The Felke-Möbelwerke company was a German furniture factory with its headquarters in

Sohren Sohren is an ''Ortsgemeinde (Germany), Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (Districts of Germany, district) in Rhinela ...

in the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced mountain range, upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle (river), Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued ...

region and branches all over the country. It was one of the largest employers in the Hunsrück and significantly increased the economic importance of the region.

History

The Felke-Möbelwerke GmbH & Co.KG was founded by

Michael Felke Michael Felke (Laufersweiler, 18 April 1895 - Sohren, 8 April 1977) was a German furniture manufacturer. Life Michael Felke was the first of four children and came from a poor family background. He learned the job of a joiner in his father’s ...

in Sohren in 1928 and emerged from his first furniture factory that had been established in

Laufersweiler Laufersweiler is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of ...

in 1919.''18.April 1895–1995, Michael Felke 100 Jahre, Pionier der Industrieansiedlung im Hunsrück'',

Rhein-Zeitung The Rhein-Zeitung (''RZ'') is a regional German daily broadsheet newspaper published in Koblenz by Mittelrhein-Verlag GmbH and distributed across Rhineland-Palatinate. In five districts, the editions are unchanged for the respective district; in ...

vom 22./23. April 1995 In the 1950s the Felke-Möbelwerke became one of the biggest furniture factories in Southern Germany with three production plants in Sohren, Simmern and Hermeskeil and it boosted the industrial development in the Hunsrück region. The factories mainly produced for Central and Western Europe. At the end of the 1960s the founder Michael Felke gradually handed over executive power to his sons Aloys, Walter and

Günter Felke Günter Felke (4 November 1929 in Laufersweiler – 22 March 2005 in Sohren) was a German furniture manufacturer, numismatist and patron of culture. Life Günter Felke was born as the youngest son of the industrialist Michael Felke and his wife ...

. Since the early 1970s affiliated companies were set up in order to also supply the wholesale market in Germany. After the German reunification in 1990 Felke-Möbelwerke had to reduce its production step by step due to import dumping from Eastern European countries. The last active production plant shut down in 2003.Felke Möbel insolvent: Handelsaktivitäten nicht betroffen
Möbel Kultur vom 11. Oktober 2001''Felke schließt jetzt alle Werkstore'',

vom 12. Oktober 2001 Since 2001 the succeeding company Felke-Gewerbepark has been managing the former production sites (170.000 sqm) and property (400.000 sqm) of Felke-Möbelwerke all over Germany. FELKE Moebelzentrum Bad Kreuznach

External links

Website des Unternehmens

Videoaufzeichnung des Großbrandes in Hermeskeil Antenne West

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Felke Mobelwerke Furniture companies of Germany