View of shipyard

The print, published by the Berlin Xylographische Anstalt von Heuer&Kirmse woodcut studio was based on an oil painting by Friedrich Kallmorgen (1856-1924), a German impressionist who specialised in landscapes and city views. The woodcut by Gustav Heuer and Otto Kirmse, German engravers and xylographers, shows a view of the Aktien-Gesellschaft (AG) Vulcan Stettin shipbuilding and engineering company, founded in 1851 by Hamburg engineers in Drzetowo – today part of the Grabowo district. Just six years later, the company was officially recognised by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia and transformed into a joint stock company named Stettiner Mashinenbau Vulcan AG, with shareholders among the largest companies from then Stettin and Berlin. After its expansion, the production of steam locomotives was also launched. The intensively developing shipyard received orders from the most important shipowners, initially from Germany and later also from other countries - Russia, China, Brazil and Japan. In 1906 a branch of the shipyard was opened in Hamburg, and five years later the company headquarters was moved there. As a result, the company was renamed Vulkan-Werke Hamburg und Stettin AG. From then on, the shipyard in Hamburg started to take over orders for larger vessels, while Szczecin shipyard focused on smaller ships. With the defeat of Germany in the First World War, the activity of the Szczecin branch was further limited, and in 1927 it was eventually shut down. In 1938, the company was reactivated by the Nazis – it was to serve their war effort programme by building and repairing their U-Boats. In 1944, during Allied carpet bombing raids, the shipyard was almost completely destroyed.

Anna Lew-Machniak