lie in safely became indispensable. And so from 1932, the Michelau-based company Stölzel, who were then operating from what is now the German Basket Museum, supplied pram baskets to Zeitz, Salzburg, and Prague.
Their collaboration with the Naether works in Zeitz, which was the largest German pushchair manufacturer up to the second world war, was only ended when the country was divided post-war. In Upper Franconia, a new center was established for pushchair manufacturing. In 1950, there were 36 companies making pushchairs locally, such as Knorr in Michelau, and Hourdeaux-Bergmann AG in Lichtenfels and Hirschaid. In Upper Franconia, around 100,000 pushchairs were made each year.
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