Anton Loibl GmbH was a company owned by the SS which was a funding source for the

Ahnenerbe The Ahnenerbe (, ''ancestral heritage'') operated as a think tank in Nazi Germany between 1935 and 1945. Heinrich Himmler, the ''Reichsführer-SS'' from 1929 onwards, established it in July 1935 as an SS appendage devoted to the task of promot ...

research branch and the

Lebensborn Lebensborn e.V. (literally: "Fount of Life") was an SS-initiated, state-supported, registered association in Nazi Germany with the stated goal of increasing the number of children born who met the Nazi standards of "racially pure" and "hea ...

eugenics programme. It was created to market a bicycle reflector invented by Anton Loibl, a chauffeur for

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. It employed

slave labour Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. Anton Loibl, a former long-term chauffeur for Hitler and a decorated SS-

Hauptsturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Hstuf'') was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organizations such as the SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of ''Hauptsturmführer'' was a mid-level commander and had equivalent seniority to a ...

( Ernst Röhm had obtained the driver's job for him in the early 1920s, and he had spent time in prison after participating in the

Beerhall Putsch The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,Dan Moorhouse, ed schoolshistory.org.uk, accessed 2008-05-31.Known in German as the or was a failed coup d'état by Nazi Party ( or NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and oth ...

in 1923), was a part-time inventor; while working as a machinist and driving instructor, he invented a reflector for bicycle pedals which incorporated glass chips.Enno Georg, ''Die wirtschaftlichen Unternehmungen der SS'', Schriftenreihe der Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 7, Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1963,
p. 19
Heather Pringle, ''The Master Plan: Himmler's Scholars and the Holocaust'', New York: Hyperion, 2006,
n.p.
/ref>

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

, who was acquainted with Loibl, ensured that he was awarded the patent in preference to an earlier applicant, and the company was established in September 1936 in Berlin by Himmler's Personal Office in order to market it.Michael Thad Allen, '' The Business of Genocide: The SS, Slave Labor, And The Concentration Camps'', Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2002,
pp. 34–35
In his capacity as police chief of the Reich, Himmler had a requirement added to the traffic code on 13 November 1937 which required all newly manufactured bicycles to incorporate these reflectors."SS-Konzern: Pfeffer aus Dachau", '' Der Spiegel'', 25 December 1963
pp. 30–32
(pdf) The bicycle manufacturers had to pay a licence fee, which amounted to 600,000 ℛℳ in 1939. Loibl was initially a co-director and co-owner of the company, and received 50% of the income, altogether approximately 500,000 ℛℳ; he was removed for incompetence at the end of 1939 or early in 1940. (An internal report dated June 1939 pointed out Himmler's use of his power for the benefit of the company and criticised Loibl's personally profiting from it.) Additionally, Himmler directed the company to pay substantial sums (290,000 ℛℳ a year) to the Ahnenerbe and the Lebensborn; financing these had been the primary purpose of its establishment. The Ahnenerbe had chronic financing problems for some years and in 1937 the

Reichsnährstand The ''Reichsnährstand'' or 'State Food Society', was a government body set up in Nazi Germany to regulate food production. Foundation The Reichsnährstand was founded by the Reichsnährstandsgesetz (decree) of 13 September 1933; it was led by R ...

had reduced its funding and Himmler set up a foundation to channel funds to it, including from the Loibl concern. The Ahnenerbe's share of the Loibl funds was 77,740 ℛℳ in 1938; the Lebensborn received from 100,000 to 150,000 per year from 1939 on. At the

Nuremberg Trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded m ...

the Loibl company was described as "still earning considerable funds for 'Ahnenerbe'". Chartered to develop "technical articles of all kinds", the company later diversified and also sold other products, such as a patented lamp. By the end of the 1930s, when Germany had achieved full employment, the SS enterprises were using slave labour, including from

concentration camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

. In January 1938, Loibl showed a visitor around a testing laboratory for aircraft motors at Dachau.Franz Wegener, ''Der Alchemist Franz Tausend: Alchemie und Nationalsozialismus'', Politische Religion des Nationalsozialismus 6, ladbeck KFVR, 2006,
p. 142
In December 1963 the reflectors were still required on German bicycles.

References

{{SS organizations Nazi SS Manufacturing companies established in 1936 Loibl, Anton German companies established in 1936