Hamburg, 1964: High post-operative infection rates prompt the assistant doctor and future professor Peter Kalmár, together with Rolf Steinhagen of BODE Chemie, the HARTMANN GROUP's manufacturing company, to develop a suitable hand disinfectant for surgeons. Thus, the recipe for success of Sterillium® was born, which combines excellent skin compatibility and effective hand hygiene. Bright blue like the river Elbe, Sterillium® is still a reliable brand that people rightly trust: Every year, about 4 billion hand disinfections are performed with the Sterillium® range of products.