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Abstract
Ludwig Loewy was a Jewish engineer who left Nazi Germany in 1936 to set up an engineering firm in London as a refugee. Britain was rearming, and a new generation of aircraft was being developed based on light alloy construction. The new Loewy Engineering Company had the expertise to supply presses and rolling mills required for alloy fabrication, which were otherwise supplied from Germany at a time of growing tension. The new firm also built a giant tube press for steel for the Admiralty. Loewy’s new company grew rapidly in London, helped by a workforce of refugee engineers and managers and ‘many thousands’ of machinery drawings from Germany. Loewy became a technical advisor to the British Government’s production programme for aircraft until his death in 1942. Back in Germany, Loewy’s former firm, Schloemann in Düsseldorf, was Aryanised after his departure. Schloemann continued to supply equipment into the UK until the outbreak of war and went on to help the German and Italian war effort. Ludwig was dispossessed of his major share in the Company, and the history of Schloemann was rewritten. Ludwig Loewy’s rapid assimilation owed much to earlier contacts with the UK engineering and metals establishment, his expertise in a sector that was growing rapidly and short of skills, customers who needed his technology, and his own personal energy and drive. The Government welcomed his contribution to aircraft and warship production at a time of break-neck rearmament. Ludwig Loewy’s experience supports the view that German-speaking refugee engineers were readily accepted in the UK from 1933 to 1945.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Deborah Jaffé and Anna Nyburg, who encouraged my interest in this topic. Brigitte Loewy Linz was an invaluable source of information and comment. Advice was given by Bob Bowden, Clive Ellam, Ian Hoose, Philip Lawlor, Ian Livingstone, Mick Steeper, Bill Summers, and Professor Wojciech Misiolek. I am grateful to Dr. Hilary Potter for expert translation work.
Archivists provided welcome help including Dawn Laight and Holly Froggatt at Chesterfield Local Studies Library; Matthew Allen and Becky Sheldon at Derbyshire County Council; Anna Wreyford and Luke Dady at Dorset History Centre; Shotton Records Centre of Tata Steel, especially former manager Rolf Holthöfer; Anna Murphy, at Lincs Inspire in Grimsby; Ally McConnell at Gloucestershire Archives; Peter Elliott at the RAF Museum and Philip Jeffs at Warrington Archives. Particular thanks to Alex Japha at Lehigh University Archives, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, who made everything possible during COVID.
Earlier versions of this paper were improved by comments at the Newcomen Society Manchester, Bristol, and Newcastle and the Royal Aeronautical Society, Brough. Two expert referees corrected technical errors and gave wise advice. The author is responsible for all remaining errors.
Archive sources
Chesterfield, Derbyshire County Council, Local Studies Library, Chesterfield, (items CT1-CT42).
Dorset Archives at Dorchester, Dorset Council, (series D-2636).
Glasgow, Business History Archive on British Alcan, Archives and Special Collections, University of Glasgow Library, Thurso Street, Glasgow, (catalogue no. UGD347).
Lehigh, Records of Ludwig and Erwin Loewy held by Special Collections, Linderman Library, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, (call No: SC-MS-0078).
Shotton Records Centre, Tata Steel, Shotton Works, Deeside, Flintshire.
The National Archives, Kew, London.
Warrington Archives, Culture Warrington, Warrington, Cheshire (holdings on British Aluminium).
Disclosure statement
The author provided consultancy advice and management training to Davy-Loewy in Poole between 1985 and 1995.
Notes
1 An introduction to Ludwig Loewy is provided by Ian Livingstone, ‘Ludwig Loewy—The Story of a Czech Jew who escaped Nazi Germany’ at https://news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/dorset-history-centre-blog/2021/05/03 [accessed January 24, 2022].
2 See International Jewish Cemetery Project, ‘Becov Nad Teplou: Karlovy Vary, Bohemia’, http://iajgscemetery.org/eastern-europe/czech-republic/becov-nad-teplou, [accessed March 21, 2022]. We use the anglicised spelling Ludwig Loewy he himself adopted, rather than his original name Ludvik Löwy. Other surnames mis-spelt in post-war accounts have been corrected in line with pre-war company records.
