Thust

Thust is a German stonemasonry and natural-stone processing company whose roots go back to 1819, when Carl Christian Thust founded a stonemason's workshop in Gnadenfrei, then part of the Reichenbach district in Lower Silesia (now Poland). Over the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the business grew into one of Germany's largest stonemasonry operations, specialising in marble working and, above all, in the production of designed gravestones for the craft stonemasonry trade. Before the Second World War it ranked among the ten largest stone-processing companies in Germany. The company's early growth was driven by vertical integration and technical modernisation. It acquired its own marble quarries, bought the Groß-Kunzendorf marble quarries in 1892, and built a twelve-kilometre railway line between Sławniowice (Groß Kunzendorf) and Nowy Świętów (Deutsch Wette) that opened on 15 November 1894 to cut marble transport costs. A steam engine was acquired as early as 1863 to drive stone saws and grinding machines, and by 1870 the firm employed nearly 100 people. Under Willibald Thust, who took over the business in 1897 and renamed it W. Thust, the product range expanded to include marble stairs, door and window surrounds, floor coverings, fountains, cattle troughs, marble washstands with mirrors set into the marble backsplash, marble soap dishes and bathroom cladding. The company also produced sarcophagi for the kings of Prussia and, with electrification, non-flammable marble switchboards. As a growing middle class emerged during the Gründerzeit, demand for natural-stone gravestones increased, and Thust became Germany's largest gravestone producer, working both West Silesian marble and Carrara marble from Italy. When fashion shifted from light marble to black polished Swedish basalt, the company converted to hard-stone processing. Sales success and rising liquidity allowed the old workshop buildings to be demolished in 1908 and replaced with a new plant featuring a diamond gang saw with 4-metre straight blades. Willibald Thust also responded to changing taste towards the 'modern gravestone' with clear forms, exhibiting at Germany's first gravestone exhibition in Breslau in 1913. After the First World War he opened a gabbro quarry ('Schönheider Syenit') near Gnadenfrei and invested in a new hall with new machines, and in 1923 he founded a welfare fund providing sickness and pension payments to employees. Since 1927 the company has published a magazine, Aus Steinen Brot. At the end of the Second World War the company lost all its property in eastern Germany and had to relocate its headquarters to Balduinstein an der Lahn in western Germany. After German reunification it opened a new independent operating division in Merseburg, Saxony-Anhalt, which has since been merged with the Balduinstein works into THUST STEIN GmbH. The company remains known as a specialist in marble working and in the production of designed gravestones for the stonemasonry trade.

