ORWO (short for ORiginal Wolfen) was one of the largest magnetic tape manufacturers in the socialist bloc. In the 1970s and 1980s, ORWO produced massive volumes of magnetic tape for audio cassettes, reels, video cassettes, and computer storage media.
ORWO effectively replaced AGFA - after World War II, the AGFA plant in Wolfen, built in 1909, ended up in the Soviet occupation zone.
In 1953, the company became a state-owned factory of the GDR, and in 1964, following an agreement on the rights to the Agfa trademark, the company was renamed ORWO.
Initially, ORWO produced film, photographic film, and magnetic tape for reel-to-reel tape recorders.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the company significantly expanded its product range - in 1970, Fotochemisches Kombinat Wolfen officially began producing magnetic tape. Video tapes; computer tapes; and materials for compact cassettes.
The main complex was located in Wolfen (Saxony-Anhalt, East Germany), but production was distributed among several companies. The Kombinat included VEB Magnetbandfabrik Dessau, which produced magnetic tape; VEB ORWO-Plast Schmölln, which produced plastic products (including housing parts); and companies manufacturing packaging and components.
By 1989, the company was a giant, employing approximately 14,500 people and producing approximately 40 million m² of film base annually; approximately 2 million m² of magnetic media; and more than 200 types of products.
ORWO products were exported primarily to the markets of socialist countries - the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Yugoslavia.
In Western markets, ORWO competed primarily on the basis of low prices; its products were supplied to the United Kingdom, Italy, France, the Middle East, and some African countries.
Following German reunification in 1990, ORWO was transformed into ORWO AG, and the company was privatized.
VEB Magnetbandfabrik Dessau (MBF), which mass-produced magnetic tape and converted it into finished cassettes, was transformed into Dessauer Magnetband GmbH (DMB) during the privatization of Treuhand's enterprises.
The company attempted to maintain magnetic media production in a market economy, but faced a number of challenges: outdated equipment, high production costs, and strong competition from BASF, TDK, Maxell, Sony, and other manufacturers, coupled with a sharp decline in demand for European magnetic tapes.
In 1992, the plant was acquired by the Turkish company RAKS, one of the largest audio cassette manufacturers at the time. The plan was to use the Dessau facilities to produce cassettes for the European market. However, the integration proved unsuccessful, and the company went bankrupt in 1993. By 1994, production had finally ceased, and by 1998 the main buildings of the plant were demolished.
