Omega-Werk Solingen pocketknife

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kwackster
Posts: 398
Joined: Mon May 15, 2017 8:07 pm

Omega-Werk Solingen pocketknife

Post by kwackster »

"In 1847 the sheet metal worker & hardware salesman Joseph Feist settled in Solingen, Germany.
After 1870 he also sold cutlery together with his brother Abraham.
Later Abraham Feist started Lunawerk in the Eintrachtstrasse, and Joseph Feist started Omega-Werk on the Köllner Strasse 18, and the 4-story building also housed his business office.
After Joseph died the company was run by his sons Alfred, Julius, Max, and Siegfried.
Next to cutlery the company manufactured household & kitchen equipment made from sheet metal, zinc, and wire mesh, and during the 1930's the company had up to 110 employees.
At this time the city of Solingen had 16 Jewish families working in the cutlery business, and the Feist family was among the most notable and and an important part of community life.

All this however changed dramatically when the Nazi's came to power.
The Feist family members were excluded from all guilds and unions, and associates and neighbors began to avoid them.
During the Kristallnacht (pogrom night) on 09-11-1938 members of the SA (Sturm Abteilung - Hitlers stormtroopers) broke into their home and destroyed the interior.
The Feist brothers were forced to sell their companies well below market value, but they themselves managed to escape to Lissabon in Portugal shortly after, and today their descendants still live in Portugal.
The name Omega-Werk was changed to Omega and production continued up to 2003."


Translated from a German text on a remembrance stone slab standing at the corner of Birkenweiher and Bahnhofstrasse.

Yesterday i bought this Omega-Werk pocketknife on a fleamarket in the Netherlands for 1,00 Euro (atm about 1 US dollar and 21 cents)
The smaller blade had been broken off, so today i reground it a bit on my Tormek.

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john
Posts: 4524
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 11:40 am
Location: New England, MA USA

Re: Omega-Werk Solingen pocketknife

Post by john »

Excellent history lesson and a very cool little knife!
Your friend on the web's most friendly community on knives and blades,
John

Massachusetts Where Everything is Illegal or Taxed
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