Herbert Tengelmann

Herbert FW Tengelmann (born May 1, 1896 in Bickern ; † February 22, 1959 ) was a German lawyer, businessman and industrialist in the textile industry. During the Nazi era he was appointed head of the German clothing industry . At the Reich Ministry of Armaments and Ammunition , he became a production representative for clothing and tobacco products . His appointment as military economist followed . As the first producer of clothing, he introduced flow production in Germany .

• Note: Herbert Tengelmann is not associated with Kaiser's Tengelmann

Biography until 1933

As the son of the general director of the Essen coal mines Ernst Tengelmann and his wife Luise Romberg, he attended elementary school in Essen from 1902 to 1906. He then graduated from the city's high school from 1906 to 1914. In the First World War , he served from August 4, 1914 in the Royal Prussian Railway Regiment No. 3 in Hanau . The war missions took him to the fronts in Belgium and France from September 1914. Later delegations came to Galicia , the south of Poland, Latvia and Lithuania . From the end of 1916 he switched to the aviators as a flight observer in the field pilot's department 9. Then he came to the 11th squadron of bomb squadron 2. In 1917 he was transferred to the flying school near Breslau . In 1918, his military service as a first lieutenant ended for him.

From 1918 to 1920 he began studying law in Berlin and Münster. From 1920 he began a commercial apprenticeship at the Hohenzollern stock corporation for locomotive construction in Düsseldorf as a trainee . Then he went to Sekuritas AG in Bochum . This was followed by a job at Westlignose AG in Büchen near Hamburg . In 1921 he became an authorized signatory at the Marie-Luise union in Essen and married Martha Rehbock. The following year he founded Handelsgesellschaft Westfalen mbH in Essen, which emerged from the Marie-Luise union . The company belonged to the family business Tengelmann & Co. GmbH .

He became a self-employed businessman on June 1, 1922. He studied law for two more semesters in 1927 at the University of Bonn and passed the first state examination on July 1, 1928. Then he took over the textile company Alfermann u. Sons in Herford . This was followed by the purchase of the Carl Hoth company , which was also active in Herford. The plants were merged as the United Clothes Works . When the opportunity arose, in 1929 he took over the company Hans Bäumler AG in Munich , which manufactured loden coats .

When the Berlin company Bernward Leineweber got into trouble in the wake of the global economic crisis , he bought it in 1931 and relocated production to Herford in 1932. After the reorganization of his operations, which also affected production, the name Leineweber in Herford was taken over. In the production of clothing, he replaced the conventional principle of workshop production with the introduction of the assembly line. He also built a laboratory with new types of test equipment for testing textiles. In the social area, he set up a rest home for the workforce and offered them life insurance.

time of the nationalsocialism

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists in January 1933, he joined the NSDAP in May 1933 ( membership number 1.506.207) and later became a supporting member of the SS . In 1933 he became head of the new Reich Association of the Clothing Industry and Chairman of the Reich Association of Textile Retailers . These institutions were integrated in the Reichsgruppe Industrie (RI) and the Reichsgruppe Handel (RH). In the RI, main group VI, in 1936 he headed the clothing industry business group based in Berlin W 62, Kielganstrasse 1. The managing director was the businessman Otto Jung.

Tengelmann was later a member of the RI's Grand Advisory Board . In 1936 he headed the textile retail trade group in the retail business group .

The RI's large advisory board met on July 18, 1940 , during which Tengelmann met well-known leaders in German industry such as Wilhelm Zangen , Rudolf Stahl , Rudolf Bingel , Georg von Schnitzler , Gottfried Dierig , Philipp F. Reemtsma , Helmut Poensgen and Hermann Schmitz . This meeting should set guidelines on the “future position of the entrepreneur” and “future wage policy”. In a memorandum for the Reich Ministry of Labor , the result of the consultation was referred to as "the European large-scale economy to be expected after the victorious war under the leadership of the Greater German Reich ... problems of a political, economic and social nature".

Logo ADEFA

When the Association of German-Aryan Manufacturers of the Clothing Industry (ADEFA) was founded in Berlin in May 1933 , he was one of the founders. There was a personal link between ADEFA and the clothing industry business group . Furthermore, both institutions had the same seat in Berlin.

On January 20, 1938, the working group of German companies in the textile, clothing and leather industries (ADEBE) was founded. While Otto Jung was appointed director of ADEBE, Tengelmann led the clothing sub-group.