3 Ludwig Loewy’s Institute of Metals Obituary in 1942 says he attended the ‘Technical School in Vienna’. Other sources suggest the University of Vienna. There is no evidence the University of Vienna had a Faculty of Engineering at the time. We conclude he attended the Technische Hochschule in Vienna. See ‘Obituary: Ludwig Loewy, Dipl. Ing,’ Journal of Institute of Metals, 68 (1942), 420
4 Maschinenfabrik Sack GmbH was set up in Düsseldorf in May 1899 by a young Hugo Sack. It established a reputation for building section mills and plate mill. See Sack Since 1899, Düsseldorf: Sack GmbH, 1979
5 There is conflicting evidence as to when Ludwig Loewy joined Schloemann. Both Wolfgang Mock, Technische Intelligenz im Exil. Vertreibung und Emigration deutschsprachiger Ingenieurne nach Grossbritannien, 1933 bis 1945, Düsseldorf: Verlag des Vereins deutscher Ingenieure, 1986, p. 87 and Walter Schwarzrock, ‘Ludwig Loewy—1887 to October 1942: His Activities in Düsseldorf from 1914-1936’, typescript (Dorset History Centre, ref. D-2636/1/1, no date, but circa 1988) had access to Schloemann business records and they both suggest a date of 1914. Lt. Col. W. T. Clark, ‘Information obtained during visit to England, 7 November 1942 to 7 December 1942’, typescript report, (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.09.01) suggests 1913, but this manuscript is cavalier with other facts. Schwarzrock suggests Paul Multhaupt, an engineer who had earlier moved to Schloemann from Sack and married one of Eduard Schloemann’s daughter’s encouraged Ludwig Loewy to make the move from Sack.
6 Roger Boyes, ‘Schloemann-Siemag: Expansion abroad pays off’, Financial Times, 27 November 1979.
7 Schwarzrock, ‘Ludwig Loewy’ op.cit., p. 2; Mock, op.cit., pp. 87–88.
8 GHH, or Gutehoffnungshütte, can be traced back to at least 1782 and subsequent merger with even older companies in 1808. The firm diversified into machinery and railway equipment, then iron ore and coal mines and subsequently steelmaking. During the 20th century, they were leading process plant contractors for ironmaking and steelmaking equipment as well as heavy engineering. GHH acquired a majority share in Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG (MAN) in 1921.
9 This murky episode cannot have endeared Ludwig Loewy to the Nazi Party. It is omitted from most accounts of Schloemann, but revealed by Office of Military Government for Germany (U.S.), Economics Division, Decartelization Branch, 18 October 1947, Memorandum to File, Subject: Aryanization of Schloemann A. G., Duesseldorf by G.H.H. (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.20.01). This document states that Loewy and Multhaupt initially each had 50% of the shares in the company in 1924. After being banned from Schloemann, Multhaupt obtained 55% of the shares from the company safe which he sold to Demag, and thence to GHH and MAN. Paul Multhaupt committed suicide in January 1933. Family sources suggest Ludwig Loewy was left with 45% of the shares, but a wartime legal document claims 50% ownership, see ‘3 March 1941 Memorandum in Sachen Schloemann A. G., Düsseldorf’ (Lehigh SC MS 0078.20.01 in German).
10 The Institute of Metals, ‘Obituary: Ludwig Loewy’ op.cit. reports his enthusiastic sales activities.
11 Schloemann AG, Düsseldorf, ‘Aufstellung der in Amerika schwebenden Projekts’, typescript reference list, dated 16 August 1935, (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.09.02). Bridgeport remained loyal to Ludwig Loewy after his departure from Schloemann, ordering a large horizontal tube press and associated air/hydraulic accumulator from Loewy Engineering in London in March 1938 for $117,500 (£23,500).
12 For example, Jonathan Aylen, ‘Stalinism, autarchy, espionage and Marshall Aid: How US strip mill technology came to Europe’, The International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology, 89 (2019), 92–121.
