The Respectable Career of Fritz K. Studies in German History Published in Association with the German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C

The Respectable Career of Fritz K. Studies in German History Published in Association with the German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C. General Editors: Hartmut Berghoff, Director of the German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C. Uwe Spiekermann, Deputy Director of the German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C.

Volume 1 Volume 10 Nature in German History Political Violence in the Weimar Republic, Edited by Christof Mauch 1918–1933: Battle for the Streets and Fears of Civil War Volume 2 Dirk Schumann Coping with the Nazi Past: West German Debates on Nazism and Generational Conflict, Volume 11 1955–1975 The East German State and the Catholic Church, Edited by Philipp Gassert and Alan E. 1945–1989 Steinweis Bernd Schaefer Volume 3 Volume 12 Adolf Cluss, Architect: From Germany to America Raising Citizens in the “Century of the Child”: Edited by Alan Lessoff and Christof Mauch The United States and German Central Europe in Comparative Perspective Volume 4 Edited by Dirk Schumann Two Lives in Uncertain Times: Facing the Challenges of the 20th Century as Scholars and Volume 13 Citizens The Plans that Failed: An Economic History of Wilma Iggers and Georg Iggers the GDR André Steiner Volume 5 Driving Germany: The Landscape of the German Volume 14 Autobahn, 1930–1970 Max Liebermann and International Modernism: Thomas Zeller An Artist’s Career from Empire to Third Reich Edited by Marion Deshmukh, Françoise Volume 6 Forster-Hahn and Barbara Gaehtgens The Pleasure of a Surplus Income: Part-Time Work, Gender Politics, and Social Change in West Volume 15 Germany, 1955–1969 Germany and the Black Diaspora: Points of Christine von Oertzen Contact, 1250–1914 Edited by Mischa Honeck, Martin Klimke, Volume 7 and Anne Kuhlmann Between Mass Death and Individual Loss: The Place of the Dead in Twentieth-Century Germany Volume 16 Edited by Alon Confino, Paul Betts and Dirk Crime and Criminal Justice in Modern Germany Schumann Edited by Richard F. Wetzell Volume 8 Volume 17 Nature of the Miracle Years: Conservation in West Encounters with Modernity: The Catholic Church Germany, 1945–1975 in West Germany, 1945–1975 Sandra Chaney Benjamin Ziemann Volume 9 Volume 18 Biography between Structure and Agency: Central The Respectable Career of Fritz K.: The Making European Lives in International Historiography and Remaking of a Provincial Nazi Leader Edited by Volker R. Berghahn and Simone Hartmut Berghoff and Cornelia Rauh Lässig Translated by Casey Butterfield The Respectable Career of Fritz K.

The Making and Remaking of a Provincial Nazi Leader S

Hartmut Berghoff and Cornelia Rauh

Translated by Casey Butterfield Published by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.com

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Berghoff, Hartmut. [Fritz K. English] The respectable career of Fritz K.: the making and remaking of a provincial Nazi leader / Hartmut Berghoff and Cornelia Rauh; translated by Casey Butterfield. -- First edition. pages cm. -- (Studies in German history; 18) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-78238-593-6 (hardback: alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-78238-594-3 (ebook) 1. Kiehn, Fritz, 1885-1980. 2. Nazis--Germany--Trossingen--Biography. 3. Trossingen (Germany)--Biography. 4. Industrialists--Germany--Trossingen-- Biography. 5. National socialism--Germany--Württemberg. 6. Denazification. I. Rauh, Cornelia, 1957- II. Butterfield, Casey, translator. III. Title. DD247.K525B4713 2015 324.243‘0238092--dc23 [B] 2015006167

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78238-593-6 hardback ISBN: 978-1-78238-594-3 ebook Contents