When Kurt Schmitt left the IHK Berlin at the end of June 1933 , Tengelmann became one of the vice-presidents. In the Chamber he headed the Technical Committee Outerwear and the Technical Committee Textile Industry as chairman. In 1937 he was a member of the close advisory board of the Berlin-Brandenburg Chamber of Commerce and headed the trade department.

When the IHK passed the statutes for the establishment of a retail trade office on February 7, 1934, Tengelmann was appointed chairman and president of the office, which he presented to the public on June 19, 1934, together with Karl Gelpcke, the president of the provincial committee of the Potsdam administrative district . Thus Tengelmann was at the head of the chamber of commerce union representation of the Berlin retailers and minority merchants .

In the course of the standardization of apprenticeship relationships by the Nazi regime, the IHK Berlin founded the main committee for commercial vocational education in 1934 , which was converted into an examination office for business assistant exams in 1936 . Tengelmann became the head of this office and submitted written proposals for adapting the training of young commercial employees to the requirements of the modern economy . In December 1933, the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry joined the German Labor Front (DAF). Since Tengelmann was an honorary judge at the highest honor and disciplinary court of the German Labor Front , this resulted in a relationship between the IHK Berlin and the DAF.

In 1936, in his contribution to the organization of the commercial economy , Tengelmann accused the representatives of the chambers of commerce that they were not fully-fledged representatives of the retail sector because their functionaries were too busy with desk work. He therefore demanded greater, legally stipulated independence of the departments and sub-departments. These allegations led to decisive protests in circles of the chambers of industry and commerce. The representatives of the IHK Duisburg, the IHK Bielefeld and the IHK Bochum / Dortmund wanted to take a public position, but they were too weak to comment publicly.

Tengelmann's importance in the German economy became clear in 1938 when Oskar Ruperti, the director of the German Ammonia Sales Association in Bochum, came to a court of honor before the court of honor of the Berlin-Brandenburg Chamber of Commerce. Before the proceedings began, Tengelmann was able to mediate between the opposing parties and end the dispute amicably in November 1938.

At the end of September 1933, the German Mode Institute (DMI) in Berlin was renamed from the German Fashion Office . This initiative came from the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda . Tengelmann was appointed President of the DMI in 1935 at the latest with the support of Joseph Goebbels , after which Hans Croon took up this office in December 1938 . Croon was appointed President of the DMI in April 1938. Although Tengelmann could look forward to his replacement in April 1938, he remained fully active as President of the DMI in December 1938. But even then he only wanted to accept Croon as his deputy. Only with a new statute could Croon take over the presidency.

On the occasion of the establishment of the central warehouse association for clothing in Berlin in the second half of 1941, the Josef Neckermann clothing factory was the second partner alongside Bekleidungs-Handelsgesellschaft AG . Josef Neckermann personally managed ZLG as managing director. Because of Tengelmann's important position in the German clothing industry, when Werner Hagemann left the ZLG, he performed the relevant tasks as chairman of the ZLG's administrative board.

The ZLG's success development was initially viewed very critically, but Tengelmann actively supported Neckermann. In the report of the ZLG Board of Directors of December 8, 1943, Tengelmann attributed the ZLG's successes primarily to the personal commitment of the managing director Neckermann. After 1945, Neckermann's secretary Gerda Singer apparently did not continue the good relations between Neckermann and Tengelmann .

Enemy and "Aryanization"

On July 18, 1938 by Tengelmann and Heinrich limp from Herford as part of "was Aryanization " of Jewish businesses in Wroclaw the Awebe - AG for woven goods and clothing on is.

The company Gerngross AG , founded in Vienna in 1911 , was one of the largest department stores in Austria in the 1930s, trading in all kinds of fabrics and various items of clothing and other household textiles. Since the company was owned by the Jewish family, it was subjected to "Aryanization" after the German occupation of Austria in 1938. German representatives from various companies wanted to buy up Gerngross AG . Tengelmann also applied for the takeover in a letter dated September 22, 1938 to the district economic consultant Otto Jung, albeit unsuccessfully.

In the 1920s, the Jewish businessman Jakob Michael founded Köster AG as a mail order company. Before the Nazis came to power, he fled to Holland and from there to the USA. In New York, he sold the company to an American lawyer in May 1933. After the Nazi regime declared war on the USA, Köster AG was viewed as enemy assets and subjected to enemy asset management. In 1941 at the latest, Tengelmann was commissioned to manage the company.

