 |
FRITZ TODT
BORN, SEPTEMBER 4, 1891 PFORZHEIM
DIED FEBRUARY 8, 1942
|
Fritz Todt was an German engineer and senior Nazi figure, the founder of Organisation Todt.
Organisation Todt was the organization in Germany for large scale construction work.
Fritz Todt was born September 4, 1891 in Pforzheim, the son of a small factory owner. He studied engineering in Karlsruhe and the School for Advanced Technical Studies in Munich. He took part in WW I, initially with the infantry and then as an observer with the airforce, winning the Iron Cross. Post-war he finished his studies in 1920 and joined the civil engineering company Sager & Woerner. He joined the NSDAP in 1922. He became an Oberführer in the Sturmabteilung in 1931 and also completed his doctorate (on "Fehlerquellen beim Bau von Landstraßendecken aus Teer und Asphalt").
Following the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor, Todt became Generalinspektor für das deutsche Straßenwesen (Inspector General for German Roads) and was involved in the new building company for the motorways (Reichsautobahnen). He later became Leiter des Hauptamts für Technik in der Reichsleitung der NSDAP and Generalbevollmächtigter für die Regelung der Bauwirtschaft. In 1938 he founded Organisation Todt, joining together government firms, private companies and the Reichsarbeitsdienst. In 1940 he was appointed Reichsminister für Bewaffnung und Munition and oversaw the work of Organisation Todt in the occupied west. After the invasion of Russia he was appointed to manage the restoration of the infrastructure.
He became increasingly distant from the commanders of the Wehrmacht and from Hermann Göring in 1941. After an inspection tour of the Eastern Front he complained to Hitler that without better equipment and supplies it would be better to end the war with the USSR.
On February 8, 1942 while flying away from a meeting with Hitler at Rastenburg his aircraft exploded and crashed. He was succeeded as Reichsminister by Albert Speer, who had narrowly missed being on the same aircraft.
At the time of his death in 1942, Dr. Fritz Todt was among the most powerful men of the Third Reich.
After Todt's death, the organization was taken over by Albert Speer, expanded and was divided into units
attached to different army groups. By 1944 it had 1,360,000 employees, (sources talk aabout 1 400 000) who
worked on projects such as the construction of Mittlewerk (the largest
underground factory in the world, it produced missiles and plane engines); air
force fortifications; and at least six underground factories with takeoff and
landing strips (Nordhausen). Tens of thousands of Jews transported from Hungary helped
build large bunkers and a defensive structure called the Southeast Wall.
 |
 |
Reichsminister / SA-Obergruppenführer / Generalmajor (LW) / M.d.R.:
Born: 4. Sep. 1891 in Pforzheim / Baden.
Killed: 8. Feb. 1942 in air crash, Rastenburg / Ostpreußen.
NSDAP-Nr.:
Assignments:
Reichsminister für Rüstung- und Kriegsproduktion:
Decorations & Awards:
Der deutsche Orden für die höchsten Verdienste (German Order for the Highest
Merit): 11. Feb. 1942 (posthumous);
Ehrenzeichen des deutschen Nationalpreises für Kunst und Wissenschaft (German
National Prize for Art and Science):;
1914 EK I; 1914 EK II;
Verwundetenabzeichen, 1918 in Schwarz;
Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer;
Deutsches Schutzwall-Ehrenzeichen (German Defense Wall Honor Award): 23. 11.
1939;
Goldenes Parteiabzeichen;
Goldenes Hitler-Jugend Ehrenzeichen mit Eichenlaub;
Dienstauszeichnungen der NSDAP in Silber und Bronze;
Deutsche Olympia-Ehrenzeichen 1. Klasse;