The early years
		Hans Riegel is born on 3 April in Friesdorf near Bonn, the son of Peter and Agnes Riegel. After leaving school, Hans Riegel trains as a confectioner and works for more than five years for Kleutgen & Meier. Further stages in his career include jobs at production plants in Neuss and Osnabrück. After the end of the First World War, Heinen, a company based in the Kessenich district of Bonn, is looking for a confectioner, and Hans Riegel becomes a partner in the business. The company name is changed to Heinen & Riegel.

Hans Riegel goes his own way. On 13.12.1920, the firm of HARIBO is entered in the Bonn Commercial Register. Hans Riegel acquires a house in Bergstraße in Kessenich, where he sets up his first production plant.

		Hans Riegel marries Gertrud, who becomes his first co-worker in his young firm.

Hans Riegel invents the “Dancing Bear”, the figure of a bear made from fruit gum, which later becomes world-famous as the HARIBO Goldbear.

In 1923 HARIBO acquires its first car. Until then, Hans’s wife and colleague Gertrud had delivered each day’s batch of sweets by bicycle.

The Riegels’ son Hans is born, followed in 1924 by their daughter Anita and in 1926 by their son Paul.