Mahala Problem Cigarettes

Mahala Problem Cigarettes was a Berlin-based cigarette manufacturer and brand associated with the company officially identified as Problem oHG. It was established on March 25, 1889, by Szlama Rochmann, a Jewish cigarette manufacturer, at Alexanderstraße 13/22 in Berlin. The business developed during a period in which Berlin supported a large and increasingly sophisticated tobacco-manufacturing and advertising industry. Its product portfolio eventually included brands such as Mahala, Problem, Moslem, Element, Esquire, Ethik, Kaiserloge, Königsloge, National, Passant, Sokrates, and Trans. The company’s commercial identity was shaped substantially by advertising. Around the turn of the twentieth century, Rochmann commissioned prominent commercial artists, including Louis Oppenheim, Ernst Deutsch-Dryden, Lindenstaedt, and Lucian Bernhard. Hans Rudi Erdt created the best-known visual motif associated with Problem Cigarettes: a figure wearing a fez and presented as a Muslim or Ottoman-style character. This imagery reflected period advertising conventions and the tobacco industry’s use of exoticized visual themes to distinguish cigarette brands. After the company’s twenty-fifth anniversary, Rochmann acquired land at Greifswalder Straße 212–213 in Berlin in 1914. The site became the company’s principal manufacturing and storage location. Between 1914 and 1929, buildings for production and warehousing were developed there with the involvement of the Jewish architect Moritz Ernst Lesser and Ernst Ludwig Freud. The Rochmann family also lived at the premises, linking the factory complex to the family’s business and domestic life. Szlama Rochmann died in 1925, after which his sons Heinrich Rochmann and Carl Rochmann continued operating the business from Greifswalder Straße. The company later encountered several pressures: a poor harvest of Turkish tobacco, higher taxation connected with tobacco storage, and the economic effects of the Great Depression. The Problem Cigarettes brand was sold in 1930, followed by the sale of the wider company to the Hamburg-based Reemtsma concern in 1932. The acquisition ended the Rochmann family’s independent control. Reemtsma subsequently rented the production halls to the Reich Labour Service from 1935, and the premises were converted into sewing halls rather than continuing as the original cigarette works. The company’s history was also inseparable from the persecution of Jewish Germans under National Socialism. Heinrich Rochmann emigrated to England in 1934, while Carl Rochmann and his wife Else were deported and murdered at Auschwitz in 1942. The Rochmann family home was auctioned in 1943. Available reference material does not establish a later independent corporate existence for Mahala Problem Cigarettes, so the brand and company are treated as defunct or absorbed after the Reemtsma acquisition.

Mahala Problem Cigarettes emerged from Berlin’s Jewish tobacco-manufacturing community at the end of the nineteenth century. Szlama Rochmann founded Cigarettenmanufaktur Mahala-Problem on March 25, 1889, at Alexanderstraße 13/22, also known as Alexanderhof. The business was part of a family background in cigarette manufacturing: Rochmann’s brother Baruch had taken over the family company Namkori-Phänomen in 1881. The company expanded its identity through branding and visual promotion. At the turn of the century, Rochmann employed several recognized commercial artists, including Louis Oppenheim, Ernst Deutsch-Dryden, Lindenstaedt, and Lucian Bernhard. Hans Rudi Erdt designed the most recognizable image used for Problem Cigarettes, a fez-wearing figure that gave the brand a distinctive and memorable advertising presence. The company’s catalog included Mahala and Problem as well as Element, Esquire, Ethik, Kaiserloge, Königsloge, Moslem, National, Passant, Sokrates, and Trans. In 1914, after reaching its twenty-fifth year, the company acquired land at Greifswalder Straße 212–213 from Gustav Magnus. The site was intended to become a larger factory and storage complex. Construction and development continued over subsequent years, with the Jewish architect Moritz Ernst Lesser and Ernst Ludwig Freud involved in work carried out between 1914 and 1929. The premises served both industrial and family purposes: the Rochmann family lived in the building while cigarette production and storage took place there. Szlama Rochmann died in 1925. His sons Heinrich and Carl then assumed responsibility for the company. Their tenure coincided with increasingly difficult conditions in the tobacco and wider German economy. A poor Turkish-tobacco harvest affected supply, taxes on tobacco storage increased operating pressure, and the Great Depression weakened commercial conditions. The family first sold the Problem Cigarettes brand in 1930 and then sold the full company to Reemtsma, a Hamburg-based tobacco business, in 1932. The Reemtsma acquisition removed Mahala Problem from independent family ownership. From 1935, the former production halls were rented to the Reich Labour Service and converted into sewing halls. This change indicates that the Greifswalder Straße complex was no longer functioning as the original cigarette factory, although the available sources do not provide a complete account of the subsequent legal or commercial treatment of every Mahala Problem brand. The company’s history must also be understood in the context of Nazi persecution. Heinrich Rochmann succeeded in leaving Germany for England in 1934. Carl Rochmann and his wife Else were deported to Auschwitz and murdered in 1942. The Rochmann family residence was auctioned in 1943. Memorial and historical traces of the family remain associated with Berlin-Weißensee Jewish Cemetery, where the gravestones of Szlama Rochmann, his parents, and his brother are located. The company is not documented in the supplied sources as an independent operating business after its absorption by Reemtsma, and its current brand status is therefore treated as defunct.

