Wilhelm Gustloff Foundation
The Wilhelm Gustloff Foundation was a party foundation of the NSDAP that ran industrial enterprises. It was named after Wilhelm Gustloff, who was elevated to a " martyr " by the National Socialists .
history
The foundation was established on May 27, 1936 in Weimar by the Gauleiter of Thuringia, Fritz Sauckel . On September 10, 1936, Adolf Hitler appointed him head of the foundation. Otto Eberhardt was chairman of the board of directors of the Wilhelm Gustloff Foundation until his death in January 1939. His successor was Walther Schieber , who was replaced by Otto Demme in 1943 .
The foundation's industrial assets were based on the Simson factory in Suhl, which was expropriated in the course of the " Aryanization " in 1935 . In 1936 the foundation acquired the Weimar factory of the Bautzener Waggon- und Maschinenfabrik AG and converted the so-called Fritz Sauckel factory into a pure arms factory. In 1938 the Meuselwitzer Maschinenfabrik Heymer & Pilz AG was bought. There were lathes and mining equipment manufactured. In the same year the “Aryanized” Hirtenberger cartridge factory was taken over in Austria . In 1939/1940 Sauckel had a modern machine tool factory built in Weimar through the foundation. The central production hall, a shed roof hall , was 140 meters wide and 144 meters long.
Another re-establishment followed on December 18, 1940 in Weimar with Ventimotor GmbH. The research and development company was supposed to develop decentralized small wind power plants for farms and decentralized wind power plants as part of the general plan for the east . Walther Schieber became managing director.
On January 1, 1939, the name was changed to Wilhelm Gustloff Werke, National Socialist Industrial Foundation for tax and statutory considerations . It was one of the largest arms companies in Central Germany . The foundation companies manufactured around a quarter of the total production of machine guns for the German army , especially in Suhl . Among other things, an arms factory was operated next to the Buchenwald concentration camp from March 1943 . In Weimar, up to 2,290 prisoners had to work in the arms and machine tool factory, which were housed in two satellite camps.
In 1944 the Gustloff works succeeded in acquiring the AGO Flugzeugwerke in Oschersleben from the owners AEG and Stahlwerk Mark AG Wengern and in founding the aircraft factory REIMAHG ("Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring ") at Kahla as a subsidiary. This became known because of the forced labor camp with 2,000 to 3,000 deaths.
Related topics
- Gustloff pistol - A handgun developed by the Gustloff-Werke Suhl, but which did not go into series production.
literature
- Marc Bartuschka: “With all possible concerns put aside…” The Nazi operating group “Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring” (REIMAHG) and the use of forced labor 1944/45 , Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8353-0928-9 .
- Ewald Deyda: The History of the Gustloff Works II Buchenwald . (= Buchenwald booklet 4), Buchenwald 1977.
- Markus Gleichmann / Ronny Dörfer: Mysterious Thuringia - Military Objects of the Third Reich , Heinrich Jung Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Zella-Mehlis / Meiningen 2011, ISBN 978-3-930588-98-5 .
- Jürgen John : Armaments industry and NSDAP organization in Thuringia 1933-1939 , in: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft 22/4 (1974), 412-422.
- Rüdiger Stutz : "To infuse a new living space into the cultural city" - Fritz Sauckel and the Gustloff-Werke in Weimar , in: Justus Ulbricht (ed.): Classic city and National Socialism. Culture and politics in Weimar 1933 to 1945 . (= Weimarer Schriften 56) Weimar 2002, 64–76;
- Rüdiger Stutz: "Clean engineering work": Modern technology for Himmler's SS - three Thuringian companies under the spell of extermination and expulsion , in: Aleida Assmann , Frank Hiddemann, Eckhard Schwarzenberger (ed.): Firma Topf & Söhne - manufacturer of the ovens for Auschwitz. A factory site as a place of remembrance? , Frankfurt / M. - New York 2002, 33-71.
- Rüdiger Stutz: The Wilhelm Gustloff Foundation in Weimar. Anti-Jewish community myth, armament and forced labor . In: Bill Niven (ed.): The Wilhelm Gustloff. History and memory of a downfall . Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle / Saale 2011, ISBN 978-3-8309-2486-9 , pp. 143–170.
Web links
- Rüdiger Stutz : "Which development projects and corporate cultures did the economic advisors of the NS-Gauleitung Thuringia support between 1936 and 1945?" ( Memento of December 24, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Lecture in the Small Synagogue, Erfurt, June 20, 2000
Individual evidence
- ^ Rüdiger Stutz: "Clean engineering work": Modern technology for Himmler's SS - three Thuringian companies under the spell of extermination and expulsion , in: Aleida Assmann , Frank Hiddemann, Eckhard Schwarzenberger (eds.): Firma Topf & Söhne - manufacturer of the ovens for Auschwitz . A factory site as a place of remembrance? Campus, Frankfurt / M. - New York 2002, ISBN 3-593-37035-2 , pp. 46f.
- ^ Structure and organization of the foundation from 1936 , in Berthold Theus: Economic Policy in National Socialism: An Example from Financing and Industry Foundation Policy. The Wilhelm Gustloff Works in Weimar. Diploma thesis Department 07 Economics, University of Kassel 2003, p. XXVII.
- ↑ Ulrike Schulz: Simson From the improbable survival of a company 1856-1993 . Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-8353-1256-2 , p. 184
- ^ Rüdiger Stutz: "Clean engineering work": Modern technology for Himmler's SS - three Thuringian companies under the spell of extermination and expulsion , in: Aleida Assmann, Frank Hiddemann, Eckhard Schwarzenberger (eds.): Firma Topf & Söhne - manufacturer of the ovens for Auschwitz . A factory site as a place of remembrance? Campus, Frankfurt / M. - New York 2002, ISBN 3-593-37035-2 , p. 49 ff.
- ↑ Marc Bartuschka: "With all possible reservations ..." The Nazi operating group "Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring" (REIMAHG) and the use of forced labor in 1944/1945