75 Years of LEKI

KARL FOUNDED THE KARL LENHART WOOD TURNING COMPANY IN 1948

1948 LEKI IS BORN

Karl Lenhart was born in the tiny village of Konradsgrün in what is today the Western part of the Czech Republic. Like many Sudeten Germans, Karl Lenhart and his family where refugees from Czech Bohemia after World War II. They left their home with nothing and needed to start from scratch. Karl settled in the small village of Kirchheim unter Teck at the foot of the Swabian Alb. A long hilly ridge with a steep 500m climb – not quite a mountain, but enough for skiing. The educated aircraft manufacturer spent his first night in a glider hangar in Dettingen near Kirchheim. He was quick to make

friends among the pilots helping him to arrive at his new home. Karl had little to start from, but he was a relent- less craftsman and innovator, starting his business for wood-carved company signs in 1948 using his skills as an aircraft builder familiar with precise machinery. The first machine was set up in the barn behind the house of his parents in law. In 1947 he had married Gertrud Frosch, who gave birth to their children Rainer, Siegrid and Klaus. The young man started as a stranger but soon would make a name for himself and the town of Kirchheim.

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