When the Second World War ends, Dr Christian Rosenthal is barely 25 years old. Thanks to his knowledge of English, he interprets for the US military police. This creates contacts. At the beginning of February 1946, he becomes a trustee of the "Chemische Werke Otto Bärlocher". It is a provisional arrangement. But he stays and, eager to experiment, creates the basis for the present. Early on, he sees the beginning plastics boom as a great opportunity - and seizes it. Today we know: It is a perfect match.

Beginnings
Rosenthal originally wants to become a lawyer. Branded a "half-Jew" by the Nazi regime, he instead finishes his doctorate in chemistry thanks to the support of his doctoral supervisor. In 1944 he experiences malnutrition and exploitation in a labour camp. These traumatic experiences do not rob him of his willpower. The factory he finds in Munich in 1946 is not in good condition. Equipped with a keen sense of the needs of the post-war period, he pulls out all the stops with the detergent "Bärlo-FLOK", for instance. Detergents area sought-after commodity back then. The cleaning agent "Tel" is a great success. Rosenthal works in the laboratory himself, alongside his employees and applies for numerous patents. For reasons of profitability, he decides to expand metal soap production for industrial customers at the beginning of the 1950s. This soon accounts for two thirds of the turnover. This makes him one of the pioneers in Europe. At the same time, the company is also a wholesaler for chemicals of all kinds, producing technical acids and ammonia.

Christian Rosenthal wants to create something new and is extensively inspired to do so. Probably through reports from US magazines about plastics, he comes up with a brilliant idea and starts producing individual and basic stabilizers under license. For certain product properties, manufacturers need process and functional additives -for PVC, for example, metal stearates. From then on, a large application technology is responsible for meeting the needs of the customers. From 1963 onwards, Baerlocher offers additive ready-mixes: Master Compounds. A groundbreaking success for Baerlocher.

Rosenthal not only has an instinct for profitability and innovation. He also successively takes over the majority of the shares in the "Chemische Werke" until 1962. The remaining shares soon belong entirely to Degussa. They want to take over completely, but Rosenthal does not give in. Nevertheless, they work closely together and establish their first joint venture in Brazil in 1973. It is the first Baerlocher production site outside Europe, where Rosenthal has been setting course for foreign markets since the 1950s. From the 1970s onwards, this is also done through the licensing business. The product portfolio is still broad, too broad. Two major divisions emerge to the forefront: Metallic soaps and stabilizers. They dominate turnover and day-to-day business - and still form the core of the two central business areas today.

As an entrepreneur and a person, Christian Rosenthal loves the grand entrance, fast cars, cross-country skiing, the sea- just as “to the point”-formulations. He works hard and constantly. He has the charm of an actor, the aura of a big game hunter. His trophies: Products. But his big-boy, sometimes blunt style also leads to tensions. Even the more so when initiatives in Munich in the early 1970s begin to protest against the processing of heavy metals. Rosenthal goes in search of a new production site. Repeatedly there is resistance, to which he sometimes reacts harshly. A left-wing extremist organization even threatens to kidnap him, as he tells the news magazine Der Spiegel at the time. When a site is finally found in Lingen in northern Germany, he reaches another triumph: Rosenthal has one of the most modern stabilizer factories of its time built there, which is to undercut legal limits many times over. At the same time, he lays the foundation for the next generation when he brings his son Michael into the company at the end of the 1970s.

They do not work side by side for long. Christian Rosenthal dies unexpectedly on 20 October 1980 and the "Bärlocher Report" is shocked to report: "The boss is dead! His merit could not be greater. In 35 years, he had turned a struggling chemical factory into a market leader in the metal soap and plastic additives business, built up the "Bärlocher" brand and ventured abroad. His sudden absence is unsettling, but the foundation he laid still stands today. Dr Michael Rosenthal builds on this when he takes the helm in 1980.