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Jürgen Brodersen, a descendant of the West Indies sailors Asmus, Behrend and Nis Brodersen, became a merchant. In 1867, he acquired the colonial goods business H.P. Schmidt in Flensburg from his former master. The business, which was founded in 1779, was situated at Angelburger Strasse 28 – formerly known as “Indigo-Hof”.
From then on, the firm’s name was “J. Brodersen, Flensburg, colonial goods wholesale, coffee roasting and rum import”.
Jürgen Brodersen was the President of the Flensburg Handelsverein for nearly 20 years. He did after all run one of the most important businesses in the city.

His son Franz Nis Brodersen later expanded the firm, adding a tobacco factory, a paraffin warehouse and a brandy distillery. The goods were processed, refined and sold in Flensburg.  The last direct cargo of raw sugar brought by a sailing ship from the Caribbean arrived in 1895 for the business. In 1929, J. Brodersen was forced to close its gates, as its main sales region in Northern Schleswig had become part of Denmark after the referendum of 1920.

The house in the Angelburger Strasse was demolished in 1973 and the C&A department store was built on the site.

The name “Indigo-Hof”
The prices for the dark blue dye indigo fluctuated enormously. It was said that one West Indies sailor was able to store a large cargo of this dye and later sell it at a profit. He used the profit to build the house at Angelburger Strasse 28.