Accumulatoren-Fabrik AFA

The Accumulatoren-Fabrik Hagen (AFA) was a large industrial company located first in Austria and then Nazi Germany. Established in 1888 and led by Adolph Müller, with time it became the leading supplier of batteries in Austria and Germany. In 1890 it became a part of the Deutsche Bank holding, along with Siemens AG and AEG companies.

Initially based in Hagen, during World War II the company acquired a number of other factories, mostly confiscated by the Nazis from their previous owners. Among such factories were the modern Hannover plant (built in 1938), Mülhausen, Vienna and the factory in Poznań (1943), Herbst (1944). AFA's factory in Viennese borough of Schwechat was one of the sub-camps of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. The factory was destroyed by an RAF Bomber Command air raid on December 2, 1944. It provided batteries for, among others, the German U-Boats and Panzer tanks.