Albrecht Count von Goertz

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Albrecht Graf von Schlitz called von Görtz and von Wrisberg (born January 12, 1914 on the manor Brunkensen / Alfeld (Leine) ; † October 27, 2006 in Kitzbühel ) was a German designer .

Life

BMW 507 - the most famous model by the designer Albrecht Graf Görtz

Görtz was the second of three children of Count Rudolf Johann von Schlitz , called von Görtz, (1884-1933) and his wife Elsa Meyer (born March 4, 1882-1968). His mother was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto in 1944 . His older brother Eberhard died in 1951 at the age of 40.

After completing his school career, he began an apprenticeship at Deutsche Bank in Hamburg in 1933, but moved to London in 1935 at the private bank Helbert Wagg & Company. In 1936 he went to the USA and finally arranged his life in Los Angeles , where he assembled aircraft engines , washed cars, tuned Ford models and thus finally lived out his design talent on the then new hot rods . He created his first own car, called the Paragon , and was given the opportunity to exhibit this vehicle at the 1939 World's Fair in San Francisco .

Instead of achieving the breakthrough, he was drafted into the army in 1940. During this time he married his first wife Luli von Bodenhausen (1902–1951), from whom he divorced in 1942. After the war , he temporarily accepted Marion Countess Dönhoff as a refugee on his parents' estate, Brunkensen. He went to New York , where he met Raymond Loewy . Loewy hired Goertz for Studebaker . In 1953 Goertz went into business for himself, came into contact with BMW and received orders to develop the BMW 503 and BMW 507 , which were presented at the IAA in 1955 . In 1957 he married Susanne Nettel, born in 1925, with whom he had their son Peter Joseph, born in 1959.

From 1962 to 1965 he worked for the Japanese manufacturer Nissan on the first Silvia series, among other things . In the further course of his career he also designed other objects such as radios, sportswear, kitchen equipment and school furniture; his last work was an anniversary grand piano for Steinway & Sons .

In 1996 he was awarded honorary membership of the German Designer Club .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see also the diplomat and uncle Richard Meyer
  2. ^ Melina Aulinger, Walter Drawer: You've got to be lucky. ( Memento from October 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Mobile Tradition live , June 2004, pp. 10–17 ( PDF , 1.25 MB).
  3. ^ Julian von Heyl: Albrecht Graf Goertz. In: text42.de , November 12, 2006.
  4. ↑ Paolo Tumminelli, Car Design, teNeues 2004 ISBN 3-8238-4561-6 p. 385.
  5. ^ A b Jürgen Pander: Bird of Paradise as savior for BMW. In: Spiegel Online , January 22, 2011.
  6. ^ German Designer Club: Honorary Members ( Memento from August 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 10, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Goertz, Albrecht Graf von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schlitz von Görtz and von Wrisberg, Albrecht Graf von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German designer
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Brunkensen
DATE OF DEATH October 27, 2006
Place of death Kitzbühel