List of Figures and Tables vii

Preface ix

List of Abbreviations xii

Introduction 1

1. Kiehn’s Rise to the Middle Class: A Traveling Salesman Becomes a Factory Owner 11

2. Rapid Ascent through the Nazi Ranks: From Local Party Leader to Reichstag Delegate 28

3. Between Gleichschaltung and the Party Purge of 1934: Fritz Kiehn Becomes “Leader of the Württemberg Economy” 45

4. Riding Nazi Party Coattails: Kiehn’s Industrial Ambitions 73

5. Between Corruption and Camaraderie: The National Socialist Campaign to Curb Abuses 87

6. Kiehn and Gustav Schickedanz in the Race for Aryanization 102

7. Wartime Deals and “Marriage Politics” 131

8. “The King of Trossingen”: Fritz Kiehn as a Local Grandee in the Third Reich 144

9. From “War Criminal No. 1” to Sought-After Employer 187

10. “Scot-Free, by the Skin of Their Teeth”: Denazification and Compensation 202

– v – vi | Contents

11. “Ripe for Satire”: Entering the Social Market Economy with Public Loans 228

12. “Kiehn Left No One Behind”? The “Factory Community” as a Network of “Old Comrades” 257

13. Honored Citizen Again: Kiehn and the “Economic Miracle” 273

14. The Twilight Years of an Honored West German 289

15. Coming to Terms with the Past in the Twenty-First Century 312

Conclusion: The (A)Typical Life of an Industrialist? 323

Bibliography 339

Index 357 Figures and Tables

Fig. 1: Fritz Kiehn in 1900 12 Fig. 2: Gasthof Rose, the Neipp family’s inn 12 Fig. 3: A good match (1911) 13 Fig. 4: Notice of Kiehn’s takeover (1912) and Kiehn’s first business on Rosenstraße (1912) 14 Fig. 5: Kiehn (seated) as a war volunteer 15 Fig. 6: Efka label 16 Fig. 7: At a distance to old Trossingen: Kiehn’s villa in Deibhalde 16 Fig. 8: Rehearsing upper-class prestige: the study in Deibhalde 17 Fig. 9: A family on the way up: Fritz, Herbert, Gretl, and Berta Kiehn 21 Fig. 10: A closed society: the Trossingen “ladies’ circle” (Damenkränzchen) before Berta Kiehn’s inclusion, circa 1929 22 Fig. 11: Efka factory with swastika banner (ca. 1931–1932) 33 Fig. 12: Friends in more than politics: Fritz Kiehn and Gregor Straßer in Deibhalde 39 Fig. 13: President Fritz Kiehn, MdR (Reichstag delegate), 1937 46 Fig. 14: Self-dramatization: Kiehn’s New Year’s card from 1938–1939 51 Fig. 15: “Happy hunter” Prützmann (second from left) and Kiehn 65 Fig. 16: Kiehn in his SS uniform with honorary dagger 66 Fig. 17: Small-scale production facilities at the Efka factory (1930s) 74 Fig. 18: Automotive exhibition in 1936: Kiehn, next to his son (from left), stands with the Führer 77 Fig. 19: Pride of title and ownership in Kiehn’s letterhead 139 Fig. 20: Souvenirs of the “wartime acquisitions” in the family album from the 1970s. Okriftel is on the bottom 140 Fig. 21: The Hohner accordion orchestra with Reichsstatthalter Wilhelm Murr (1933) 145 Fig. 22: “May Queen” Gretl Kiehn on National Workers’ Day 147 Fig. 23: Silver wedding anniversary (1936): the private element 149 Fig. 24: Silver wedding anniversary (1936): the National Socialist element— portrait of a trio 149 Fig. 25: The trappings of self-aggrandizement (1936) 150 Fig. 26: Kiehn and Hitler 152 Fig. 27: Trossingen in a sea of swastikas 161

