RHEOSTAT' - Special factory for electrical apparatus Edmund Kussi GmbH

In August 1911, Edmund Kussi (born on March 24, 1866 in Žihle near Pilsen) and his brothers Johann and Friedrich Cruse founded the company ‚RHEOSTAT – Spezialfabrik elektrischer Apparate Edmund Kussi‘. The company headquarters were located at Freiberger Straße 75. Edmund Kussi was also the owner of a dust extraction machine business at Waisenhausstraße 24. In September 1913, they moved the company headquarters to Leipziger Straße 31 in Dresden-Neustadt (site of the former Dresdener Maschinenfabrik & Schiffswerft AG). Even before the outbreak of the First World War, the three company founders parted ways in 1914. Edmund Kussi continued to run the company as ‚RHEOSTAT - Specialbetrieb elektrischer Apparate Edmund Kussi GmbH‘, the brothers Johann and Friedrich Cruse founded the ‚Spezialfabrik elektrischer Steuerapparate Gebr. Cruse & Co.‘.  Edmund Kussi, who had previously been producing in the Leipzig suburb, acquired a semi-detached house at Großenhainer Straße No.130/132 in Dresden-Pieschen. This is where he moved his company headquarters. Edmund Kussi died of natural causes on November 28, 1935 at the age of 69. Dr. Victor Kussi, the eldest son of Edmund Kussi (born 19.09.1897), took over the company. As a Jewish citizen, he was forcibly expropriated by the Nazi state in 1938. Edmund Kussi was married to Olga Kussi, née Langner. She fled to the Netherlands in 1939 with her sons Dr. Victor Kussi and Dr. Werner Franz Kussi. There they were interned in Hoogdalen/Westerbork. In 1943, Olga Kussi and her two sons were deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. In 1944 they were transferred to the Auschwitz extermination camp, where Olga and her eldest son Viktor were murdered on October 30, 1944. Werner Franz Kussi was liberated on January 27, 1945. Due to his Czech-Slovak citizenship, Werner Kussi was given the company back for a short time in 1945. Against the backdrop of the Slánský-trial he fled to the USA via West Germany in 1953.