13 Antony C. Sutton, Western Technology and Soviet Economic Development 1930 to 1945, Vol. 2, (Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press at Stanford University, 1971), pp. 77–79; E.P. Everhard, ‘Kuznetsk Steel Plant in U.S.S.R’, Blast Furnace and Steel Plant, 20/12 (1932) 889–893.
14 See Schwarzrock, ‘Ludwig Loewy’ op.cit., p. 3 on high profits in the rolling mill business. The Soviet’s had a habit of paying in gold.
15 We do not have a reference list for Schloemann equipment supplied to Britain during the inter-war period. As we discuss below, an early contract was an extrusion press for stainless steel installed at Chesterfield.
16 Data on aircraft production is sparse for the rearmament period. Using data on financial appropriations for the RAF, we can infer that an index of aircraft production weighted by man hours and aircraft weight stood at 17 in 1934, 18 in 1935, and averaged 1774 at its peak during 1944. Derived from Central Statistical Office, The Statistical Digest of the War, London: HMSO and Longman Green and Co., 1951, table 7.24.
17 M. M. Postan, British War Production, (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1952), for HMSO, History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Civil Series, p. 15; J. V. Connolly, ‘Aircraft Production’, Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 70 (1966), 214–230; Brian Brinkworth, ‘On the Planning of British Aircraft Production for the Second World War and Reference to James Connolly’, Journal of Aeronautical History Papers, Paper 2018/09 (2018), 233–299.
18 Thurstan James, ‘Getting Going at the Shadow Factories’, The Aeroplane, 53 (1937), 529–539. Also Sebastian Ritchie, Industry and Air Power: The Expansion of British Aircraft Production 1935–1941 (London: Frank Cass, 1997).
19 David Edgerton, Britain’s War Machine: Weapons, Resources and Experts in the Second World War (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2012), ch. 7.
20 Aircraft industry employment figures are sketchy for the inter-war years and differ across sources, so these are broad estimates from The Statistical Digest of the War op.cit. table 19. Ritchie op.cit., table 26 suggests 27,000 worked at the main contractors for airframes and aeroengines in 1935 and perhaps 35,000 across the whole industry in that year (p. 256).
21 Aircraft Production, ‘A Modern Engine factory’, Aircraft Production, 1 (1939), 381–383; C. G. Grey, ‘Quantity Plus Quality’, The Aeroplane, 57 (1939), 119–125.
22 A. J. Murphy, ‘Materials in Aircraft Structures’, Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 70/661 (1966), 114–119.
23 William Hornby, War Production, Factories and Plant, London: Longmans, Green and Co. for HMSO, History of the Second World War; United Kingdom Civil Series, 1958, pp. 279–284. A new industry also emerged in the USA. As Erwin Loewy said of America: ‘After World War 1, the light metal industry was for all practical purposes non-existent’, manuscript of talk, (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.07.07, p. 114.)
24 F. R. C. Smith, ‘Some Aspects of the Mechanical Properties, Uses and Manipulation of Aluminium Alloys’, The Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 43 (1939), 1–18; J. R. Handforth, ‘Modern Aluminium Alloys: A Survey of the Materials to Various Specifications Available for Use’, Aircraft Engineering, 11/3 (1939), 101–106; ‘Stressed-skin Construction: A Summary of the Striking Progress Made in a Few Years’, Aircraft Engineering, 10/107 (1938), 2–3.
25 Communication with Clive Ellam, 2022. Also C. Ellam, ‘The British Heavy Bomber Aeroplane’, Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 68 (1996/7), 53–83.
26 ‘Quantity production of the Spitfire 1: Notes on the System Adopted by Vickers-Armstrong Ltd.’, Aircraft Engineering, 11/4 (1939), 167–180; But not the early Hurricane: ‘Series Construction of the Hurricane 1’, Aircraft Engineering, 11/2 (1939), 61–71.