Under his supervision, the company's headquarters were relocated from Hamburg to Berlin. At the end of 1938 the company was named Köster AG . In Szczecin there was a branch company called Emil Köster AG, department men's clothing factory . The branch continued to exist in Hamburg. In 1940 the company acquired the Hackesche Höfe . Köster AG acquired a sub-fund from other companies :

• Defaka German Family Department Store GmbH, Berlin
• Defaka Eigen-Versicherungs-Gesellschaft mbH, Berlin.
• Bekleidungs-AG, Berlin
• AG for investment values, Berlin.
• L. Hecht & Co. GmbH iL, Berlin
• "Gro-Te-Ge" company for textile wholesaling mbH

In the Netherlands , Köster AG acquired several Jewish fashion businesses through the interposition of other subsidiaries such as Warenhandelsgesellschaft AG . The Maison de Bonneterie department store in the center of Amsterdam had belonged to Köster AG since the end of 1941 . Dresdner Bank handled the financial affairs. In Vienna , the Köster Group was able to acquire Riensch & Held GmbH . This company was able to buy shares in the largest Dutch department store group De Bijenkorf . Through this participation Tengelmann got a seat on the board of De Bijenkorf in November 1943. A month earlier, the department store group had been taken over as German property. Thus Tengelmann tried to expand its business in the Netherlands through the Group's supervisory board.

post war period

In 1946 he was sent to the Recklinghausen internment camp for sixteen months . In October 1948, the verdict on its denazification was passed . His possessions in the eastern sector were expropriated.

But already in 1948 he started a new activity with the construction of a branch in Kantstrasse on the corner of Joachimstaler Strasse , which opened in September 1950. Also in 1948 he opened a branch in Bielefeld . In April 1950 he opened the Ortlepp sports store in Hamburg in cooperation with his company Leineweber. In February 1951, Leineweber opened a branch on Schloßstraße in Berlin-Steglitz . In Mönchengladbach he was able to complete the purchase of the Müller & Hager clothing factories .

Fonts

• Contribution to the organization of the commercial economy. Berlin 1936.

Chairman of the Supervisory Board

• United Kleidwerke AG, Herford
• AG for woven goods and clothing, Wroclaw
• Interest group of German clothing stores, Berlin
• New ABC-Waren-Kredit AG, Berlin
• Deputy: Autogen Gasaccumulator AG, Berlin

executive Director

• Aretz & Co. GmbH, Essen
• Handelsgesellschaft Westfalen GmbH, Essen
• Kohlenkontor Hildesheim GmbH, Hildesheim
• H. Strunk & Bartels GmbH, Bielefeld
• Tengelmann & Co. GmbH, Essen

member

• 1939: Supervisory board: Zentral-Textil-Gesellschaft mbH, Berlin
• 1942: Advisory board for Berlin-Brandenburg at Deutsche Bank
• 1942: Committee for GmbH law in the Academy for German Law
• Supervisory board: German Society for Public Works, Berlin
• Supervisory board: Treuverkehr Deutsche Treuhand
• Auditing company Berlin
• Supervisory board: Lozalit AG, Essen
• Supervisory board: Adler-Farbenwerke & Chemische Fabrik AG, Essen
• Supervisory board: AG for construction financing, Essen
• Chairman of the Association of Berlin Merchants and Industrialists
• 1956: Honorary member of the Presidium of the Federal Association of the Clothing Industry and the Federal Association of German Textile Retailers

