Bodo Lafferentz (27 July 1897 – 17 January 1974) was a member of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

from 1933 and an '' SS-

Obersturmbannführer __NOTOC__ ''Obersturmbannführer'' (Senior Assault-unit Leader; ; short: ''Ostubaf'') was a paramilitary rank in the German Nazi Party (NSDAP) which was used by the SA ('' Sturmabteilung'') and the SS (''Schutzstaffel''). The rank of ''Oberstu ...

'' (Lieutenant Colonel) from 1939. In 1937, he was made a manager along with

Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline–electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner–Porsche), the Volksw ...

and

Jakob Werlin Jakob Werlin (10 May 1886, in Andritz – 23 September 1965, in Salzburg) was an Austrian auto salesman who worked primarily in Germany. Due to his early contact with Adolf Hitler, he became an honorary SS leader and Hitler's primary interfac ...

of the ''Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH'' ("Association for the Preparation of the German People's Car"). He founded and oversaw the "Institute for Physical Research", an outpost of the

Flossenbürg concentration camp Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Unlike other concentration camps, it was located in a remote area, in the Fichtel Mountains of Bavaria, adjacent to the town of Flo ...

, to further develop the

V-2 The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was develope ...

rocket.

Life

Lafferentz served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and received the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

2nd Class in 1916. In 1928, he completed his doctorate at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

in "Economic Planning and Price Regulation". He subsequently worked in the management of the German Employers' Association, and from 1929 was voluntarily on the management board of the National Institute of Benefits and Insurance for the Unemployed. On 1 May 1933, Lafferentz became a member of the

National Socialist German Workers' Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported th ...

, and was made leader of the "Office for Travelling, Rambling and Holidays" (which was later amalgamated into the

Strength Through Joy NC Gemeinschaft (KdF; ) was a German state-operated leisure organization in Nazi Germany. Richard Grunberger, ''The 12-Year Reich'', p. 197, It was part of the German Labour Front (german: link=no, Deutsche Arbeitsfront), the national labour or ...

organisation). In January 1938, Lafferentz was promoted to

Reich ''Reich'' (; ) is a German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word "realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emperor") and ' (lit ...

Agency Leader, and was given sole leadership of the Agency in the Central Office of the

German Labour Front The German Labour Front (german: Deutsche Arbeitsfront, ; DAF) was the labour organisation under the Nazi Party which replaced the various independent trade unions in Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power. History As early as March 1933, ...

in Berlin. In May 1937, he was made a manager (along with

and

) of the ''Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH'' ("Association for the Preparation of the German People's Car"), and in 1938 voluntarily became one of the CEOs of the company. He travelled extensively, searched for a good company location, and his recommendation of

Fallersleben Fallersleben is a part (''Ortsteil'') of the City of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, with a population of 11,269 (as of 2010). The village of Fallersleben was first mentioned in 942 under the name of ''Valareslebo''. Fallersleben became a city ...

was accepted. From 1939, he was a high-ranking officer in the SS (SS-Obersturmbannführer), and on the staff of the SS " Race and Settlement Central Agency". In 1942 he founded an "Association for Research and Development", to research oil shale sites and the use of

wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...

. In Bayreuth he founded and oversaw the "Institute for Physical Research", an outpost of the

, to develop the

rocket. Lafferentz organised the Bayreuth "War Festival", as he had married Verena Wagner, the daughter of

Siegfried Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

and

Winifred Wagner Winifred Marjorie Wagner ( Williams; 23 June 1897 – 5 March 1980) was the English-born wife of Siegfried Wagner, the son of Richard Wagner, and ran the Bayreuth Festival after her husband's death in 1930 until the end of World War II in 1 ...

, and the granddaughter of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

in 1943. He would have five children with her: Amelie (born 1944), Manfred (born 1945), Winifred (born 1947), Wieland (born 1949) and Verena (born 1952). At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Bodo Lafferentz was interned during the Allies’ de-Nazification program and released in 1949.

References

Literature

* Hans Mommsen, Manfred Grieger: Das Volkswagenwerk und seine Arbeiter im Dritten Reich (''The Volkswagen Factory and its Employees in the Third Reich''), ECON, Düsseldorf 1996,

Sources

*Most of the material in this article is from the German Wikipedia article

External links

Photograph of Lafferentzreferencesreferences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lafferentz, Bodo 1897 births 1974 deaths German Army personnel of World War I University of Kiel alumni Officials of Nazi Germany SS-Obersturmbannführer Volkswagen Group executives Wagner family 20th-century German composers Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class