In the beginning kerosene lamps along with burners, as well as cookers for fluid (wood alcohol, paraffin), gaseous fuels (town gas, propane, and natural gas) were made in the Lampen-Fabrik Ehrich & Graetz OHG (E&G) factory.

At that time the company had establishments in the United States, France, the UK, and Bombay in British India.

With the use of forced laborers from Germany, France, Russia, and the Netherlands the company made huge gains in production.

Some notable examples of the forced labourers were •Ruth Arndt-Gumpel • Elisabeth Freund[5][6] (who would go on write down her experiences at the factory) • Leopold Chones[7] the leader of a Jewish resistance movement, Chug Chaluzi (Pioneer Circle) • Stella Goldschlag.

At the end of 1945 the factory was running again, but only producing pots, pans, and other small metal work.

The Berlin Wall ran through Heidelbergerstrasse, which intersects Elsenstrasse, past the site.

However the Petromax, the paraffin pressure lamp invented and designed by Max Graetz, was also produced here in great numbers.

The remarkable economic boom of companies in West Germany was called the so-called Wirtschaftswunder.