Awards

• Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class
• Pilot badge

References and comments

1. ^ Uwe Westphal: Berlin clothing and fashion. 2nd Edition. Berlin 1992, p. 197; Walter Habel: Who is who? Berlin 1955.
2. ^ History of the Brax company, 1948–1970. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; Retrieved May 22, 2013 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
3. ↑ In the 1955 Habel his date of death was given as March 30, 1954, which is also confirmed in other sources with the year of death 1954. However, the date of death may have been incorrectly printed in all older sources, because Herbert Tengelmann's father, Ernst Tengelmann, died on March 30, 1954 in Essen (see Federal Archives). New sources name 1959 as the year of death.
4. ↑ Herrmann AL Degener : Who is who? Berlin 1935. According to Das Deutsche Führerlexikon 1934/1935. P. 486: "Leader of the German clothing industry", Berlin C2, Fischerstraße 3.
5. ^ Rainer Eckert: The leaders and managing directors of the Reichsgruppe Industrie, its main and economic groups. (II). In: Yearbook for Economic History. 1980. Part I, p. 216.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Brunhilde Dähn: Berlin - Hausvogteiplatz - Over 100 years on the fashion catwalk. Göttingen 1968, p. 192.
7. ^ ^{A b} Heinrich Hauser: Encounter with Herbert Tengelmann. Düsseldorf undated [1953]
8. ↑ Herrmann AL Degener: Who is who? Berlin 1935.
9. ^ Reich manual of the German Society. 2nd volume. Berlin 1931, p. 1891.
10. ↑ In the literature there is no evidence of a company Alfermann und Söhne. Rather, there is a company for clothes "Alfermann & Jakobi AG"
11. ↑ Herbert Tengelmann took over the shares in Hans Bäumler AG in 1929
12. ^ Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk : Everything on risk - the merchant yesterday, today and tomorrow. Tübingen 1963, p. 355.
13. ^ Lutz Graf von Krosigk: The great time of fire - The way of German industry. 3rd volume. Tübingen 1953, p. 248.
14. ↑ ^{a b} Irene Guenther: Nazi Chic? Fashioning Women in the Third Reich. Oxford 2004, p. 176.
15. ↑ Hermann Teschemacher (Ed.): Handbook of the structure of the commercial economy. Volume I. Leipzig 1936, p. 179.
16. ^ Structure of the Reichsgruppe Industrie. Management Reichsgruppe Industrie (Ed.). 3rd edition 1941, Berlin 1941, p. 20.
17. ↑ Hermann Teschemacher (Ed.): Handbook of the structure of the commercial economy. Volume II Reichsgruppe Handel. Leipzig 1936, p. 44.
18. ↑ Wolfgang Schumann, Gerhart Hass: Germany in the Second World War. Volume 1. Cologne 1974, p. 394.
19. ↑ Gloria Sultano: Like intellectual cocaine ... - fashion under the swastika. Vienna 1995, p. 141.
20. ↑ Irene Guenther: Nazi Chic? - Fashioning Women in the Third Reich. Oxford 2004, p. 158.
21. ↑ Gloria Sultano: Like intellectual cocaine ... - fashion under the swastika. Vienna 1995, pp. 140/141.
22. ^ Hermann Teschemacher: Handbook of the structure of the commercial economy. Volume III. Leipzig 1937, pp. 62, 64 and 153.
23. ↑ Thomas Hertz: The Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry - A contribution to the economic history of Berlin. Berlin 2008, p. 70.
24. ↑ Thomas Hertz: The Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry - A contribution to the economic history of Berlin. Berlin 2008, p. 88.
25. ↑ books.google.de
26. ^ Uwe Westphal: Berlin clothing and fashion. 2nd Edition. Berlin 1992, pp. 124-125.
27. ^ Rald Stremmel: Chambers of the commercial economy in the "Third Reich". Dortmund 2005, p. 175.
28. ^ Daniele Kahn: The control of the economy by law in National Socialist Germany - The example of the Reichsgruppe Industrie. Frankfurt am Main 2006, p. 332.
29. ↑ Irene Guenther: Nazi Chic? - Fashioning Women in the Third Reich. Oxford 2004, p. 172.
30. ^ Deutsches Mode Institut is conceived in 1933. on chroniknet.de
31. ↑ In Degener: Who is who? Tengelmann is named as President of the DMI as early as 1935.
32. ^ Johannes Bähr: The Dresdner Bank in the economy of the Third Reich. Volume 1. Munich 2006, p. 402.
33. ^ ^{A b} Thomas Veszelits: The Neckermanns - light and shadow of a German entrepreneurial family. Frankfurt / Main 2005, p. 129.
34. ↑ Ramona Bräu: "Aryanization" of a German city - The "de-Jewification" of a German city and its discovery in the Polish memory discourse . ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) Weimar 2006, pp. 57 and 126. 
35. ↑ Ulrike Felber et al .: Economy of Aryanization - Part 2: Economic sectors, industries, case studies. Munich 2004, pp. 84-88.
36. ↑ ^{a b} Christoph Kreutzmüller: Dealers and sales assistants - The Amsterdam financial center and the major German banks (1918–1945). Stuttgart 2005, pp. 278-279.
37. ↑ reichsbankschatz.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
38. ↑ Hans-Karl Rouette: textile Barone: industrial (r) evolution in the Mönchengladbach textile and clothing history. 1996, p. 258, p. 289.
39. ↑ Chronicle . In: The time . No. 18/1956.