1943 "Fallen for Greater Germany"

Death is a master from Germany in these terrible dark years that destroy so many lives. The Overlack business family also pays a heavy price. The first-born son of Heinrich and Lisbeth Overlack, Dieter, who always wanted to become a forester and not a merchant, goes into battle for the Fatherland as early as 1940, strongly ideologized and full of passion. Just 21 years old, he falls in the winter of 1943 at the Cherson bridgehead in what is now Ukraine.

The first-born of Elisabeth and Ed Overlack, Hans Lutz, also dies at the age of 20 in August 1941 in Schytomyr in the Ukraine.

Brothers in misfortune.

The field post letter, in which father Heinrich congratulates his son Dieter on the award of the Iron Cross I, is returned unopened to the sender after his journey to the Ukraine: "Fallen for Greater Germany".

1944 "I'm coming! Not yet"

To succeed his father in the company one day – this task now remains for Dieter's younger brother Hans, who was born in 1925. Hans receives his high school diploma as a present, but is sent off to the military. He is trained as a pilot and in March 1945 is transferred with "Luftkriegsschule 3" from Oschatz in Saxony to Langenlebarn near Vienna. Without any training, he is still deployed as an infantryman. With a lot of luck he survives the last weeks of the war and then falls into Russian captivity.

As if he had already known it on his postcard to his parents in November 1943: "I'm coming! Not yet".

1945 Hunger I

After the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944, the traffic hub of M.Gladbach is increasingly the target of air raids by the Royal Air Force. The Overlack company buildings are also badly affected. At the end of the war, 60 percent of M.Gladbach and 90 percent of neighboring Rheydt, the birthplace of Joseph Goebbels, were destroyed. It is understandable that there are also shortages in the supply of food for the population.

Sometime in March 1945, the comparatively unencumbered Heinrich Overlack must have been appointed head of the municipal nutrition office; the carbon copy of his request for dismissal in July 1945 points to this: "I accepted this appointment immediately. It was considered a temporary one. In the conversation, I made it clear that I would take over the post only for the duration of the emergency and that it would therefore end with a stabilization of the food situation. At that time, I named the beginning of the harvest as a provisional date, since I would then be absolutely necessary in my company - also in the interest of the city of M.Gladbach, to which I, as a grain trader, can supply large quantities of grain from the Erkelenz district. This time has now come."

1946 Hunger II

The letter to the Chief President of the North Rhine Province, Agriculture Department is written shortly before the British make their occupation zone the state of North Rhine-Westphalia by merging the administrative districts of Aachen, Düsseldorf and Cologne with the former Prussian province of Westphalia in August 1946, thereby creating territorial facts against the claims of the French.

Heinrich Overlack has quite different problems; the branch store in Erkelenz cannot produce the "flour distribution card" demanded by the authorities. The Germans starve much more than during the war in the first post-war years; the distribution of food is centrally controlled. Heinrich Overlack emphasizes his distance to the Nazi regime and writes: "In the last years of the war, when the bringing of the grain to our silo facility located directly at the train station in Erkelenz and the transport of the grain from there to the mills for milling were associated with considerable danger, we provided large quantities of flour in this way for the district of Erkelenz and the urban area of M.Gladbach. The supply of both areas was continued until the end of the hostilities, about which relevant testimonies can be produced at any time."

1947 Silver jubilee

What a quarter of a century lies behind the staff of "Gebrüder Overlack"! In the anniversary poem, the courage of the company's founders is rightly celebrated. Even though the Nazi era may be over, their vocabulary is still present in the jubilant poem: "Diligence and loyalty are the solid core of growth."

Remnants of the Nazi ideology with its claim to unconditional obedience and loyalty can also be found in the letter of July 1947 applying for shoes for "Gefolgschaftsmitglieder" at the M.Gladbach employment office. If we replace "Gefolgschaft" (followers) with "Belegschaft" (staff), as further down in the same letter, we immediately feel more comfortable: language shapes realities of life.

1948 The Revisor

An exciting document from April 1947. Its author subjected the work processes in the warehouse and goods issue department in the immediate post-war period to critical analysis. The result is not satisfactory: "I have not been able to determine independent and rational work among any of the men in the plant. They all need guidance. I also did not notice any willingness to take responsibility; from the top it is pushed down until the one who can no longer push on remains."

Delegation is a fine art in which there still seems to be room for improvement at the Overlack Brothers: "In the end, I always ask myself who is responsible for ensuring that the work continues even while both masters are absent, and can possibly make small decisions or issue orders."

And yet: "As an initial success one can state today that due to the somewhat established order in the plant and warehouse, where one is no longer forced to clear out 1 batch of other sacks and some more barrels before issuing a sack, the current work is now mostly managed by 2–3 men, in contrast to the previous year, where it was almost mostly carried out by 4–5 men."

We would like to know more about the wise observer. Unfortunately, he did not sign his records.

1949 In Siberia

"Dearest Parents!" writes Hans (*1925), presumably in May 1945: "After the surrender I was taken prisoner by the Russians. Healthwise I am doing quite well. Firmly trusting in God, I hope to see you again soon." Until that happens, four and a half years will pass, which Hans spends in Karpinsk, 60 km beyond the Urals. Lisbeth and Heinrich Overlack do not learn of the survival and imprisonment of their second son until early 1946.

Along with a number of other family pictures, the young prisoner treasures his father's portrait as a precious possession: "Your pictures adorn my sleeping place, recall the most beautiful memories and are the content of a sleeping man's blissful dreams. They are my whole joy. Remind me of past happiness and strengthen me in hope and faith in a return." When Hans writes this down in October 1946, he does not know that another three years as a forced laborer in Siberia lie ahead of him until his return. From now on, Hans will celebrate November 1, 1949, the day he returns home to his family in the Rhineland, as his second birthday.

1950 Lutz and Hilde Overlack

He is a handsome gentleman, Lutz Overlack, here with his wife Hilde on his arm. Founder and senior boss, clever salesman and passionate hunter, who likes to put a freshly killed roast hare on the counter for his customers when he passes by in sales stores. He has already reached an agreement with his brother Heinrich and his close friend Josef Abstoß, an auditor at Overlack, about the future of his nephew Hans in the company. No more studies for the twenty-something, Hans should rather learn from the bottom up how things work in such a company. First working in the warehouse, then attending a commercial college, and finally several professional stations in befriended companies. Five decades later, Hans dryly comments on this career change over his head: "I had just come from Russia and was used to taking orders – it was a completely different world back then!"

1951 Land ownership

The "hand drawing according to the cadastral maps" from August 1948 gives an overview of the property situation on Aachener Straße in the post-war years. The Overlack Brothers round out their company's land holdings at every available opportunity. The boundaries of the company premises are marked on the plan by yellow lines. Directly to the right of the company is Ludwig Overlack's villa, to the left the property and home of the widow Fritz Niedergesäs, from whom the brothers acquired their "chemical factory" in the mid-1920s.