Beckh, Ottmar

Ottmar Beckh KG was established by a partnership agreement on 11 November 1938 to take over the business of Adolf Schuhmann, a Nuremberg toy maker whose owners were Jewish. On 28 November 1938 the sale transferred the business, machinery, tools, inventory and stock, but not the land or buildings. Beckh became managing partner; his two older brothers were limited partners. Schuhmann’s principal products had been clockwork 0 gauge trains and accessories, and Beckh’s first range largely followed its final prewar assortment. After the war began, the firm made parts for the armaments industry while continuing to produce trains for export. Bombing destroyed its premises in August 1943, and production was moved to Oberkotzau.

After the war, Beckh resumed train production in Oberkotzau using surviving tools. A new factory hall was completed in Mögeldorf in June 1948, and the first postwar catalogue appeared in early 1949 with five reissued trains, wagons and accessories. A restitution claim concerning the former Schuhmann business delayed investment; a settlement in June 1950 released the firm from asset control and allowed it to modernize. From 1951 to 1956 Beckh expanded its clockwork 0 gauge range, offered a 28 mm gauge train, and replaced remaining Schuhmann products with its own designs. The 1956 assortment included passenger and goods train sets, wagons, accessories and two small battery powered 0 gauge trains.

After 1956 the company developed electric H0 trains, introduced in 1960, and later added H0 clockwork trains. During the 1960s it streamlined the 0 gauge range and introduced smaller designs as tinplate toys faced competition from plastic products and low priced imports. Beckh displayed its full range at the 1969 Nuremberg Toy Fair and stopped production after fulfilling orders for that year’s Christmas season. The company was liquidated, with its commercial register deletion recorded on 17 January 1973.