Samuel van den Bergh (6 April 1864, in

Oss OSS or Oss may refer to: Places * Oss, a city and municipality in the Netherlands * Osh Airport, IATA code OSS People with the name * Oss (surname), a surname Arts and entertainment * ''O.S.S.'' (film), a 1946 World War II spy film about ...

– 4 February 1941, in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

) was one of the main European Jewish

margarine Margarine (, also , ) is a spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The spread was or ...

and

soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are us ...

manufacturers in the early 20th century. In 1888, the year his father,

Simon van den Bergh Simon van den Bergh (October 26, 1819 in Geffen – April 6, 1907 in Rotterdam) was a Dutch businessperson who founded a margarine factory in the Netherlands. In 1888, the same year his son Samuel joined the company, he opened a factory in Klev ...

, opened his first German margarine factory in Kleve, van den Bergh joined his father's margarine company, of which he became general director in 1909 after his father's death in 1907. He was initially in fierce competition with another manufacturer from

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, named

Antonius Johannes Jurgens Antonius Johannes Jurgens, also known as Anton Jurgens (8 February 1867 – 12 March 1945) was a Dutch businessman. He was born in Oss, the grandson of Joanna Lemmens and of Antoon Jurgens, who founded a butter company in 1867 and, in 1871, the ...

, whose grandfather, Antoon Jurgens, had founded the first margarine factory in the world in 1870 in

by "using" a French patent and operated another German factory in nearby Goch. Both competitors merged in 1927 to form the Margarine Unie in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

(which would merge in 1930 with

Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making p ...

to form

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

References

Further reading