Nordmende

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Nordmende was a manufacturer of entertainment electronics based in Bremen, Germany.

The original company, "Radio H. Mende & Co" was founded in 1923 by Otto Hermann Mende (1885-1940) in Dresden. Following the destruction of the plant during the bombing raids in 1945, Martin Mende (the founder's son) created, in 1947, a new company in Bremen, in a former Focke Wulf plant under the name "North German Mende Broadcast GmbH". The name was subsequently changed to Nordmende and was, in the 1950s and 1960's, one of the prominent German manufacturers of radios, televisions, tape recorders and record players.

In the 1970s Nordmende televisions were renowned for their innovative chassis, and for the rigorous testing and quality control of their finished products. Both created high costs, however, which soon proved a competitive disadvantage when the price of colour televisions began to plunge.

In 1969, Mende's sons took over the company and in 1977 a majority shareholding was sold to the French Thomson Brandt company. Only one year later the family sold their remaining shares to Thomson Brandt. In the 80's-years the works in Bremen were closed and Nordmende became purely a Thomson trademark.

In the 1990s the name Nordmende was used less and less frequently, eventually disappearing in favour of the Thomson name.

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