Elsas cotton weaving mill

In 1828, Benedikt Elsas (1816-1876), a Jew from Aldingen, was the first Jew to be able to serve an apprenticeship at the small Heinrich Erhardt cotton weaving mill in Aldingen. In 1838, he earned his master's certificate as a weaver and was now able to weave cotton and linen on his own account. In 1844, he acquired the old Aldingen schoolhouse and, together with his two brothers, operated the rapidly expanding weaving mill "Elsas & Comp." there with six looms in the basement of the house. Since a more efficient delivery of raw materials and dispatch of finished goods was necessary, Benedikt Elsas moved the company to Ludwigsburg in 1850 because of the railroad station that had existed there since 1846. He sold the house in Aldingen in 1854. The "mechanical colored weaving mill Elsas and Sons" in Ludwigsburg developed into one of the most successful textile factories in Württemberg in the 19th century. The company existed until its "Aryanization" in 1938.