The Hamburg-based company Beiersdorf has produced many successful brands alongside the "Crème de la Crème" NIVEA. However, it is hardly known beyond current stock market reports. It is actually remarkable that this internationally oriented company was able to survive two world wars and National Socialism, and develop into a global player in the Federal Republic of Germany. It all began with a bandage. Pharmacist Paul Beiersdorf laid the foundation for what is now Beiersdorf AG in 1882. His successor, Oscar Troplowitz, expanded the small factory into an internationally operating brand company, which generated a large portion of its profits in the USA before World War I. Then, the US business was confiscated due to the war; Beiersdorf had to start anew internationally. In 1933, the board attempted to save the "Jewish" company through "self-arisation.".