Alfred Edlinger

Alfred Edlinger was born in Vienna, alongside his brother Richard, as the son of the Catholic textile manufacturer Ferdinand Edlinger. On May 10, 1882, his father bought a large site in the then still rural Kaisermühlen (then still located in Vienna's 2nd district), which was situated between the regulated Danube and the Old Danube and had the advantage of the water required for dyeing and bleaching. At today's address Schiffmühlenstraße 92-116, the business expanded to up to 11,000 m² of floor space and developed into the most important and largest of its kind in Austria. In 1884, Ferdinand Edlinger was the first company in continental Europe to use mercerization in the cotton industry. The company was electrified as early as 1885.

Numerous patents for textile processing and finishing were registered, for example a speed regulator for continuously variable transmissions in textile machines in 1915, which is still in use today. In 1922, Edlinger probably invented the first artificial leather and brought it to production maturity, although the manufacturing process was not patented until 1948. In 1925, the company is converted into a limited partnership. After the death of Ferdinand Edlinger in 1932, his sons Alfred and Richard Edlinger take over the business. Alfred Edlinger is already married to Rudolfine Edlinger at this time, but the marriage remains childless.

Alfred Edlinger is involved in the Vaterländische Front and thus vehemently supports a free and independent Austria in the conservative corporative camp. On March 12, 1938, he witnessed the occupation of his home country with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht.

Four days later, on March 16, 1938, he was arrested by the Gestapo without giving a reason and deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp on September 21, 1938. He was released from there on November 30, 1938. From November 9, 1939 to December 23, 1939, he was imprisoned by the Gestapo a second time, again without giving any reasons.

After that, he lived in Vienna, under observation by the Gestapo. The textile company is badly affected by the war. In Vienna, Alfred Edlinger witnesses the liberation of Austria and the re-establishment of the Republic and immediately joins the newly founded Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the ÖVP-Kameradschaft der politisch Verfolgten und Bekenner für Österreich.

The brothers rebuild the company after the Second World War, which reaches an output of 40,000-50,000 m of fabric per day in 1950. The parent company in Gumpendorf is sold in 1956. In the post-war period, the company also has its own plastics production facility (polyurethane for the production of artificial leather) under the name TEBBE (Textil Beschichtung Betrieb Edlinger) at the company site, whose product is also used for the production of lacquers and adhesives. There is also a swimming pool in the garden of the A plant, which is heated with exhaust steam from the factory. For a long time, steam power was used to generate electricity. In 1963, for example, a 1,500 hp back-pressure steam turbine from ELIN with a speed of 12,500 rpm was purchased. The exhaust steam is used to produce artificial leather and for finishing. In the course of a textile crisis, the traditional company is forced to close in 1986. Today, residential buildings stand on the former company site.