• 1935

  Factory halls repurposed

  [1]Mahala Problem Cigarettesen.wikipedia.org

  The former production halls were rented to the Reich Labour Service and converted into sewing halls.

• 1932

  Company acquired by Reemtsma

  [1]Mahala Problem Cigarettesen.wikipedia.org

  Reemtsma acquired the wider Mahala Problem company.

• 1930

  Problem Cigarettes brand sold

  [1]Mahala Problem Cigarettesen.wikipedia.org

  The family sold the Problem Cigarettes brand amid supply, taxation, and Depression-era pressures.

• 1925

  Founder dies; sons assume control

  [1]Mahala Problem Cigarettesen.wikipedia.org

  Heinrich and Carl Rochmann took over management following Szlama Rochmann’s death.

• 1914

  Greifswalder Straße property acquired

  [1]Mahala Problem Cigarettesen.wikipedia.org

  Rochmann acquired the property at Greifswalder Straße 212–213 for a future manufacturing and storage complex.

• 1889

  Company founded in Berlin

  [1]Mahala Problem Cigarettesen.wikipedia.org

  Szlama Rochmann established Cigarettenmanufaktur Mahala-Problem at Alexanderstraße 13/22 in Berlin.

A historically prominent Berlin cigarette manufacturer that used distinctive illustrated packaging and advertising, including a fez-wearing character associated with Problem Cigarettes.

• Cigarettes

  Problem Cigarettes

  The best-documented flagship brand associated with the company. Problem Cigarettes used a distinctive advertising identity created by commercial artist Hans Rudi Erdt, featuring a fez-wearing figure. The brand was sold separately in 1930 before the remaining company was acquired by Reemtsma in 1932.

• Cigarettes

  Mahala

  A cigarette brand listed among the company’s portfolio. The available historical material confirms its association with Mahala Problem but does not provide detailed information about its launch date, blend, packaging, or distribution.

• Cigarettes

  Moslem

  A cigarette brand included in the company’s historical brand list. No reliable product specifications or separate chronology are provided in the available reference material.

• Cigarettes

  Element, Esquire, Ethik, Kaiserloge, Königsloge, National, Passant, Sokrates, and Trans

  These names appear in the historical list of cigarette brands associated with Mahala Problem. The supplied sources do not establish individual launch dates, formulas, market segments, or the duration of each brand’s availability.

• Illustrated Problem Cigarettes advertising

  Germany

  Mahala Problem worked with commercial artists including Louis Oppenheim, Ernst Deutsch-Dryden, Lindenstaedt, Lucian Bernhard, and Hans Rudi Erdt. Erdt’s fez-wearing character became the signature visual associated with Problem Cigarettes.

  Outcome. The advertising created a recognizable historical identity for the brand, although the available sources do not provide campaign spending, dates, or measured commercial results.

  Source

• 1932

  Sale of the company to ReemtsmaM&A

  Background

  The family faced deteriorating economic and tobacco-market conditions after the earlier disposal of the Problem Cigarettes brand.

  Action taken

  The remaining Mahala Problem company was sold to the Hamburg-based Reemtsma tobacco company.

  Aftermath

  Independent Rochmann ownership ended, and the former production halls were later repurposed rather than continuing as the original cigarette factory.

  Source

• 1930

  Sale of the Problem Cigarettes brandStrategy

  Background

  A poor Turkish-tobacco harvest, increased taxes on tobacco storage, and the onset of the Great Depression placed pressure on the family business.

  Action taken

  The Rochmann family sold the Problem Cigarettes brand.

  Aftermath

  The brand sale preceded the transfer of the wider company to Reemtsma two years later.

  Source

• 1914

  Expansion into a dedicated factory and storage complexStrategy

  Background

  After the company’s twenty-fifth anniversary, the business sought a larger purpose-built location for cigarette manufacturing and storage.

  Action taken

  Szlama Rochmann acquired the Greifswalder Straße 212–213 property, which was developed over subsequent years with involvement from Moritz Ernst Lesser and Ernst Ludwig Freud.

  Aftermath

  The site became the company’s principal manufacturing and storage address and remained associated with the Rochmann family.

  Source

1. 1Mahala Problem Cigarettesen.wikipedia.org