– vii – viii | Figures and Tables

Fig. 28: Kiehn’s Mercedes, with SS pennant 164 Fig. 29: Invitation to Efka factory anniversary, bearing the new company coat of arms, 1937 166 Fig. 30: Efka factory with political propaganda 168 Fig. 31: No industrialist mansion: the Ermingen homestead 197 Fig. 32: Kiehn, “not fully his old self,” with his wife and daughter after his release from internment 205 Fig. 33: The Chiron factory celebrates: “The President’s 65th Birthday” (1950) 240 Fig. 34: Trippel and the Kiehns at a social evening at Chiron (ca. 1950) 241 Fig. 35: Portrait with the new star of the family, from the left: Fritz and Gretl Wieshofer, as well as Herbert E., Berta, and Fritz Kiehn 263 Fig. 36: Baldur von Schirach wishes Gretl Wieshofer-Kiehn a happy fiftieth birthday (1968) 265 Fig. 37: The park behind the new house in Deibhalde 275 Fig. 38: Mayor Maschke congratulates the old and new honorary citizen of Trossingen on his seventieth birthday 277 Fig. 39: New Efka building (1958) 283 Fig. 40: A symbolic handshake: Ernst Hohner and Fritz Kiehn (1957) 285 Fig. 41: Academic honors at the University of Innsbruck in the 1960s 293 Fig. 42: Bruno Heck arranges a meeting between the Kiehns and Chancellor Adenauer 298 Fig. 43: The Kiehns and the Walters in Deibhalde 301 Fig. 44: Kiehn, the big-game hunter, in Africa 303

Table 1: Reichstag election results in Trossingen and in Germany, 1930–1933 (in percentages) 35 Table 2: Kiehn’s donations to Nazi organizations, 1935–1944 (in RM) 60 Table 3: Kiehn’s donations to SS offices, 1935–1944 61 Table 4: Efka’s profits and sales, 1928–1948 132 Table 5: Staff and sales at Efka, 1957–1973 269 Preface

Some research projects begin with great expectations but fail to reach their set tar- gets because of adversity or a lack of material. We encountered the opposite case when writing this biography. For a good decade and a half—while we were both in Tübingen, Germany, albeit in very different professional contexts—we contin- ued to come across the character of Fritz Kiehn, a middle-class business owner and Nazi functionary, in our research. We first planned to write an article dealing with the political biography of this colorful personality, who through years of radical political change always managed to succeed in his social and professional life. The project grew into a book, practically on its own, and was published in German in 2000. We were constantly coming across new sources and informants, such that a multifaceted picture developed of the day-to-day political and social life of this remarkable person and his small-town world, with a depth of field that is rarely possible. The sources did not dry up after the book’s publication. The Internet contin- ued to provide us with new information about the political networks that Kiehn belonged to during the upheavals of 1933 and 1945 and the attempts to remem- ber the injustice and its victims, for which Kiehn had been partly responsible. Recent studies and newly accessible archival materials made it possible to shed more light on the darkest chapter of Kiehn’s professional life—the plundering of Jewish-owned businesses—and to put it into context. The debates that our book stimulated in Kiehn’s hometown, on its Nazi past and Kiehn’s prominent fellow citizens, ended up giving us material for a new chapter (chapter 15) in this revised second edition. Our study covers more than just Fritz Kiehn’s path through life. It examines nearly a century of German history that stretches from the German Empire to the present. Kiehn’s biography reflects not only everyday life in the Nazi regime and in the postwar era up to the 1960s, but also the prologue to Nazi rule and the often-difficult attempt to come to terms with this history that continues into the present. The subtitle of the German edition, A German Life in the Twentieth Century, points to the fact that as eventful and unique as Kiehn’s biography was, his life had many representative features. Key problems of German twentieth-century history figured in his life and in later work on him. This

