History
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The Gerlich name was the oldest and the best-known name in the town of Odry. The Gerlich family of entrepreneurs - businessmen and textile merchants – came to the area from the town of Svitavy. In the year of 1600, Georg Göerlich was born there, who with his son Menzel begun a family history in the town of Odry that lasted for nearly 300 years.

Josef Johann Gerlich (b. 3/19/1744, d. 4/13/1815), a drapery manufacturer and salesman, was the founder of company Josef Gerlich. The company provided the people from Odry and surrounding areas with work for 150 years. During that time the company was run by family members with varying levels of success.

The factory burned down twice, once in 1865 and once in 1934. Both times it was rebuilt and production re-started with updated machinery. However, the fire in 1934 did some permanent damage to the building, so the second floor was removed and the factory footprint was reduced by two thirds.

At the end of the thirties, the climate was already clouded by the coming war. The Second World War and the expulsion of the German-speaking inhabitants from this area destroyed almost all of the local business, property and human relationships. The members of the Gerlich family were affected by this tragic period. Many of the family members have been laid to rest at town cemetery and name Gerlich has become a local symbol of unjust treatment received by town’s inhabitants in recent history, irrespective of their nationality or social standing.

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And now

The history of contemporary company GERLICH ODRY s.r.o. is brief.

The company was founded in 1999 by Dana and Zdenek Mateiciuc, who decided to bring back the name Gerlich to town of Odry’s quaint valley, to commemorate the people who had lived and worked there and bring back their spirit and ideas.

The main goal of the company is to provide work for disabled people, people with health problems, and for the handicapped. Without our company, these people’s chances of finding work in Northern Moravia would be even slimmer.

Our idea met with success, so today our protected workshop GERLICH ODRY s.r.o. employ