Below is the history of the German company Frowo, a manufacturer of hurricane lanterns and other types of lamps. The information on this page is largely based on the work of Hans-Werner Jehn, who maintains an extensive website dedicated to Frowo. His site is well worth a visit for more detailed information:

The history of Frowo begins in 1878, when Hermann Fröhlich founded a small family business in Beierfeld, in the Saxon Ore Mountains. It started as a tinsmith's workshop turning out sheet-metal goods of every kind, and grew steadily. In 1906 it began making hurricane lanterns, the product it is remembered for.

In 1912 the management passed to Hermann’s son Rudolf Fröhlich and his son-in-law Erich Wolter. Around this time the business adopted the name Fröhlich & Wolter.

During the First World War both Rudolf and Erich served in the German army, and Hermann resumed control of the company. Production shifted to goods required by the armed forces.

During the interwar years Frowo competed with Feuerhand, another lantern manufacturer based in Beierfeld. Feuerhand was much larger, with sales nearly ten times those of Frowo, and patent disputes over hurricane lantern designs were common. By 1937 Frowo produced 1.45 million hurricane lanterns per year and employed 269 workers.

Frowo, like every metal works in the region, was turned over to producing war supplies during the Second World War, and lantern production eventually stopped due to material shortages.

After the war Frowo had an advantage over its competitors: its facilities were intact, the machines operational and staff available. While competitors such as Feuerhand struggled to restart production, Frowo resumed manufacturing using leftover stock and scrap materials. The socialist planned economy soon caused difficulties, however. Accusations of embezzlement led to prison sentences for Rudolf Fröhlich and Erich Wolter, and the company faced ongoing struggles over resources and state interference.

In 1972 Frowo was nationalised and continued as VEB Metallwarenfabrik Beierfeld, turning increasingly to automotive parts. The year is not a coincidence: 1972 was when the GDR took over the last of its remaining private and semi-state enterprises, and thousands of family firms lost their independence in the same wave.

The works closed on 31 March 1994, ending more than a century of lantern-making in Beierfeld