From Jena to Mainz (and back again) - "The Odyssey of 41 Glassmakers" began fifty years ago

Abstract

A half century ago, World War II came to an end. Germany had been reduced to rubble. It was then, in June 1945, that an adventurous journey began for 41 employees of the Jenaer Glaswerk Schott & Gen., located in Jena, Thuringia, which did not end until seven years later in Mainz when a new main plant went into operation. This journey has gone down in history as the Odyssey of 41 Glassmakers". It was the most striking turning point in Schott's corporate history and in the personal histories of the people involved. The development, which took its start at the beginning of "the Odyssey of 41 Glassmakers", reflects in an exemplary manner the history of Germany in the past 50 years. For more than four decades, two rival Schott companies existed, one in the West and one in the East. Not until Germany ceased to be a divided country was it possible to reunite Schott in Mainz and Schott in Jena. Exactly 50 years after the start of "the Odyssey of 41 Glassmakers", the glassworks in Jena has now been fully integrated into the Schott Group.