In 1904 Odeon launched the first double-sided gramophone records. It became a subsidiary of the Carl Lindstrom Company which also owned Beka Records, Parlophone and Fonotipia. Lindstrom was acquired by the English Columbia Graphophone Company in 1926. In 1931 Columbia merged with Electrola, HMV and other labels to form EMI. In 1936 the director of the Odeon branch was forced to retire and replaced by Dr Kepler, a Nazi party member. In 1939 Odeon and Electrola were placed under a Nazi-appointed administrator. When the SovietRed army occupied Berlin in 1945 it destroyed most of the Odeon factory. After 1945 Odeon continued to be used as a label for pressings made for West Africa. In Spain, Argentina and Brazil the label survived as an EMI subsidiary until the end of the LP era, mid 1980s, when it finally disappeared altogether.
