Telegrafia Engels

was founded on October 18th, 1919. 60% of the shares were state owned; the other 40% remained in the company. The first factory was situated in Roztoky, near Prague. The increasing demand for equipment for the postal services and private customers, lead to the management decision to take over a number of small suppliers. Further growth in the field of telecommunication, resulting in an increasing amount of export to other European countries, forced the company to look at other locations in order to expand business. They also had to look for new homes for the growing amount of workers. In 1922 they found a new location: the unfinished Zeisl shoe factory in the city of Pardubice, ca. 130 km east of Prague. This factory was adapted and finished between 1922 and 1923. 323 Workers found a job there. The parent company near Prague employed 488 persons in the same period. In spite of the increasing growth in the telephone market, the company decided to focus on the production of radios as well. In 1923 the first models were introduced under the brand name "Radiola". The economic crisis in the thirties slowed down the company's output and development for some years; after that Telegrafia flourished. Every year a number of new models were introduced. During the Second World War, Telegrafia was forced to work for the Germans.