Carl Bitz

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Carl Bitz (also: Karl , born January 11, 1887 in Basel ; † February 20, 1966 ) was a Swiss diplomat ( consul ), entrepreneur and inventor .

Education and employment

Carl Bitz completed an apprenticeship as an electrical mechanic and in 1909 the cantonal technical center in Burgdorf . He then worked for a textile dye factory in Basel. He emigrated to the USA and worked for a company in Milwaukee ( Wisconsin ) in the production of electrical control equipment. In spring 1914 he returned to Europe and in January 1915 provisionally took over the technical management of Elektra Bregenz , which also manufactured armaments. In 1916 he became the permanent manager of Elektra Bregenz and was responsible for a further 16 munitions factories in Vorarlberg.

Activity as a consul

Carl Bitz became honorary consul on March 17, 1939 and was consul from November 5, 1946 to 1952 (on March 17, 1939 the previous consular agency in Bregenz was converted into a consulate). From 1954 to 1961 Carl Lutz ( Righteous Among the Nations ) was his successor as the Swiss consul in Bregenz .

In 1939, Bitz himself is said to have aroused the suspicion of the Swiss immigration police because, in their opinion, he had issued too many visas. At the end of the war, Carl Bitz had negotiated with the Swiss border authorities regarding the entry of Jews into Switzerland: About 10,000 forced laborers and prisoners of war gathered on the Vorarlberg side of the Rhine. You can be deported to Switzerland in the last days of April and first May of 1945, i.e. immediately before and after the liberation from Nazi rule. Many Vorarlbergers feel extremely relieved by this, as they feared riots and looting of the people who were previously held as work slaves. The Swiss consul Carl Bitz organized the deportation without complaint. He actively helps in the removal of this now feared and previously despised mass of people - and thus in the disposal of a piece of Nazi past that will soon be forgotten by many.

Relationship with Ernest Prodolliet

Ernest Prodolliet ( Righteous Among the Nations ) worked from April 1938 to April 1939 as an official in the consular agency under the direction of Carl Bitz. As head of the consulate in Bregenz, Carl Bitz disagreed with Ernest Prodolliet's activities to save Jews and asked the superior authorities in Bern to remove him.

Entrepreneur

Carl Bitz went into business for himself in 1927 and had a shop for portable electrical measuring instruments on Römerstrasse in Bregenz and later in Vienna at Johannesgasse 14.

inventor

Carl Bitz has applied for several patents. So z. B. for an electric oven (Austrian patent AT 82818) and a watch stand (Austrian patent AT 109306 and 111055). No patent application could be found in Austria or Switzerland for a watercraft ( water car ) designed by him in 1917 and presented to the public .

Honors

Trivia

For years, Carl Bitz was also President of the Swiss Association in Vorarlberg.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Willi Rupp in: Das Bregenz "Wasserauto" , vol.at of December 27, 2017.
  2. ↑ See document r1084 in the database Dodis the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland .
  3. ↑ Carl Lutz in the database Dodis the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland .
  4. ↑ Stefan Keller , Grüninger's Fall: Stories of Flight and Help , Zurich 2013, 5th edition, Rotpunktverlag, ISBN 978-3-85869-603-8 , chapter 5.
  5. ↑ Meinrad Pichler , National Socialism in Vorarlberg: victims. Perpetrator. Opponent , Studien Verlag, ISBN 978-3-7065-5719-1 .
  6. ^ Ernest Prodolliet in the Dodis database of Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland .
  7. ↑ Simone Prodolliet in: It was a matter of course that I had to act. There was no official channel. , Pp. 86, 90f.
  8. ↑ Jörg Krummenacher-Schöll, fleeing happiness: the refugees in the border canton of St. Gallen at the time of National Socialism , Zurich 2005, Limmat Verlag, ISBN 978-3-85791-480-5 , p. 163 f.
  9. ↑ Reinhard Mittersteiner: Force fields: Electricity shapes a century; 100 years of VKW , Bregenz 2001, Russ Verlag, p. 223.
  10. ↑ Manufacturer - Information and History Bitz, Karl, Ing .; Vienna, Bregenz , Radiomuseum.org, last accessed on February 20, 2018.
  11. ↑ See list: EspaceNet patent database , search terms : Carl Bitz, last accessed on February 25, 2018.
  12. ↑ Other communication in: Willi Rupp in: Das Bregenz “Wasserauto” , vol.at of December 27, 2017.
  13. ↑ Willi Rupp in: Das Bregenz "Wasserauto" , vol.at of December 27, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Bitz, Carl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bitz, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss diplomat (consul), entrepreneur and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH January 11, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Basel
DATE OF DEATH February 20, 1966