Rectron GmbH

Rectron Gesellschaft m.b.H.
1925: Kottbusserdamm 70-71, Berlin
1928: Potsdammer Strasse 52, Berlin.
1930: Schützenstrasse 29-30, Berlin
1932: Steglitzer Strasse 27, Berlin
1936: Ludendorfstrasse 27. Berlin
1938: Boxhagerner Strasse 76-78, Berlin
1945: Hamburg
1985: company is closed

This short history of Rectron GmbH is a result of combined research by Dipl. Ing. F.H. Müller from Berlin and myself. Mr. Müller visited the Industrie- und Handelskammer and the Landesarchiv in Berlin.
Rectron was an “undercover” operation of Philips in Germany, probably to avoid a conflict with Telefunken.

Rectron GmbH was founded at the end of 1925 by:
- Rectron in Eindhoven. The address was located in the Philips building, called the “White Lady”, where all Philips subsidiaries had their own address.
- The Glass factory, Weisswasser GmbH at Oberlausitz, Germany. This company produced bulbs for lamps and sold them to Pope, Philips and others. Philips bought Weiswasser GmbH in 1920.
- Dr. Hans Joachim Spanner (not to be confused with Dr. G.O. Spanner) and Dr. Friedrich Meyer. They were probably the “German face” of the company.

The first address of the company was the home address of Dr. H.J. Spanner, Kottbusserdamm 70-71, Berlin.
The management was entrusted to a lawyer but was taken over by Ing Felix Westerhoven in 1927, who resigned in 1946.
On account of the addresses (buildings) there could have been no own production of Rectrons at least until 1938 at Boxhagerner Strasse 76-78. Probably all the Rectron products came from Philips factories.
Rectron sold rectifiers, battery chargers, photocells etc.

At the end of World War 2, Boxhagerner Strasse was located in the Russian zone and as a result of order nr. 124 of the Russian Marshal Shukow, Rectron GmbH was brought under control of Soviet Military Administration (SMAD).
The Rectron management was discharged and new management was appointed. Although Philips claimed its property in a letter dated 9th April1946, Rectron was formally expropriated on the 8th September 1951 and the company was closed.
But Philips was in a hurry and they founded a new Rectron in 1945, with a headquarters in Hamburg.
In 1975 Rectron GmbH was renamed Lupus Electrotechnik–Beteiligung GmbH and this company was closed on the 27th March1985. The assets went to Allgemeine Philips Industrie GmbH.
 

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