THE RUSK MANUFACTURER BRANDT - THE FAIRYTALE OF THE BAKER AND HIS SON

Thinking of your childhood evokes memories of Zwieback: the smell coming from the just opened packet with its child's face, the crumbs scratching you in bed while convalescing from a bout of flu, the dipping of the slices into hot milk or cocoa. It is a simple product that stands for a host of memories and sensory impressions.

At the beginning there was a horse drawn carriage and the iron will of the 26-year old baker and confectioner Carl Brandt. In 1912 he founded the "Märkische Zwieback- und Keksfabrik" in Hagen with the aim to produce affordable rusks and sponge cakes for the man on the street. The Zwieback became the classic of the baby and toddler diet of the 20th century. The handy work of the early days was followed in 1929 by the first self engineered and patented rusk-cutting machine. During the 1930s and 40s the Zwieback turned into the food for a crisis; 1933 the slogan on the package even reads "Ärtztlich anerkannter beliebter deutscher Zwieback" (the medically recommended popular German Zwieback).

During the "Wirtschaftswunder" in the 50s the company grew at an explosive rate, due in no little way to Betty Brandt, second wife to Carl Brandt. She was a real matriarch, her regime at the company was strict, her social commitment legendary. Her son Carl-Jürgen Brandt became her successor and sole owner of the company. Only after the death of his mother was he able to establish the necessary rationalization and his own vision of a modern factory. His ideas lead in 2003 to the removal of the works to East Germany. Something he pursued in spite of industrial actions and political arguments between the states of North-Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and Thuringia. The population of Hagen/NRW is in shock. The former Hagen bakery has reemerged as a large enterprise with currently 1000 employees, despite many trials and tribulations in the beginning at the East-German town of Ohrdruf. In the meantime Burger, the manufacturer of the GDR crisp bread with cult status, has become part of the Brandt imperium. The company is headed by Carl-Jürgen Brandt the son of the company founder.

Film-maker Peter Scharf uses first hand knowledge when narrating the tale in and around the Brandt imperium. He himself grew up near the factory in Hagen and inhaled, like all his neighbours, the sweet smell of the biscuit production In his film he visits the old and the new factories, talks to members of the Brandt family and former employees. He also talks to one of the two workers from Hagen that followed the production to East Germany, and he talks to the last representative of the four different child's faces that have adorned the packaging. The image of the child's face on the orange background turned into something very cult and has been printed on designer T-shirts.

This is the story of a simple and literally dry product that has survived on the market successfully for nearly 100 years. It is also the portrait of a family dynasty whose members identified themselves always, against all crises, with their product.

A film by WDR, 2007
45 min. documentary

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