Germany's largest ceramics group, Villeroy & Boch, was created in 1836 from the merger of the Boch company, founded in 1748 in Audun-le-Tiche, with headquarters in Septfontaines (1767) and an earthenware factory in Mettlach (1809), with the Villeroy company, founded in 1789 in Wallerfangen. This group of companies divided into the following, centrally controlled factories: Steingutfabrik Septfontaines (Luxembourg, 1767) (earthenware factory), Steingutfabrik Wallerfangen (1790-1931), Steingutfabrik Mettlach (1809), Cristallerie Wadgassen (1843) (crystal factory), Steingutfabrik Dresden (1856-1945), Mosaikfabrik Mettlach (1869) [mosaic factory], Steinzug- und Terrakottafabrik Merzig (1879) (pottery and terracotta factory), Steingut- und Majolicafabrik Schramberg (1883-1912) (pottery and majolica factory), Wandplattenfabrik Luebeck-Dänischburg (1906) (wall tile factory), Mosaikfabrik Deutsch-Lissa near Breslau (1920-1945), the former Franz Anton Mehlem earthenware factory in Bonn (1920-1931) and Steingutfabrik Torgau (1926-1945). Following the First World War, from 1923 to 1935, when the Saarland was economically integrated into France, the factories in Germany were joined together into a joint-stock company with headquarters in Dresden. After 1935, the joint-stock company was dissolved. All of the factories were once again controlled by the General Management in Mettlach. In 1945, the Dresden, Torgau, and Deutsch-Lissa plants were expropriated. In 1930, Villeroy & Boch employed around 10,000 people.