Wanderer

Wanderer bicycle, manufactured by Wanderer Werke AG in Schönau next to Chemnitz (later Karl-Marx-Stadt).

See also: Wanderer Gents, Wanderer Ladies (bicycles) and Wanderer 1937 (a motorbike).

The workshop named Chemnitzer Velociped-Depot was founded in Chemnitz, Saxony in 1885 by mechanics Johann Baptist Winklhofer (born 1859 in Munich-Bogenhausen) and Richard Adolf Jaenicke (born 1858 in Chemnitz). One year later they presented their high wheel bike named Wanderer. The name became their brand. Since 1892 they manufactured modern “safety” bicycles. They were also making "Continental" typewriters and calculating machines. In 1902 the Chemnitz factory began manufacturing motorcycles, and in 1903 - automobiles. Between 1902 and 1929 they built their own single cylinder and V-twin engines. Wanderer machines were of advanced design boasting unit construction engines and front and rear suspension as early as 1915, at which time they were supplied to the German army - Wanderer supplied almost half of all machines used by the German forces during the Great War.

Above: Winklhofer and Jaenicke. Below: Schönau plant and Wanderer motorcycle from 1902

By 1926, when Wanderer introduced a successful Typ 10, the company was making 25 vehicles a day; parts were made at the old plant in Chemnitz and assembled at the new site in Siegmar, delivered by rail right to the assembly line. Motorcycle production continued in Chemnitz alone. They had about 6000 employees in this time. During the Great Depression, in 1929, the motorcycle business was sold, and in 1932 the company formed part of Auto Union with Horch, Audi and DKW.

In 1941 all civilian production was replaced with military vehicles. A subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp, KZ Siegmar-Schonau, was operated during the war to provide slave labour for the Wanderer vehicle plants. The Siegmar and Schönau plants in Saxony were destroyed during World War II, closing this chapter in the history of automobiles. Post-war efforts to restore East German auto industry concentrated on facilities in Zwickau and Zschopau: Wanderer plants never recovered.