Poul Møller was an active businessman in Skive with roles in roofing felt and cork production, was also an active resistance fighter and after the war was CEO of Gyro.
His background
Poul Møller was born in Horsens on September 3, 1901. He was trained as a merchant in Horsens Trælasthandel. He quickly advanced to manager and continued as such at Johan Andersens Tømmerhandel in Vejle.
at the age of 25, he went to Argentina, where he worked for three years in a variety of jobs, including at various companies working with building materials.
After returning home and a short stay in Kalundborg, Poul Møller came to Skive, where he worked for Consul Aagaard Nielsen for three years.
Skivehus Asfalt- og Tagpapfabrik
The factory was founded in 1905 by manufacturer B. N. Schou together with P. Odgaard, Ny Skivehus. When P. Odgaard died in 1910, Schou took over the entire factory.
Schou was the grandson of Bertel Nørgård, Krejbjerg, who had been the Skive district’s first democratically elected Member of Parliament. He was originally a farmer but traveled to Germany and became involved in the production of roofing felt, tar and asphalt products. B. N. Schou died at the age of 66 in 1926. his son Aksel Schou, who was trained as a factory engineer specializing in tar distillation and had joined the company in 1923, took over after his father’s death.
In addition to asphalt and tar products – where part of the production was used for coating flat roofs – they had developed cork insulation boards for use in dairy, slaughterhouse and bakery companies, but gradually also for use in private homes.
Skivehus Cork Factory
On January 1, 1933, Poul Møller became co-owner of Skivehus Asfalt- og Tagpapfabrik (corner of Godthåbsvej/ Odgårdsvej) and on August 1, 1934, Michael Pedersen joined the company (the latter left after the war for health reasons). This was followed by an expansion of the company with the construction of a two-story functional building on Godthåbsvej designed by Hans Toft-Hansen.
From around 1940, the company focused its production on the manufacture of cork parquet / cork insulation under the company name Skivehus Korkfabrik. After the war, the cork factory developed a plastic-coated cork floor covering Isoket Plast-o-kork. Isoket got premises in the old refugee barracks on Jegstrupvej.
In 1973, turnover was declining and the factory went into receivership and was taken over by the bank. Shortly after, the factory buildings and the 7-acre plot of land were taken over by neighboring Dantherm.
Production at Godthåbsvej closed in the late 1960s. In the mid-1980s, the buildings were demolished to make way for the construction of a number of cooperative housing units. The site became known as the “tar site” and only after years of tug-of-war between the state, county and municipality, seller and buyer was a solution found with a partial cleanup of the site, paid for by the public sector. Today, the former industrial site has been developed with terraced houses.
Gyro and other board positions
Poul Møller was Managing Director of Gyro for a number of years. In 1946, Jernstøberiet lost the young director Mads Gad without warning. Hofjægermester Torben Foss became the new CEO and Poul Møller, who was Gad’s close friend from the resistance, was appointed to Gyro’s board. In 1952, Torben Foss died. Poul Møller and Einar Foss were then appointed as directors. Poul Møller and Niels Kirk were responsible for the day-to-day management. Poul Møller was director until 1966.
Poul Møller was chairman of Skive Diskontobank during the reconstruction and a board member of Sallingsund Færgefart.
The resistance movement
Poul Møller’s name is inextricably linked to the resistance movement. He was first a city leader in Skive, but had to go underground and came to Randers as city leader. During a street raid here in October 1944, he was arrested by the Gestapo and was first imprisoned in Aarhus and later transferred to Frøslev on 29-12-1944. On 16-2-1945 he was sent on to Neuengamme and finally Dachau. He got out with the White Buses and later to Skive in the first days of May 1945.
In the years after the war, Poul Møller’s health was affected by the consequences of his stay in the concentration camp. He died after a long illness on July 23, 1974.
Sources :
- Skivebogen 1991, Et industrieventyr i Skive, about the farmer and industrialist Per Odgård, by Niels Mortensen, city archivist Skive
- Skivebogen 1994, Sagaen om Skive Jernstøberi Second part – continued from Skivebogen 1993, by Olav Jensen, former bookkeeper at Skive Jernstøberi
- Skive Folkeblad September 2, 1971
- Skive Folkeblad July 24, 1974