The Rybnik Jewish birth records contain an entry for Hirsh born on 29.11.1836 to Jacob Mueller and his wife Karoline geb. Barber; Rybnik museum staff confirm that Hermann was born in 1836 and had the Jewish name Hirsch. His death certificate confirms his parents and that he died in 1919 aged 82 years, so he was born in 1836-37. Hermann lived, and died, in Rybnik at Zamkowa 3.

Sources tell of the founding of commercial large-scale brewing in Rybnik when Ludwig Mueller (presumably Hermann's uncle Louis) bought the Zamkovy (Castle) brewery in 1854. The Mueller family went on to own three breweries in Rybnik. His grandfather Jacob was also described as a brewery owner by 1849.

Hermann Mueller founded his brewery business in 1865; it traded as Dampfbierbrauerei Hermann Müller until 1920 when, following Hermann's death, it changed its name to Rybniker Brauerei, vorm.Hermann Müller GmbH.





From Hermann, the brewery passed to his son Siegfried. Following his death, it was owned by shareholders, many of whom were family members. My grandmother, Kaethe Danziger geb. Halberstaedter, wrote of Siegfried: "Inhaber der Brauerei. Vermacht die Aktien der Brauerei der Familie" ("Owner of the brewery. Bequeathed the shares of the brewery to the family").

My great grandmother, Martha Halberstaedter geb. Borinski, had a 1/40 share in the brewery in 1936 which passed to her on the death of her husband Georg, a cousin of Siefried Mueller. Along with Georg's brothers Ernst and Ludwig and their father Herrmann, the Halberstaedter family owned 10% of the brewery's shares.





After WWII the business was nationalised; later it was privatised and continued to operate at ul. Chrobrego, 1 until 2004. One of its last pale lagers was named Hermann Mueller after its founder.

In the early 2000s the brewery was demolished to make way for a "Focus Park" development. The base of the brewery chimney was retained and a part of the "Focus Park" construction has been built to resemble the brewery building.