Phase one: Foundation and rise of the trading house Possehl

May 1st, 1847: A good day, at that time and today - founder Ludwig Possehl began trading with iron and coal with his firm L. Possehl & Co located in Lübeck.

At the beginning, customers came from the region: Coal was required by each population set in the city and around Lübeck. Additionally, L. Possehl & Co. sold iron goods to several branches as handcraft and trade in the nearer surrounding. Very soon on, Possehl supplied iron sheets, hard coal and so-called "general goods" such as nails, wires etc. followed by special kinds of steel to his first major industrial customers.

This was the beginning of what still characterizes Possehl these days: A preferably broad basis for business activities. Ludwig Possehl thought that "… if the state of business in the one or the other sector is weak" the miscellany of his customers would contribute to "having a satisfactory overall turnover".

The 1850´s: Vitalizing influence also derived from geopolitical factors: The upcoming steam navigation on the river Trave which was straightened and deepened around 1850 as well as the modernization of the harbour, the access to the railway network 1851, the ending of tollages such as the Sund toll and other factors led to favourable general conditions for the Possehl trading activities.

However, financial distresses even existed at times of founder Ludwig Possehl, e.g. in 1857, when economic life in the German Empire nearly entirely collapsed. Possehl succeeded to cope with this crisis affecting his company. A sufficient amount of equity and, thus, a solid financial basis were safeguarding Possehl even though the company had only been existing for ten years.

The general conditions ameliorated in the following years. Ludwig Possehl meanwhile had reached the aim of being the leading trading company in Lübeck. One of the major reasons for his success was, beneath his merchant abilities, his modesty in extracting money from of the company for himself and his family. As a result, equity accrued to more than septuple of the seed capital within the first fifteen years.

Phase two: Emil Possehl building up an internationally acting company

1873 Emil Possehl, Ludwig´s eldest son, took over the company. At these times, iron for construction purposes was the new discovery of this period. A heavy industry picked up steam to full speed. Emil recognized the signs of the times at an early stage and reacted by focussing his business activities upon these needs. It soon became obvious that this has been a prospective entrepreneurial decision.

In 1890 the Industrial Revolution was in full swing. The German steel industry offered Possehl a market which rendered possible activities on a European scale. Emil Possehl supplied, above all, Swedish iron ore. He organized the sale of Swedish ore in Germany and became the largest importer. By the outbreak of World War 1 Emil Possehl - now a senator of the City of Lübeck, a member of the Hanseatic League - had expanded the company's horizons to include stakes in pig iron works and steelworks, limestone quarries and pyrites mines. The company's own shipping business took over the European distribution from the far north to as far south as Lisbon and Africa. Emil Possehl´s name stood in a row with famous German industrialists´ names such as Krupp, Borsig, Thyssen, Stinnes or Klöckner.

Phase three: Stormy times in between the World Wars - the captain leaves

But the war inevitably led to drastic setbacks in the following years: in 1918 war loans were dishonoured. The corresponding losses had to be financed through the sale of the rights to Swedish ore mines. Emil Possehl was the person who secured the success of the Possehl name in changing times. Luckily however, the German coal and domestic fuel business ("spot business") had not been abandoned and helped the company to remain viable through those difficult years.

1915 Emil Possehl restructured his company at the age of 65 - at that time Germanys largest import business owned by an individual. The former departments of the became autonomous trading companies. All assets were transferred to these companies. The financial and treasuring department took over the firm L. Possehl & Co. mbH and became the leading organization to all the new founded companies with a capital stock of 20 million Mark. Now the basis for today´s group structure was provided.

February 4th, 1919 - Emil Possehl died. His vision has also been evident in his last will and testament of 9 July 1915, in which Senator Emil Possehl made the Possehl foundation the sole heir to the company's assets. Since then the foundation fulfils the wishes he laid down in his will. According to this the foundation provides funds for cultural, social and other activities in the public interest in his home city of Lübeck.

The world economic crisis in the 1930s complicated the rebuilding after World War 1. After the global upheavals of the 1920s the success curve of this growing company started to rise continuously from 1930 onwards. New sectors - production companies, freight and insurance agencies - were added to the Possehl Group. The core business with steel, coal and other fuels recovered.

As a consequence of the two world wars the Possehl Group had to suffer enormous losses. The company once lost all of its property abroad, and at the second time the huge parts of its delivery market had become inaccessible. Some facts:

1942, Palm Sunday, and the next set-back: the total destruction of the administration block in Beckergrube. Irreplaceable company documents were lost in the ensuing fire.

1945: All the branches lying in the eastern half of Germany were lost, including Berlin, Schönebeck and Schwaan, but all the assets abroad as well - not least those in Sweden.

Despite these hard backstrokes Possehl finally succeeded in forming an internationally competitive Group from the leftover core companies again.

Phase four: Possehl as one of the shapers of economic miracle after the world wars

It was not until 1948 that thoughts of a new beginning emerged. The currency reform created the right conditions. Gingerly, the remains of old business relationships were pieced together. Numerous new connections were added to these. And in 1950 business was once again booming. Economic miracle? Yes, but also hard work that made the miracle possible. Already in 1965 Possehl reported net sales of more than DM 831 million.

In the following decades Possehl moved up to the status it still embodies today: An increasingly worldwide acting mid-size company growing up from strong roots in Germany and Europe. Possehl has always been acting on a preferably broad basis for business activities. This has been a success factor so far.

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