27 F. R. C. Smith, ‘Some aspects . .’ op.cit. On extrusion see: C. E. Pearson, The Extrusion of Metals (London: Chapman & Hall, 1944) and Ernst Müller, Hydraulic Extrusion Presses: Presses Used for The Production of Tubes, Solid Rods, Hollow Sections, Wire, and Cable Sheathing in Nonferrous Metals (Berlin: Springer, 1961) and Alfred Von Zeerleder, The Technology of Aluminium and its Light Alloys, Slough, Bucks.: High Duty Alloys Ltd., translated from the 3rd edn, 1948. On the importance of extrusion to the war effort see Hornby, op.cit., pp. 279–284.
28 This was one area of British machinery innovation. John Shaw and Sons of Salford, Lancashire specialised in hydraulic presses for shaping light alloy parts using a variety of moulding techniques, including rubber pad presses. (Communication from Clive Ellam). Also see ‘A large British press: economies in production effected by use of rubber press technique’, Aircraft Production, 2/5 (1940), 141–2 on the contribution of Fielding and Platt of Gloucester.
29 M. M. Postan, D. Hay and J.D. Scott, Design and Development of Weapons (London: Longmans, Green and Co. for HMSO, History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Civil Series, 1964), p. 105. The authors got carried away when they claim: ‘Perhaps even greater advances were made in the field of aluminium alloy. Duralumin was found particularly suitable in cast and forged forms, being ten times lighter and nearly 100% stronger than the usual crank case of aluminium alloy’. They surely meant 10% lighter.
On the development of Duralumin, its early use by Junkers and resistance to its adoption in the UK and USA see: John D. Anderson, The Airplane: A History of its Technology (Reston, VA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2002) pp. 174–179 and Hugo Junkers, ‘Metal aeroplane construction’, Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 27 (1923), 406–449. The paper by Professor Junkers is printed without the usual audience discussion which is said to have dismissed his ideas—as ‘junk’. Nevertheless, James Booth, of Kitts Green in Birmingham became the first UK based supplier of Duralumin and British Aluminium a convert see: George Mortimer, Wrought Alloys of Aluminium in Aircraft (London: The British Aluminium Company Ltd., publication 327), 1929.
30 Postan et al., ibid., p. 105. On Y alloys see Smith, 1939 op.cit. For a modern comparison of the various alloys see: T. Ouissi, G. Collaveri, P. Sciau, J-M. Olivier and M. Brunet, ‘Comparison of aluminum alloys from aircraft of four nations involved in the WWII conflict using multiscale analyses and archival study’, Heritage 2 (2019), 2784–2801.
31 On capacity shortage in light metals see Official Civil Histories, Raw Materials Aluminium and Aluminium Alloys 1939–1945, Narrative by Official Historian Miss M. E. Jenkins, circa 1950, especially p. 48 and pp. 60–68 on extrusion presses as a bottleneck (The National Archives, CAB 102/187).
32 ‘The use of extruded sections in aircraft construction, at any rate as far as primary structures are concerned, has grown very rapidly, reflecting the speed with which aircraft designers have realised the value of their versatility’, F. R. C. Smith, op.cit., speaking in 1938.
33 William Ashworth, Contracts and Finance, London: Longmans, Green and Co. for HMSO, History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Civil Series, War Production Series, 1953, ‘The industry had, however, expanded at a tremendous rate in the years immediately before the war and there is little doubt that greatly increased turnover had resulted in extravagant profits.’ (p. 171).
34 The situation in the USA was no different. Erwin Loewy claimed every extrusion press in the USA came from Germany until the late 1930s when American firms began to produce designs under licence. Erwin Loewy, Speech, 6 April 1944, typescript (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.07.07), p. 6.
35 Ralf Richter and Jochen Streb, ‘Catching-up and falling behind: knowledge spillover from American to German machine toolmakers’, Journal of Economic History, 71/4 (2011), 1006–1031.
36 Hornby op.cit. p. 324 shows Germany accounted for 48.3% of world trade in machine tools by 1937.
37 According to Christopher J. Schmitz, World Non-Ferrous Metal Production and Prices, 1700–1976 (London: Frank Cass), 1979, German primary production in 1938 was 165,600 tonnes, rising to a peak of 250,100 by 1943. In contrast, the USA made only 129,000 tonnes in 1938, but far exceeded this by 1943, making 834,400 tonnes. These figures exclude a large secondary production in the USA, for which statistics are not available for Germany. Including the secondary market, the output for Germany was perhaps 185,000 tonnes and the USA 165,100 in 1938. The aluminium was to make Luftwaffe aircraft.
