61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

leading figures in the Nazi regime rather than for being Party members. At
Brown Boveri in Mannheim, for example, only three out of the nine members
of the Board were Nazis. With the war and the considerable economic difficulties
facing Germany, the explicit pro-Hitler line adopted by the companies
became less marked, especially since it was understood that the Nazi leadership
was keener on seeing performance than ideological alignment. This implies that
their previous attitude had mainly been opportunist: they had to deal with
competition from other companies and had to secure the authorities’ favour in
order to win government contracts and obtain the resources necessary to fill the
orders places. Two of the largest Swiss companies pursued this strategy to the
extreme by appointing senior managers to their subsidiaries who, although they
were admirably qualified for the job, were particularly well connected within
the networks of the Nazi Party. In 1936 Lonza, appointed a new sales director
in the person of the lawyer Alfred Müller «in order to have someone who will
ensure good relations with the authorities in place since 1933». 5 A man with a
similar character profile, Achim Tobler, was managing director of the Rheinfelden
Aluminium Works (Aluminium Industrie AG, AIAG) from 1938 on.
Maggi did not need to replace any senior managers at its factory in Singen: they
all immediately became ardent supporters of the new regime and made a show
of it. Other firms kept a certain distance, as can be seen in the attitude adopted
by senior managers at Brown Boveri in Mannheim for instance. This was a large
company which had several production sites, each with a number of subsidiaries
of its own. The products it specialised in – electro-technical equipment, transformers,
motors, and turbines – were particularly important for the war effort,
especially for the German navy (submarines). Brown Boveri Mannheim had
become virtually independent of all control by the parent company in Baden.
The general director of Brown Boveri in Mannheim, an engineer called Karl
Schnetzler, and his assistant, a lawyer by the name of Hans-Leonhard Hammerbacher
who was head of finance and the company’s strong man, gave every
expected outward sign of toeing the Party line; but they were not members and
tried as hard as possible to shield their company from any political or ideological
influence. Both men had married women of Jewish origin, which might well
explain their reserve. On the other hand, they were fervent nationalists and
shrewd businessmen. They had no scruples aligning the company, even against
the wishes of the head office in Baden, with the war effort. It was only towards
the end of the war, in the wake of the damage done to the manufacturing sites
by the bombing raids, that a certain hesitation was first noticeable. Hammerbacher
was even occasionally in contact with members of the German resistance,
for example with Elisabeth von Thadden who was arrested and executed
following the assassination attempt of 20 July 1944.
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