– ix – x | Preface remains true for the response to this book in the place that was once Kiehn’s home, where we saw how difficult it still is to come to terms with the Nazi past. This English edition of our book would have been very difficult to accom- plish without the communication possibilities of the Internet, since during the revision phase each author was on a different continent, with one at the German Historical Institute in Washington DC and the other at the Leibniz Universität Hannover. Just as with the German edition, this book could only be realized through the support of numerous friends and colleagues. We are grateful once again to Trossingen archivist and museum director Martin Häffner. The staff of numerous other archives also deserve our thanks. For especially involved inqui- ries we thank the archivists in Ludwigsburg, Nuremberg, and Sigmaringen, and we are also grateful to the staff of the Department Central State Archives of Stuttgart, the Landesarchiv Berlin, the Federal Archives in Berlin, Potsdam, and Koblenz, the Wirtschaftsarchiv Baden-Württemberg, and the Archives de l’Occupation française en Allemagne et en Autriche in Colmar. Philipp Heldmann reviewed the appointment calendar of Heinrich Himmler for us at the State Archives in Berlin; Nils Fehlhaber carried out research at the Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg and the Landesarchiv Berlin. We thank Peter Zinke for his assistance in searching for files at the Bavarian State Archives in Nuremberg. Heather Hester and Vivianne Lüer worked on the notes and the bibliography, and the former also graciously compiled the index. We became acquainted with Herbert E. Kiehn through our research. Klaus von Schirach and Toni Pierenkemper helped us to establish this valuable contact, a grandson of Fritz Kiehn’s born in 1937. He passed on important sources to us and was repeatedly willing to participate in multiday interviews and provide detailed written information. In this way, he allowed us to relive his memories of his own grandfather and adoptive father, Fritz Kiehn, and his family, as well as the history of the Efka factory in Trossingen that he himself experienced. Herbert E. Kiehn confronted his own family history with precise recall, intellectual distance, and exceptional candidness. His unreserved willingness to provide information was of great help to us. We very much regret that our book set off turbulence in his family, and we were sorry to hear the news of his death in 2007. We as the authors take sole responsibility for all interpretations and possible errors in the book today, just as we did when the German edition was published. Finally, we are grateful to Marion Berghahn for accepting our book as part of Berghahn Books’ publishing program, and to the German Historical Institute for accepting the book for the GHI Studies in German History series and for financing the translation of our manuscript. Uwe Spiekermann and David Lazar were involved during various stages in the new publication, but the principal in-house work was completed by Patricia C. Sutcliffe. She shepherded the manuscript throughout the translation process and expertly reviewed, copy-edited, and proofread every line. The volume would certainly not have been possible Preface | xi without her outstanding efforts. Casey Butterfield took on the difficult task of translating the manuscript into English and of creating an eminently readable English-language manuscript despite a multitude of specialized terms and some- times old-fashioned quotes from sources. Caitlin Mahon copy-edited the text with great care and diligence. We are enormously grateful for all the help we have received.

Hartmut Berghoff and Cornelia Rauh Washington DC/Hanover, December 2014 Abbreviations

ADGB Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (umbrella association of German unions) ASD Archiv der sozialen Demokratie der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Bonn / Archive of Social Democracy AVT Allgemeine Volkszeitung Trossingen

BA Bundesarchiv / German Federal Archives BdM Bund Deutscher Mädel / League of German Girls BHE Bund der Heimatlosen und Entrechteten / Alliance of the Expellees and Rights-Deprived Bü Büschel (badge)

C Caisse / box CDU Christliche Demokratische Union / Christian Democratic Union d Dossier DAF Deutsche Arbeitsfront / German Labor Front DC Document Center DDP Deutsche Demokratische Partei / German Democratic Party DGB Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund / Confederation of German Trade Unions DHHV Deutscher Handharmonika Verband / German Accordion Association DINTA Deutsches Institut für technische Arbeitsschulung / German Institute for Technical Labor Training DM Deutschmark(s) DNVP Deutschnationale Volkspartei / German National People’s Party DRA Deutscher Reichsanzeiger und Preußischer Staatsanzeiger DVP Demokratische Volkspartei / Democratic People’s Party

– xii – Abbreviations | xiii

FAZ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung FDP Freie Demokratische Partei / Free Democratic Party FWV Freie Wählervereinigung / Free Voters’ Association

