The foundation stone of the Gebrüder Wirgin camera factory in Wiesbaden was laid on September 1, 1920 by the four brothers Heinrich, Max, Josef and Wolf Wirgin. The Jewish family had come to Germany from Radon in Poland.

Initially based at Schiersteiner Straße 9 as a precision engineering workshop with sales, they manufactured almost everything themselves from 1924 onwards - starting with the wooden case. Their own pre-war productions were the "Philos" (1924) and "Metadux" moving-bed plate cameras and the "Gewirette" and "Gewir" roll-film cameras. The expanding factory soon moved to Dotzheimer Straße 172.

By the end of the 1920s, the company was well established. The company divisions were divided between the brothers: Heinrich, as a businessman, was responsible for the overall development of the company, Josef was responsible for technical development and Wolf for accounting and finance. With a doctorate and a talent for languages, Max took care of correspondence, processing and exports. He built up the foreign market, especially the American market. In 1933, exports accounted for 85% of sales.

After the National Socialists came to power, the economic restrictions became increasingly threatening to the existence of the Jewish company, and in 1938 the Wirgin camera factory was forcibly sold. Finally, the company Adox Fotowerke of Dr. Carl Schleussner, Frankfurt am Main, took over Wirgin Kamerawerke for 22,000 RM, including inventory, land and 80 of the 100 employees. His father and brothers had already been deported when Heinrich Wirgin (1899-1989) fled to the USA in 1938 with the help of his employee Seppl Haas. After the end of the war, he returned to Wiesbaden and dared to rebuild the company despite the destroyed infrastructure, shortage of materials and mandatory levies to the Allies.

The retransfer was amicable, a settlement was reached and the company was re-entered in the commercial register in 1948. In 1948, Wirgin's future chief designer Heinz Waaske (1924-1995), a highly talented precision mechanic and market-oriented employee with an inventive spirit, developed the company's most successful models. In 1955, the company took off with the "Edixa-Reflex", the first 35mm SLR camera manufactured in West Germany, which was a great success. The company expanded and soon employed over 300 people. Exports to numerous countries in and outside Europe brought very good sales results.

However, since Japanese competitors entered the market in the mid-1960s, Wirgin's models and those of many other German manufacturers appeared to be outdated and too expensive for consumers. In 1968, the company had to file for bankruptcy and was transformed into Edixa GmbH, which continued production but was no longer able to save the company. The new Edixa-Electronica TL model from 1970 came onto the market too late and was not fully developed. Production was discontinued in 1971 and the Edixa brand name was sold to a photo importer in 1988. The cameras sold under this name since then have come from the Far East.

Heinrich (Henry) Wirgin, who was involved in the Jewish community in Wiesbaden and supported eastern Jewish immigrants, was buried in the North Cemetery.