Letterhead of Fa. Gebr. Pfau, ca. 1900
1859
Founding of a hand weaving mill by Friedrich and Antonie Pfau in Leipziger Straße 49 in Crimmitschau.
1885
Building of a new factory on the corner of Leipziger and Sahntalstraße. A four storey building including a boiler house and a chimney was erected. All parts of a textile production line were included on one single site, from spinning woollen yarn to turning them into fabric. In the 1890s, those cloths were exported worldwide.
Memory photo of the great textile workers strike of 1903/04 of the workforce of Fa. C. Döhler
1899
A big fire on the factory site. Friedrich Pfau hands the factory over to his sons Otto and Adolph. The factory was rebuilt under the new name of 'Gebr. Pfau'.
1903
The workers of the Pfau textile mill participated in the great textile workers strike.
1907
Otto Pfau moved into his new mansion on the corner of Leipziger / Sahntalstraße.
1909
Production of 100,000th piece of cloth.
1910
A representative administration and production building was erected at Leipziger Straße.
Factory owner Adolph Pfau in 1936
Inside the cloth factory's sample room
Horse and cart outside the wool store in the 1930s
1911
Friedrich Pfau, founder of the firm died.
1916
The area of the firm was doubled by the purchase of the neighbouring spinning and dyeing mill 'Zeiner & Schumann'. During World War I, the production includes military cloth.
1920
The status of the firm changed from 'Open commercial company' to a 'limited partnership' with a number of other companies. The new money was invested in new machinery.
1930
The company is taken back into family ownership. Werner Pfau, son of Adolph Pfau, is being made technical and administrative director.
1937
Death of Otto Pfau.
1939
When the Second World War started, the production of military cloth was massively expanded. Old machinery was modernised.
1942
Production of 300 000th piece of cloth.
1945
In April, Crimmitschau was occupied by the US Army. Production was resumed in June the same year. Reparations to the Soviet Union.
1947
Production of fabric for women's and men's outer garments [fabrics for coats, suits, and skirts] taken up again.
Weaver in the cloth factory during GDR times
The site in 1990
1957
The factory was forced to allow governmental participation. Most of the produced fabric was being exported to Western countries. In the 1960s, large parts of the machinery was modernised.
1972
Almost all factories with governmental participation were taken into public property. The 'Gebr. Pfau KG' was turned into the 'VEB Modetuche'. Werner Pfau remained managing director.
1974
Werner Pfau retired.
1976
Seven Crimmitschau textile factories, amongst them the 'VEB Modetuche', were combined to form the 'Werk 7' of 'VEB Volltuchwerke Crimmitschau'. The production includes blended fabrics, classic woollen fabric, jeans and tapestry cloth. Within the following years, there was hardly any investment in the factory.
1990
The whole factory site - buildings and machinery - was declared a national heritage site. Production came to an end. There were first plans for a museum.
Chronological table on the history of the textile museum
1993
Foundation of a 'Friends of the West Saxon Textile Museum' Association
1995
Purchase of the site by the City of Crimmitschau.
1996
Redevelopment started.
1998
Foundation of the Saxon Museum of Industry Association.
1999
The museum staff started to work, first museum events took place.
2001 / 02
Architectural contest: 1st price was won by the Zwickau based bureau of ARC Architektur Concept Pfaffhausen and Staudte.
2003
Decision of the Crimmitschau City Council on realising the presented museum concept.