The company W. Thust KG was founded in 1819 in Gnadenfrei, then in the Reichenbach district of Lower Silesia, by a fifteen-year-old stonemason. The founder was Carl Christian Thust, born in Gnadenfrei in 1804, the eighth child of a village blacksmith who died fourteen days before Carl Christian's birth. Raised in poor circumstances and educated only at the village school, he became a stonemason's apprentice at the age of ten and three-quarters. When his master refused to present the nearly fifteen-year-old for his journeyman's examination, he decided in 1819 to found his own stonemasonry business. Despite uncertain economic conditions, the business developed positively. As early as 1863 a steam engine was acquired to drive stone saws and grinding machines. Thust also developed its own marble quarries, and stone waste was profitably burned into lime in lime kilns. By 1870 the company had nearly 100 employees. Carl Christian Thust handed the business over in good order to his sons Woldemar and Reinhold. In 1892 the firm C. Thust of Gnadenfrei bought the Groß-Kunzendorf marble quarries. To reduce marble transport costs, a twelve-kilometre railway line between Sławniowice (Groß Kunzendorf) and Nowy Świętów (Deutsch Wette) was built, opening on 15 November 1894 and connecting to the railway lines between Nysa and Neustadt and Ziegenhals. After the purchase the company operated seven marble quarries, which formed a solid base for further economic development. Reinhold took over the business in Groß-Kunzendorf and Woldemar the one in Gnadenfrei. The engineer Hans Thust took over his father Woldemar's business in Groß-Kunzendorf. After Reinhold Thust's business was taken over by his son Willibald Thust, who proved very commercially astute, in 1897 he took over Hans's business as well and the company was renamed W. Thust. Willibald Thust recognised that in addition to production, targeted commercial distribution would play a major role in the future. The company offered a large product range in marble: from stairs, door and window surrounds, floor coverings, fountains and cattle troughs, to marble washstands with mirrors set into the marble backsplash, marble soap dishes and bathroom cladding. Sarcophagi were made for the kings of Prussia. A remarkable demand developed for a new mass product through advancing electrification, one that is largely unknown today: switchboards made of non-flammable marble, whose production would become important for the company later on. With the progressive development of social conditions during the Gründerzeit, wealthy middle classes emerged. This created demand for natural-stone gravestones, previously reserved for nobility and rich citizens. The company satisfied this growing market with marble gravestones from both West Silesia and Carrara marble from Carrara in Italy. This soft stone came by sea and via the now-existing railway network to Silesia. Thust became the largest gravestone producer in Germany, and when demand shifted from light marbles to black, brilliantly polishable Swedish basalts still seen in cemeteries today, Thust converted the operation to hard-stone processing. The resulting sales success, combined with a considerable increase in liquid funds, enabled the demolition of the old workshop buildings in 1908 and a new building with a diamond gang saw with straight blades 4.00 metres long—a highly technical machine for its time, offering new possibilities for producing large-format stone slabs. Willibald Thust also responded appropriately to the change in buying behaviour away from overloaded gravestone forms towards the so-called 'modern gravestone' with clear forms. He took part in Germany's first gravestone exhibition in 1913 in Breslau with newly shaped stones and produced according to customer wishes. Willibald was commercially savvy and knew that in the looming war marble switchboards for electric current would be destroyed and that fertiliser lime would be needed to increase food production. It turned out that the funds for buying the marble quarries had been well invested. After the end of the First World War he was able to open a gabbro quarry ('Schönheider Syenit') in Schönheide near Gnadenfrei and invest in a new hall with new machines. He also founded a welfare fund in 1923 that paid subsidies to employees in case of illness and for pension payments, in order to establish social peace. Since 1927 a company magazine, Aus Steinen Brot, has been published. At the end of the Second World War the company had to relocate its headquarters to Balduinstein an der Lahn, because all property in eastern Germany was lost. After the Wende in Germany, the company opened a new independent operating division in Merseburg in Saxony-Anhalt, which has since been merged with the Balduinstein works into THUST STEIN GmbH. The business is regarded as the specialist for marble working and above all for the production of designed gravestones for craft stonemasonry businesses to the present day (2008).

• 1945

  At the end of the Second World War the company relocates its headquarters to Balduinstein an der Lahn after losing all property in eastern Germany.

• 1927

  The company magazine Aus Steinen Brot begins publication.

• 1923

  A welfare fund is founded to provide sickness and pension subsidies to employees.

• 1913

  Willibald Thust exhibits at Germany's first gravestone exhibition in Breslau.

• 1908

  Old workshop buildings are demolished and a new plant with a diamond gang saw with 4-metre blades is built.

• 1897

  Willibald Thust takes over the business and renames it W. Thust.

• 1894

  A twelve-kilometre railway line between Groß Kunzendorf and Deutsch Wette opens on 15 November to transport marble.

• 1892

  C. Thust of Gnadenfrei buys the Groß-Kunzendorf marble quarries.

• 1870

  The company employs nearly 100 people.

• 1863

  A steam engine is acquired to drive stone saws and grinding machines.

• 1819

  Carl Christian Thust founds a stonemasonry business in Gnadenfrei, Lower Silesia.

• After German reunification, a new independent operating division is opened in Merseburg, Saxony-Anhalt.

• The Merseburg division and the Balduinstein works are merged into THUST STEIN GmbH.

Specialist in marble working and designed gravestones for the craft stonemasonry trade; historically one of Germany's largest stone-processing companies.

• Marble gravestones

  Designed gravestones in West Silesian and Carrara marble for the craft stonemasonry trade.

• Marble stairs, door and window surrounds, floor coverings

  Architectural marble elements produced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

• Marble washstands and bathroom cladding

  Washstands with mirrors set into the marble backsplash, soap dishes and bathroom cladding.

• Marble switchboards

  Non-flammable marble switchboards for electrification, a mass product of the early 20th century.

• Sarcophagi

  Sarcophagi made for the kings of Prussia.

• Gabbro (Schönheider Syenit)

  Hard stone from a quarry opened after the First World War near Gnadenfrei.

1. 1Thust – Wikipediade.wikipedia.org
2. 2Thust – Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Thust official websitethust-info.de