GEG Großeinkaufs-Gesellschaft Deutscher Consumvereine / Wholesale Purchasing Company of German Consumer Cooperatives GLT Gauamtsleiter für Technik / NSDAP district leader for technology GRP Gemeinderatsprotokoll / town council minutes GWB Gauwirtschaftsberater / NSDAP Gau district economic adviser

HHStA Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Wiesbaden / Hesse Main State Archives HMT Harmonikamuseum Trossingen / Trossingen Harmonica Museum HStAS Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart / Central State Archives of Stuttgart

IfZ Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Munich / Institute of Contemporary History IHK Industrie- und Handelskammer / Chamber of Industry and Commerce

KAT Kreisarchiv Tuttlingen / District Archives for Tuttlingen KdF Kraft durch Freude / Strength through Joy (Nazi organization) KHD Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG KPD Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands / Communist Party of Germany KRUA Kreisuntersuchungsausschuß / district review committee KWB Kreiswirtschaftsberater / district economic adviser of the NSDAP

LAB Landesarchiv Berlin / Berlin State Archives LKAS Landeskirchliches Archiv Stuttgart / Archive of the regional Protestant Church, Stuttgart

MAE Colmar Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, Archives de l’Occupation française en Allemagne et en Autriche, Colmar / French Foreign Office, Archives of the French Occupation in Germany and Austria xiv | Abbreviations

MdL Mitglied des Landtags / Member of State Parliament. MdR Mitglied des Reichstags / Reichstag member

NL Nachlass / estate NS National Socialism (Nazism) / National Socialist NSDAP Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei / National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party) NSF Nationalsozialistische Frauenschaft / National Socialist Women’s League NSV Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt / National Socialist People’s Welfare Organization

OPG Oberstes Parteigericht der NSDAP / Party Supreme Court of the NSDAP

PCO Property Control Office PUA Parlamentarischer Untersuchungsausschuß / parliamentary review committee

RAD Reichsarbeitsdienst / Reich Labor Service RF-SS Reichsführer-SS (Heinrich Himmler, 1929–1945) RGBl Reichsgesetzblatt RKF Reichskommissar für die Festigung des deutschen Volkstums / Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of the Ethnic German Nation RLM Reichsluftfahrtministerium / Reich Aviation Ministry RM Reichsmark(s) RMK Reichsmusikkammer / Reich Chamber of Music RSHA Reichssicherheitshauptamt / Reich Security Main Office RStDI Reichsstand der Deutschen Industrie / Reich Estate of German Industry RuSHA Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt / Race and Settlement Main Office RWM Reichswirtschaftsministerium / Reich Economics Ministry RWWA Rheinisch Westfälisches Wirtschaftsarchiv zu Köln / Regional Economic Archives for Rhineland and Westphalia, Cologne

SA Sturmabteilung / Storm Division SAJ Sozialistische Arbeiterjugend / Socialist Workers Youth Abbreviations | xv

SD Sicherheitsdienst / Secret Service of the SS SHAEF Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force SK Staatskommissar für die politische Säuberung / State Commissioner for Political Cleansing SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands / German Social Democratic Party SS Schutzstaffel / Protection Squadron StAL Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg / State Archives in Ludwigsburg StAN Staatsarchiv Nürnberg / State Archives in Nuremberg StAS Staatsarchiv Sigmaringen / State Archives in Sigmaringen StAT Stadtarchiv Trossingen / Municipal Archives in Trossingen

TZ Trossinger Zeitung

Uschla Untersuchungs- und Schlichtungsausschuß / NSDAP Committee for Investigation and Settlement UWZ Umwandererzentrale / Central Office for Resettlement

WABW Wirtschaftarchiv Baden-Württemberg / Regional Economic Archives for Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart-Hohenheim

WHW Winterhilfswerk / Winter Relief Agency WVT Württembergische Verwaltungs- und Treuhandgesellschaft / Württemberg Administrative and Audit Corporation