Hamburger Genossenschafts-Museum

The Hamburger Genossenschaftsmuseum is housed in the Gewerkschaftshaus am Besenbinderhof; since May 2014 it has documented 175 years of cooperative history with a focus on consumer cooperatives. The museum is operated by the Heinrich-Kaufmann-Stiftung.

The exhibition places particular emphasis on the consumer, building and savings association „Produktion“ (known as „Pro“), founded in Hamburg in 1899, which quickly grew into one of the world’s largest consumer cooperatives. Hamburg developed into a centre of the cooperative economy; it was home to the headquarters of the Großeinkaufs-Gesellschaft Deutscher Consumvereine (GEG), a major German wholesale company in the food sector that at one time operated more than fifty factories. Also in Hamburg the Zentralverband deutscher Konsumgenossenschaften was founded in 1904; it still has its headquarters in the city and serves around 500 member cooperatives. In the region’s postwar development Henry Everling played a prominent role: after the Nazi era he became Hamburg’s first honorary citizen, served in executive capacities for „Pro“ and the GEG, and initiated a children’s convalescent home in Haffkrug on the Baltic Sea.

The collection includes objects from West German consumer cooperatives as well as from the GDR. Numerous exhibits come from donations by former cooperative employees; nearly 3,000 items were also acquired over a period of twelve years. The museum archive stretches back to 1855 and contains relevant periodicals such as the ZdK-Jahrbuch and the Konsumgenossenschaftliche Rundschau. Photographs and film collections illustrate the development of consumer cooperative enterprises. Through objects such as cash registers the museum illuminates the history of retail. Other exhibited topics include cooperative housing projects, burial societies, people’s insurance and worker cooperatives.