Friedrich Mandl

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Friedrich Mandl (9 February 1900 in Vienna - 8 September 1977 in Vienna) was chairman of Hirtenberger Patronen-Fabrik, a leading Austrian armaments firm founded by his father, Alexander Mandl.

Mandl was a prominent fascist, but rather attached to the Austrofascism and Italian varieties than to Nazism. In the 1930s he became close to Prince Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg, the commander of the Austrian fascist private army ("Heimwehr") leader, whom he furnished with weapons and ammunition.

From 1933 to 1937, Mandl was notably married to actress Hedy Kiesler, who would later become known as Hedy Lamarr in Hollywood. Mandl stopped her acting career, bought all copies of her infamous film Exstase, and made her stay at Castle Schwarzenau until she ran away in 1937. Mandl's last of several marriages was to Monika Brücklmeier, daughter of Eduard Brücklmeier, an accessory executed for his involvement in the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

Following incorporation of Austria into Nazi Germany in the Anschluss of 1938, Mandl's remaining property which had not yet been transferred to Swiss ownership was seized, since he had supported the separatist Austrofascism, and his father had been Jewish.

He moved to Brazil, and later went to Argentina, where he became a citizen and remarried. In Argentina he served as an advisor to Juan Perón and found a new role as a film producer whose leading ladies included the future Eva Perón. He also founded a new airplane manufacturing firm, Industria Metalúrgica y Plástica Argentina. Until 1940, he tried to establish contact with Hermann Göring's office in order to supply Germany with iron.

After the war, he returned to Austria.

[edit] Sources

Bill, Ramón. Waffenfabrik Solothurn. Schweizerische Präzision im Dienste der deutschen Rüstungsindustrie. In: Schriftenreihe des Kantonalen Museums Altes Zeughaus Solothurn, Heft 14. Solothurn, 2002
Hug, Peter. Schweizer Rüstungsindustrie und Kriegsmaterialhandel zur Zeit des Nationalsozialismus. Unternehmensstrategien – Marktentwicklung – politische Überwachung. Zurique: Chronos Verlag, Band 11 der Publikationen der Unabhängigen Expertenkommission, 2002.
Kerekes, Lajos. Abenddämmerung einer Demokratie. Mussolini, Gömbös und die Heimwehr. Wien-Frankfurt-Zürich: Europa Verlag, 1966.
Louçã, António. Conspiradores e traficantes. Portugal no tráfico de armas e de divisas nos anos do nazismo. 1933-1945. Lissabon: Oficina do Livro, 2005.