Gabriel 150 years - Flipbook - Page 28
reports during this period showed profits, and
The retail shop, Kjærs Mølle Udsalg, at Nytorv in
an annual dividend of ∂%, certainly a reasonable
±∫µ∞. Among other things, the shop sold clothes
amount in these troubled times, was paid
manufactured at Kjærs Mølle. Until the shop closed
throughout the entire period of the occupation.
in the early ±∫∑∞s, placards in local buses read:
Demand was great, and this pushed prices
“Kjærs Mølle’s clothes are as strong as leather”.
up. Prices could not be freely set, however, and
at one point, price control authorities forced
to start again, the µπ-hour working week was
Kjærs Mølle to reduce the cost of so-called
compressed into ∂ instead of the usual ∑ days,
“maximum goods”, i.e. goods that could con-
in order to reduce heating costs.
tain only a certain amount of wool in addition
to old rags and similar content.
Working conditions during the
occupation
The machines were powered both by electricity supplied by the public mains and by steam.
In spite of the difficult conditions, Kjærs Mølle’s
The fuel used was lignite mined near the town
financial situation improved during the occupa-
of Herning.
tion and provided positive benefits for the work-
Fuel supplies were scant, and in February
ers. It was a feather in the cap of the textile work-
±∫µ∂, it was necessary to stop production al-
ers’ union when in ±∫µ± the union negotiated
together for a period. When it became possible
that, like the salaried employees, workers paid by
1940-1945
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