Joachim Zahn

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Joachim Zahn (born January 24, 1914 in Barmen or Wesel , † October 8, 2002 in Munich ) was a German industrial lawyer. From 1971 to 1979 he was Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler-Benz AG .

Life

Joachim Zahn was the youngest of four sons of a lawyer from Wuppertal. He studied law in Tübingen , where he became a member of the Corps Rhenania in 1932 . He later moved to Cologne and Königsberg . In Cologne , he obtained his doctorate in 1937 on the subject of limits to securing credit through transfer of ownership . In 1940 the Grand State Examination and civil service followed. During World War II he was used as an officer in Russia and Italy. His career in business began in 1947 at Deutsche Treuhand-Gesellschaft , and ended in 1954 as a member of the board. In the following years he was responsible for finances on the board of the Aschaffenburger Zellstoffwerke .

In 1958, Zahn joined Daimler-Benz as chief financial officer. On October 1, 1965 he became spokesman for the board and from 1971 he was chairman of the board. Among other things, he was an honorary member of the Presidium of the Federal Association of German Industry and was awarded the Great Cross of Merit (1969) with a Star (1978) of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Medal of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg and in 1980 the Great Gold Medal of Honor with the Star for Merit awarded by the Republic of Austria .

With his election as Chairman of the Board of Management in 1971, Zahn was able to assert himself against his greatest competitor at the time, Hanns Martin Schleyer , who, unlike Zahn, wanted to push the expansion of the commercial vehicle division at Daimler.

During his time as CEO, the decision was made to set up his own sales subsidiaries abroad, for example to establish Mercedes-Benz USA in the USA . The construction of the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth as the largest European truck plant from 1963 also falls within his term of office. Joachim Zahn also became famous for having high financial reserves, from which Daimler-Benz could still draw many years later. Zahn remained connected to the company as a consultant to Jürgen Schrempp until his death.

In 1973 the state government of Baden-Württemberg awarded him the title of professor.

Zahn was the father-in-law of the former CEO of Mannesmann AG Klaus Esser .

He was a member of the Trilateral Commission .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Common authority file
  2. ↑ Joachim Zahn in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
  3. ↑ a b Kösener Corpslisten 1996, 133 , 1042
  4. ↑ Announcement of awards of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Federal Gazette . Vol. 31, No. 45, March 6, 1979.
  5. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Zahn, Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German manager, CEO of Daimler-Benz AG
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Barmen
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 2002
Place of death Munich