Stuttgart, Germany — Jewish racing driver and businessman Adolf Rosenberger was a co-founder of automaker Porsche, but according to new research based on previously unpublished documents, he was pushed out of the company during the Nazi era.
"It was a multi-pronged process," German historian Joachim Scholtyseck, whose work has been acknowledged by the international sports car manufacturer, told dpa.
Rosenberger was responsible for securing financing for the design firm and ensuring that drivable prototypes were developed into new models, although the poor economic climate of the Great Depression hampered the company's progress.
Rosenberger, who died in Los Angeles in 1967, has been almost forgotten by the public, said Scholtyseck.
The author's book about Rosenberger was released in German in October. An English version entitled "Driven Out - Adolf Rosenberger – Race Car Driver and Porsche Co-founder" is due to appear on December 5.
Rosenberger founded Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche GmbH was founded in 1931 together with Ferdinand Porsche and his lawyer son-in-law, Anton Piëch. He had a decisive influence on the design office in its early stages and contributed to its development as a partner and managing director.
"The independent study is an important contribution to the culture of remembrance," said Porsche chief executive Oliver Blume to mark publication of the Rosenberger book.
"The company is intensively examining its own past and facing up to its responsibility."
Rosenberger's racing career ended abruptly in 1926 after a serious accident at the Grand Prix in Berlin left three people dead. He was severely injured in the crash.
Rosenberger's life after Porsche
Scholtyseck reported that Rosenberger left Porsche's management board at the beginning of 1933. At that time, the company was not doing well and was "on the verge of bankruptcy."
Rosenberger then went to Paris for Porsche, but retained his 10% share in the company at a time when its fortunes suddenly changed.
By 1934, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler had seized power in Germany, and Porsche was given the task of coming up with a "people's car" that cost no more than 1,000 Reichsmarks - or around $8,200 in today's money.
"At the end of July 1935, Rosenberger was effectively forced out of the company as a partner," writes Scholtyseck. According to additional information provided by Porsche, he was even temporarily imprisoned in a concentration camp in Kislau, Baden, at that time.
In 1937, Porsche finally parted ways with Rosenberger, who sold his stake to the others for a knock-down fee and continued to live in the French capital. By then, the pressure from government authorities in Germany had become too great, said Scholtyseck.
The author said Rosenberger's biography would do little to alter the already tarnished image of automotive pioneer Ferdinand Porsche (1875 to 1951). "None of this surprised me," he said.
Some of the facts are, however, already known to experts. In his 2022 book "Nazi Billionaires," David de Jong quotes Rosenberger as saying: "I don't accuse Mr. Porsche and Mr. Piëch at any rate of personal anti-Semitism," although Rosenberger later said "they used my membership as a Jew to get rid of me cheaply."
Porsche and Piëch denied this. However, regardless of their motive, the duo's acquisition of Rosenberger's Porsche stake was an "Aryanization," said de Jong.
The Nazis were pleased with Porsche and made him the military economy leader and chairman of the influential Tank Commission. After the war, the French occupation authorities detained him for 22 months. They accused Porsche of using forced labourers, but he was never charged as a war criminal.
Rosenberger, meanwhile, emigrated to the United States in 1938, where, according to Porsche, he lived under the name Alan A. Robert. A restitution case that ended in a settlement in 1950 severed ties with Porsche for good but yielded only meagre financial results for him.