Wilhelm von Opel

The Opel brothers (from left to right): Carl , Wilhelm , Heinrich , Fritz and Ludwig

Wilhelm Albert Opel (from 1917 of Opel * 15. May 1871 in Rüsselsheim , † 2. May 1948 in Wiesbaden ) was a German entrepreneur from the family Opel and co-owner of the Adam Opel KG (1928 AG). In the 1920s he introduced assembly line production with the Opel “Laubfrosch” to the German automotive industry .

Life

His parents are Adam and Sophie Opel . His father founded a sewing machine factory in Rüsselsheim in 1862 , which later also manufactured bicycles. Wilhelm von Opel studied at the Technical University of Darmstadt engineering and founded the Academic Radfahrverein at Darmstadt, from 1893 the Corps Franconia emerged, whose honorary member he was.

In 1897 Wilhelm married Martha Bade and the marriage had two children, Fritz and Eleonore . After his father's death in 1895, he took over the company together with his mother and four brothers. Three years later, Adam Opel KG bought the Anhaltische Motorwagenfabrik from the Dessau master locksmith Friedrich Lutzmann, and in 1898 began manufacturing automobiles.

Wilhelm and his brother Heinrich were appointed privy councilor by the last Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig in Darmstadt on March 13, 1917 , and at the same time raised to the nobility of the Grand Ducal Hesse . His brother Carl was raised to the nobility on January 17, 1918 and appointed privy councilor on March 7. The youngest brother Ludwig died in the First World War in 1916.

In March 1929 he and his brother Friedrich sold the Rüsselsheim-based company, which had been converted into an AG, to the US company General Motors for a total of 154 million Reichsmarks . He remained in the company as a member of the board of directors until 1945. In 1933 he became an honorary citizen of Wiesbaden.

Opel mausoleum in Rüsselsheim am Main

On May 1, 1933 , he joined the NSDAP and was a supporting member of the SS , Senator of the House of German Art in Munich and a member of the National Socialist Academy for German Law Hans Franks . In the arbitration chamber proceedings , Opel was classified as a fellow traveler on January 8, 1947 and sentenced to pay 2000 RM .

Wilhelm von Opel is buried in the Opel mausoleum in Rüsselsheim am Main .

literature

Opel, Albert Wilhelm von. Hessian biography. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
Genealogical manual of the nobility , Adelslexikon Volume X, Volume 119 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1999, ISSN 0435-2408 .
Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoß: Opel, Wilhelm von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 542 ( digitized version ). (there only genealogical information, the actual article text for all family members is in the online NDB under Opel, Friedrich Karl Adam Georg von )

Web links

Newspaper article about Wilhelm von Opel in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

^ 100 years of Weinheim Senior Citizens' Convention , p. 143.Bochum, 1963
^ Carlton Reid: Roads Were Not Built for Cars. How Cyclists were the First to Push for Good Roads and Became the Pioneers of Motoring. Iceland, Washington, DC 2015, ISBN 978-1-61091-688-2 , p. 297 ( limited preview in Google Book Search)
^ The Corps of the WSC and the local SC . In: Handbook for the Weinheim Senior Citizens' Convention . Chapter 1.1.4., 1971
↑ Peter Hess: Chronik des Corps Franconia Darmstadt 1998, p. 615
↑ http://www.die-corps.de/corpsstudenten.0.html
^ Yearbook of the Academy for German Law, 1st year 1933/34. Edited by Hans Frank. (Munich, Berlin, Leipzig: Schweitzer Verlag), p. 256
^ Günter Neliba: The Opel works in the General Motors group (1929-1948) in Rüsselsheim and Brandenburg . Brandes & Apsel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-86099-179-5 .

personal data
SURNAME	Opel, Wilhelm von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Opel, Adam Wilhelm; Opel, Adam Wilhelm von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German entrepreneur, founder of the car manufacturer Opel
DATE OF BIRTH	May 15, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ruesselsheim
DATE OF DEATH	May 2, 1948
Place of death	Wiesbaden

[1] 100 years of Weinheim Senior Citizens' Convention , p. 143.Bochum, 1963

[2] Carlton Reid: Roads Were Not Built for Cars. How Cyclists were the First to Push for Good Roads and Became the Pioneers of Motoring. Iceland, Washington, DC 2015, ISBN 978-1-61091-688-2 , p. 297 ( limited preview in Google Book Search)

[3] The Corps of the WSC and the local SC . In: Handbook for the Weinheim Senior Citizens' Convention . Chapter 1.1.4., 1971

[4] Peter Hess: Chronik des Corps Franconia Darmstadt 1998, p. 615

[5] ttp://www.die-corps.de/corpsstudenten.0.html

[6] Yearbook of the Academy for German Law, 1st year 1933/34. Edited by Hans Frank. (Munich, Berlin, Leipzig: Schweitzer Verlag), p. 256

[7] Günter Neliba: The Opel works in the General Motors group (1929-1948) in Rüsselsheim and Brandenburg . Brandes & Apsel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-86099-179-5 .