GNT: Laundry Museum of Genthin

Ziegeleistraße 56, 39307 Genthin

In May 2011, the new Laundry Museum, an exhibition demonstrating the history of the Henkel Dusseldorf laundry company, was opened on Ziegelei Street. This display of past and present laundry exhibits spans its 90 year history, covering everything from the initial days of the business to the production of early types of detergent. In 1921 Henkel Dusseldorf, a proudly established laundry company located in Western Germany, founded a second subsidiary company in Genthin. This addition was necessary due to the rising costs of transporting their products (an effect of WW I) across the whole of Germany. The new factory in Genthin manufactured the same quality of detergent as the main factory in Düsseldorf, producing still famous brands such as: Persil, Bleichsoda, Sil, Ata and Gutso. Such products were mainly shipped due to the low cost of such methods of transportation. In 1925, the old bathing house, which today contains the museum, was opened, and in 1937, the construction of the area around the factory was finished. The museum can be visited by appointment.