Manfréd Weiss Steel and Metal Works
Founded by Baron Manfréd Weiss of Csepel, an industrialist of Jewish origin, by the time of World War I the company was one of largest defense contractors in Austria-Hungary,[1] producing all types of equipment, from airplanes and munitions to automotive engines, bicycles Csepel bicycle and cars.
Badly damaged by Allied air raids and eventually pillaged during World War II, the company continued in existence until 1950, when it was nationalised and renamed to Rákosi Mátyás Vas- és Fémművek ("Mátyás Rákosi Iron and Metal Works NV", where "NV" means Nemzeti Vállalat, "National Company").
The brothers gradually expanded the canning factory, then moved it to Máriássy Street near the Közvágóhíd, where they produced meat products under the Globus brand, mainly for the army, and bridged the spare capacity of seasonal work by dismantling and reloading infantry ammunition.
Thus, Manfréd Weiss became one of the principal defence contractors for the Hungarian part of the empire, his main competitor being the state-owned steel mill in Diósgyőr, the Diósgyőr-Vasgyár.
[1] The public orders allowed the company to quickly expand ammunition production and establish additional factories: new steel and iron furnaces, and new copper, nickel, and aluminium installations.
The army not only brought in orders but also demanded an increase in production, leading to the introduction of a three-shift work schedule, making it the first in the country.
)[2] By the outbreak of World War II, the company had become a modern industrial conglomerate, with over 40,000 employees;[3] its management remained largely composed of Hungarian Jews.
[4] The Weiss family was allowed to emigrate to Portugal and escape the horrors of the Holocaust, but their large art collection, along with the entire industrial complex bearing their name, was taken over by Germany.
The factory not only had to meet domestic needs, but also produced machinery for war reparations and supplied the occupying Soviet Army with vehicle parts.
