Founded in 1924 in
Berlin as "Ideal," the company was acquired by
Robert Bosch AG in 1933. In 1938 it changed its name to "Blaupunkt", German for "blue point" or "blue dot", after the blue dot painted onto its
headphones that had passed
quality control. In 1939, Blaupunkt employed 2,600 people. With the outbreak of World War II, the radio and television technology business was largely replaced by armaments contracts from the Wehrmacht. In addition to the continued production of civilian devices, Blaupunkt, in cooperation with the Berlin-based Bosch subsidiary Fernseh AG, developed and produced, among other things, the targeting camera for the Henschel Hs 293 D glide bomb and components for guided missiles. Blaupunkt manufactured radio receivers in small numbers in several major German cities and in Vienna. After the destruction of the Wilmersdorf production hall on March 1, 1943, by a British air raid, the majority of production was relocated to Reichenberg (then "Reichsgau Sudetenland"), Berlin-Treptow (East Berlin), and other locations. Toward the end of the war, all of these sites were occupied by the Red Army and subsequently placed under the administration of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) as part of war reparations. In 1944, Blaupunkt employed a total of 4,100 people. In Küstrin, under the cover name "Udo-Werke GmbH" (named after Udo Werr, an employee of Blaupunkt managing director Paul Goerz), the production of Blaupunkt Corfu radar observation devices had been established. Since the Red Army's Vistula-Oder Offensive also targeted the Küstrin region, the factory was relocated in January 1945 to "Trillke-Werke GmbH" (see also Neuhof - ELFI/Trillke-Werk), located in the Hildesheim Forest. This company was a Bosch subsidiary established in the late 1930s as part of the Wehrmacht's rearmament program. According to the American Jewish Committee, the company employed forced laborers during the Nazi era. Workshops for electronic components were set up in the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in 1944, probably starting in June. Capacitors were soldered there. After
World War II, Blaupunkt moved its headquarters and production to
Hildesheim. Blaupunkt took over a former
Philips/
Grundig factory in
Portugal to produce
automotive head units. It is still owned and operated by Bosch, used exclusively to make
OEM units for car manufacturers and 24V (e.g., Coach) AV equipment. Later, factories were set up in
Tunisia (speakers) and
Malaysia (speakers and electronics). In 1949, Blaupunkt advertised the first
FM-capable car radio. By the 1960 and 1970s, Blaupunkt had become one of the leading German manufacturers of car radios and car audio equipment. In 1983, it began selling an in-dash
CD player. After the 2011 take-over, Blaupunkt became a managed brand name, with all production outsourced to
China. ==Products==