Schunk und Ebe oHG was founded in 1913 as a factory for production of carbon brushes for dynamos and electric motors in Fulda in Hesse and moved in 1918 to Heuchelheim near Giessen.

Ludwig Schunk's forebears had been settled in the Central Hesse region since the middle of the 18th century and for several generations had been nail makers in Büdingen.

His modest family circumstances had very early on led Schunk to the conviction that only above-average hard work and constant pursuit of education could make the prerequisites for social advancement possible.

Schunk was in command of the two world languages, English and French, and was able to find employment as manager of foreign correspondence in an important company in the electric industry in Paris.

There followed a six-year stay in Paris where Ludwig Schunk became familiar with the manufacture of carbon brushes for electrical machinery.

In 1918 Ludwig Schunk moved the company, operated in rented premises, from Fulda to Heuchelheim near Giessen where he was able to buy the former tourist restaurant "Windhof" which had sufficient space to set up production equipment.

As far back as in those early days, the first representation offices were founded in various large German cities and export business was set up.

As the Reichsmark lost ever more of its value and the concomitant heavy inflation increased as well, Schunk successfully sought new sales markets abroad from which stable currency flowed in.

Among other things, Schunk after December 1936 directed the "Coal and Brushes Specialist Team," one of 24 sections of the electrical industry business group.