Hans von Veyder-Malberg

Hans Baron von Veyder-Malberg (born September 30, 1886 in Lundenburg , Moravia , † September 1, 1966 in Munich ) was an Austrian automobile pioneer, sports driver and managing director of Porsche GmbH .

Hans Baron von Veyder-Malberg came from the old Austrian nobility. He was involved in automobiles throughout his life. At the age of 15 he was already sitting on the wheel of a 9 HP Henriod single cylinder, his first vehicle was a 2½ HP Laurin & Klement motorcycle with flat belts. First encounter with Ferdinand Porsche on the occasion of the Semmering hill climb in 1904, studied at the technical universities of Graz, Brno and Vienna. From September 19, 1909 traineeship at Austro Fiat in Vienna-Floridsdorf, 1910 head of the repair department. 1911 Participation in the first Monte Carlo Rally , first sporting success in 1912 at the Austrian Alpine Tour. Since 1913 head of the auto taxi company with over 100 vehicles, during the First World War he was operations manager at Austro Fiat.

From 1921 increased sporting activity u. a. Ries race 1921: fourth in an Austro-Fiat, 1923 Semmering: third class, seventh overall, Ries race 1923: second overall, everything on Steyr and finally with works cars from Austro-Daimler : overall victory in the Ries race, Graz 1924, third overall and class victory in 1925, overall victory Long-distance trip Paris - Nice 1924 and 1925, overall victory in the individual ranking and team victory in the Austrian Alpine Tour in 1924. Several best times on the Swiss Alpine Tour in 1924.

Veyder-Malberg worked at Steyr as a technical advisor to the general management. After Hans Ledwinka left, he supported Ferdinand Porsche's commitment as chief designer and board member. After the big bank crash that also affected Steyr, he was unemployed.

In February 1933, Veyder-Malberg succeeded Adolf Rosenberger as commercial director and authorized signatory of Ferdinand Porsche's design office in Stuttgart. Due to a loan for the office in the amount of 40,000 Reichsmarks, he received a ten percent stake in Porsche GmbH in the same year. Rosenberger was released from the Kislau concentration camp in September 1935 on intervention by Malberg . Rosenberg's parents were able to leave Germany in 1939 with the help of Malberg.

With Porsche's construction plans in his briefcase, Veyder-Malberg traveled to German industry to build the Volkswagen. In Zündapp three prototypes were, but with a five-cylinder - radial engine in NSU produced, then the largest motorcycle factory in the world, four prototypes that were quite similar to the later VW. Both projects did not materialize. Nevertheless, the VW forerunner, the Type 30, was more or less created in Porsche's private garage on Feuerbacher Weg in Stuttgart. When Adolf Hitler spoke of an automobile for the people on the occasion of the opening of the International Motor Show in Berlin in March 1934, he already had the exposé of January 17, 1934 in his hands, in which Baron Malberg had formulated Porsche's ideas for precisely this car. In April 1934 there was a direct meeting between Porsche and Hitler; there are sketches of this meeting by Hitler of how he imagined the car. The Reichsverband der Automobilindustrie (RDA) was initially not very enthusiastic, but signed a construction contract with Porsche GmbH in June 1934. Finally, the German Labor Front , headed by Robert Ley, took over the entire project, and the Volks- became the KdF-Wagen .

In December 1937, Porsche GmbH was converted into a limited partnership . The only non-family partner was Veyder-Malberg, who sold his shares but continued to hold the position of managing director. In addition to the 70% Porsches, son Ferry now held 15% and daughter Louise 5%, son-in-law Piëch still held 10%. Veyder-Malberg had been a registered member of the NSDAP since May 1, 1938 under membership number 6195519 . In October 1944, Veyder-Malberg withdrew from the company due to illness, survived three serious operations and died in Munich in 1966.

literature

• Hans Seper, Martin Pfundner, Hans Peter Lenz: Austrian automobile history , Eurotax, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-905566-01-X

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wolfram Pyta , Nils Havemann and Jutta Braun: Porsche. From design office to global brand. Siedler, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-8275-0100-4 , p. 122.
2. ^ Wolfram Pyta , Nils Havemann and Jutta Braun: Porsche. From design office to global brand. Siedler, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-8275-0100-4 , p. 135.
3. ^ Wolfram Pyta , Nils Havemann and Jutta Braun: Porsche. From design office to global brand. Siedler, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-8275-0100-4 , p. 121.
4. ^ Handelsblatt: Ferdinand Porsche - Ingenious ideas, little money. From: www.handelsblatt.com , July 24, 2009, accessed November 3, 2012 . 
5. ↑ Hans Mommsen; Manfred Grieger: The Volkswagen factory and its workers in the Third Reich, ECON Verlag, Düsseldorf 1996, ISBN 3-430-16785-X , page 930
6. ^ Wolfram Pyta, Nils Havemann and Jutta Braun: Porsche. From design office to global brand. Siedler, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-8275-0100-4 , p. 306.