Archive item of the month April 2026 | Construction drawing ‘Electric freight lift’

Construction drawing for an ‘electric freight lift’ for the operations centre of the Konsumverein für Dessau und Umgegend eGmbH (consumer cooperative) in Taubenstraße (1906)

One hundred years ago, on 1 April 1901, the first two sales outlets of the Konsumverein für Dessau und Umgegend eGmbH opened at Friedhofstraße 7 and Breiten Straße 19. The Konsumverein was founded on 16 January 1901 and entered in the register of cooperatives on 5 March 1901. SPD politician Heinrich Peus was particularly instrumental in establishing the consumer cooperative. His goal was to provide the members of the cooperative, mainly workers and low-paid employees, with a consistent supply of food and everyday goods of medium standard and impeccable quality at affordable prices.

The Dessau consumer cooperative experienced rapid growth. By 1906, the cooperative’s economic situation was so good that it was able to set up its own headquarters at Taubenstraße 68, which included a central warehouse, a butcher’s shop, a butter kneading and moulding facility, a large bakery, a vehicle fleet and a power generation centre. The operations centre was equipped with modern technical facilities and machinery. In the bakery area, this included an electric freight lift manufactured by A. Kühnscherf jun. and Dresdner Gasmotorenfabrik, which had a load capacity of 750 kg or 10 people and reached a speed of 0.3 metres per second. A file preserved in the police administration collection in the Dessau-Roßlau City Archives contains documents on the technical data and a construction drawing of this freight elevator, which the City Archives is presenting as its archive item of the month for April 2026. The buildings of the former Konsum operations centre on Taubenstraße have now disappeared.