Founded in 1889, the family-owned company Dräger has developed over five generations into a global, listed group. Based in Lübeck, Dräger is internationally recognised for the development, production and sale of state-of-the-art devices and systems in the fields of medical and safety technology. 

The site at Lachswehrallee 14/22 was originally the location of the Lübecker Actien-Bier-Brauerei, founded in 1881. Drägerwerk acquired the former brewery building in 1937. In January 1938, Dr Heinrich Dräger suggested to the Army High Command (OKH) that the basement rooms be used to increase the production of gas protection devices for the army. However, the OKH insisted on above-ground production, acquired the site from Drägerwerk and had a production building erected, which was completed in 1941. 

Drägerwerk leased this building, in which filters and alkaline cartridges for gas protection devices were produced from then on, also using forced labourers. The outer halls were severely damaged in the air raid on Lübeck on 29 March 1942. In November 1942, Dräger acquired the Lachswehr building; it was used for many years after the war for the production of breathing lime, filters and mining self-rescuers. Today, the building houses the company archive and the historical equipment collection.