Heinrich Nordhoff
| Heinrich Nordhoff | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Heinz Heinrich Nordhoff 6 January 1899 Hildesheim |
| Died | 12 April 1968 (aged 69) Wolfsburg |
| Known for | Chief of Volkswagen |
Heinz Heinrich Nordhoff (6 January 1899 – 12 April 1968) was a German engineer who led the Volkswagen company as it was rebuilt after World War II.
Nordhoff was born in Hildesheim, the son of a banker. He graduated from the Technical University of Berlin, where he became a member of the Roman Catholic fraternity Askania-Burgundia, and in 1927, began work for BMW working on aircraft engines.
In 1929 he went to work for Opel, where he gained experience of the automotive industry and, since the company had been acquired by General Motors not long before, of American practices in the field. He was rapidly promoted: in 1936 he was the Commercial-Technical director who presented the company's innovative new small car, the Kadett, to the public. In 1942, with passenger car production much diminished on account of the war, he took over from Gerd Stieler von Heydekampf as Production Director at the company's flagship truck plant at Brandenburg.
After the war he was barred from working in the American-occupied sector because of a business award he had received from the Nazis. He obtained a job as a service manager at a Hamburg garage. Hamburg was a central location for the Control Commission for Germany - British Element, who recruited him for the position of Managing Director of the Volkswagen plant at Wolfsburg at the urging of British Army Major Ivan Hirst, who had been directing the plant. Nordhoff took up the position on 1 January 1948.
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