Don’t hesitate. Act.
This story is a legend.
It cannot be proven.
But it says a lot about the spirit that continues to shape Körber to this day.
Germany, summer 1946.
The country lies in ruins.
Borders exist not only on maps, but in everyday life.
Food is scarce. Housing too.
Under the pretext of procuring ball bearings for a reparations order, Kurt A. Körber travels west with an engineer and a secretary from his former company in Dresden.
Obtaining permission is anything but straightforward.
Interrogations.
Waiting times.
Missing approvals.
On 13 July 1946, the small group reaches Hamburg.
One day later, Körber’s entrepreneurial journey begins:
without an office,
without infrastructure,
without security.
From a public phone booth at Hamburg Dammtor station.
Here, Kurt A. Körber makes his first customer call.
Driven by a clear conviction:
not to wait until conditions are ideal,
but to act with what is available.
July 14, 1946 is later regarded as the founding date of Hanseatische Universelle.
Or simply: Hauni.
Not because everything began on that day.
But because something was decided.
