Erich Schatzki

Erich Schatzki (born January 23, 1898 in Klafeld ; † August 28, 1991 in Palo Alto ) was a German aircraft designer employed by Junkers , Lufthansa and Fokker, among others .

Life

Erich Schatzki was one of five sons of the graduate engineer Ferdinand Schatzki (1857–1910), who worked as chief engineer at Siegener Verzinkerei AG in Klafeld-Geisweid, and his wife Beate geb. Star from Schmallenberg . His brothers were the textile manufacturer Herbert Schatzki, the bookseller and antiquarian Walter Schatzki , the radiologist Richard Schatzki (1901–1992) and the doctor Paul Schatzki. The family later moved to the neighboring village of Weidenau . Erich Schatzki attended the Siegen grammar school and completed an engineering degree.

From his first marriage, Bertha Schatzki died in 1969, they had a son and a daughter. The family lived at Hohenzollerndamm 142 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf until 1934 . Erich Schatzki later married twice, most recently the artist Hedda Oppenheim .

German aviation industry

Fokker D.XXI in the Soesterberg Museum

Replica of the Fokker G.IA in Soesterberg

USAAF P-47B

After the First World War , Erich Schatzki first worked at Junkers from 1924 and in 1926 switched to the newly founded Luft Hansa as a pilot and test pilot . With his rise to the position of technical director in 1929, he shaped the aircraft development at the aviation company, so the further development of the single-engine Junkers Ju 52 / 1m cargo aircraft to the three-engine Junkers Ju 52 / 3m airliner is mainly due to him. In 1929 Erich Schatzki also completed his doctorate at the Technical University of Berlin . The title of his dissertation was engine protection through throttling .

exile

Soon after power was handed over to the National Socialists on January 30, 1933, Lufthansa took Erich Schatzki on leave because of his Jewish origins. In May 1933 he traveled to the USA on behalf of Swissair to follow developments in aircraft construction and to enable the purchase of machines. During the one-year stay he worked in a similar way for the Reich Ministry of Aviation . Erich Schatzki technically inspected three Boeing aircraft acquired through Lufthansa for study purposes .

Hopes of employment in US aviation were dashed and so Erich Schatzki took over the position of chief designer at the Fokker Flugzeugwerke in Amsterdam in May 1934 . For this he left Berlin with his family. After the time at Fokker, there a. a. responsible for the design of the D.XXI and Fokker GI , he hired Sytse Frederick Willem Koolhoven .

When the Netherlands was conquered by the Germans in 1940, he was busy with machines for the tobacco industry. The Lufthansa director Carl August von Gablenz visited Erich Schatzki and warned him again of the acute danger of the persecution of the Jews . He and his family fled to the United States via France and Spain in June 1941. There he found a job with the Republic Aviation Company and was e.g. Partly responsible for the Republic P-47 . In addition to his work in the aviation industry, he held various chairs at US universities after the Second World War . His brothers also survived the Holocaust by emigrating .

In 1949 and 1958 to 1962 he worked for the Israeli Air Force , and from 1970 he worked for El Al . He later returned to the USA.

Honor

Since September 1996, the "Erich-Schatzki-Weg" has been a reminder of him on the Lufthansa site in Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel . In 2011, his son traveled from the USA, looked at the street named after his father and had discussions with senior Lufthansa employees.

Film documentaries

Christoph Weber: To fly means to win - The suppressed history of Deutsche Lufthansa , 50 min., D, WDR-ARTE, 2010

literature

Walter Tetzlaff: 2000 short biographies of important German Jews of the 20th century. 1st edition. Askania-Verlag, Lindhorst 1982, ISBN 3-921730-10-4 . P. 293.

Web links

Erich-Schatzki-Weg, a street name against oblivion ... (last accessed on November 2, 2012)
Fokker TV (last accessed November 2, 2012)

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Memories of the Geisweider Jews. In: NS memorials NRW. Working group of Nazi memorials and places of remembrance in NRW e. V., February 1, 2011, archived from the original on September 14, 2012 ; accessed on January 15, 2014 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Astrid Venn: Erich Schatzki. Technical director of Luft Hansa and aircraft designer. In: German Museum of Technology Berlin. No. 1/2013, friends and sponsors of the German Museum of Technology Berlin e. V., Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin , ISSN 1869-1358 , pp. 40–41.
↑ Erich Schatzki: Engine protection through throttles. In: Catalog of the German National Library. German National Library , 1929, accessed on January 15, 2013 .
^ Walter Tetzlaff: 2000 short biographies of important German Jews of the 20th century. 1st edition. Askania-Verlag, Lindhorst 1982, ISBN 3-921730-10-4 . P. 293.
^ Karl Morgenstern: Memory of an aviation pioneer. Street reminds of Lufthansa veteran Erich Schatzki, who died 20 years ago. In: The world . Axel Springer AG , August 20, 2011, accessed on January 14, 2013 .

personal data
SURNAME	Schatzki, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German aircraft designer, employed by Junkers, Lufthansa and Fokker, among others
DATE OF BIRTH	January 23, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH	Klafeld
DATE OF DEATH	August 28, 1991
Place of death	Palo Alto

[Geisweid-1] Memories of the Geisweider Jews. In: NS memorials NRW. Working group of Nazi memorials and places of remembrance in NRW e. V., February 1, 2011, archived from the original on September 14, 2012 ; accessed on January 15, 2014 .

[DTM_40-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Astrid Venn: Erich Schatzki. Technical director of Luft Hansa and aircraft designer. In: German Museum of Technology Berlin. No. 1/2013, friends and sponsors of the German Museum of Technology Berlin e. V., Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin , ISSN 1869-1358 , pp. 40–41.

[3] Erich Schatzki: Engine protection through throttles. In: Catalog of the German National Library. German National Library , 1929, accessed on January 15, 2013 .

[4] Walter Tetzlaff: 2000 short biographies of important German Jews of the 20th century. 1st edition. Askania-Verlag, Lindhorst 1982, ISBN 3-921730-10-4 . P. 293.

[Name-5] Karl Morgenstern: Memory of an aviation pioneer. Street reminds of Lufthansa veteran Erich Schatzki, who died 20 years ago. In: The world . Axel Springer AG , August 20, 2011, accessed on January 14, 2013 .