Pelzfabrik Profitlich 2018

Soon after the grand opening of the Rhine railway line in 1870 the fur factory was the first industrial company located in Unkel. The company’s founder Paul Profitlich (1821-1902) came from an old Unkel family. In France he studied fur refinement processes, where rabbit furs were refined in such a way that they could pass for seals or sables and could then be further processed into valuable fur garments. In 1873 the production started with great success. The factory grounds stretched, after an extension of the production sites in 1904, from the Rhine front along the Main Street further on to the Lühlingsgasse and finally into the Unterste Gasse (Lowest Alley). Around 60 furriers, laboratory staff and workers were permanently employed and with temporary employees totalled up to 200 members of staff. During World War I economic circumstances forced production to cease. The brick building at the corner of Frankfurter/von-Werner-Straße is the only preserved building of the former fur factory.