38 ‘Reynolds: The Story of an American Industrial Giant’, The BA News, 12/4 (1959), 3–8.
39 The plant was important to the war effort, making a third of UK alloy sheet and extrusions. During World War II, it was camouflaged and protected by its own anti-aircraft battery. A decoy factory of plywood built by technicians from Elstree film studies was set up 2 miles north at Hardwick Hill as a diversion. This replica was accurately bombed in daylight by the Luftwaffe on 3 October 1940, while production at Banbury continued unimpeded. Richard Hartree, ‘The Banbury Aluminium Works, 1929-2009’, Cake and Cockhorse, 20/1 (2015), 2–30. Also see E. Ashley, ‘Activities of Northern Aluminium Company Ltd. West Bromwich, Banbury and Adderbury, 1927 to 1946’, Typescript December 1946. (Glasgow, UGD347/28/3/1).
40 ‘Alcan in Banbury, a brief history’. Notes written for a brochure to celebrate 50 years of Banbury Works. p.2, typescript. c.1981. (Glasgow, UGD347/21/46/25) and Ashley, ibid.
41 ‘Light alloys in production: a description of one of the newest factories in Great Britain’, Aircraft Engineering, 10/117 (1938), 359–361; ‘Modern light-metal manufacture’, Aircraft Production, 1/4 (1939), 121–125.
42 Walzmaschinenfabrik August Schmitz GmbH had been building rolling mills for nonferrous and precious metals since 1835.
43 ‘Producing Rotol airscrews’, Aircraft Production, 1/6 (1939), 208–214. Rotol bought some German equipment for their new factory at Staverton in Gloucestershire. See B. Stait, ROTOL: The History of An Airscrew Company 1937–1960 (Stroud: Alan Sutton, 1990), p. 32.
44 High Duty Alloys played a key role in developing aluminium alloys which included nickel, such as the Y-alloys. See A.J. Murphy, op.cit.
45 Glossed over in the Official History, see Hornby, op.cit., pp. 310–317.
46 W.G. Hunt, ‘Machines for Airframe Production’, Aircraft Engineering, 10 (1938), 287–289.
47 Editorial: ‘German Tools’, Aircraft Production, 1/12 (1939), 405.
48 ‘British Aluminium, 11th special article’, Warrington Guardian, 26 May 1945.
49 British Aluminium Report Redundant Rolling Mill Plant for Disposal at Warrington Bank Quay Works, Warrington, Lancs by The British Aluminium Company Ltd., London, England March 1968, p. 10 (Glasgow, UGD347/21/40/32). Schmitz were still advertising their rolling mills to a UK market in the trade journal Light Metals during 1939, see the May and July issues.
50 Hartree, op.cit., p. 10.
51 Ing. W. Borstel, ‘Spot Welding: Methods and Conditions Observed in a Pioneer German Factory’, Aircraft Production, 1/1 (1938), 31–33. For an unduly confident view on the state of the art in Britain see: Northern Aluminium, The Welding and Riveting of Aluminium, 2nd edn (London: Northern Aluminium Co. Ltd, 1938), Neither source appreciate the high amps necessary, the need for tip cleanliness and tip cooling, the weakness of aluminium welds against shear forces, the ready migration of heat affected zones towards stressed areas, and so on. See Resistance Welding Manual, 4th edn (Philadelphia: Resistance Welder Manufacturers’ Association, 1989), chs.2 and 11.
52 Dr.-Ing. Wilhelm Pleines, ‘Riveting Methods and Rivet Equipment Used in the German Light Metal Aeroplane Construction’, Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 42 (1938), 761–815, including 20 pages of written answers to British questions posed to the German author.
53 The October 1939 issue of Aircraft Engineering, vol. 11, no. 128 published after war broke out is called: ‘The German Way: an issue devoted largely to enemy methods and techniques’, saying:
‘. . it will clearly be helpful to British and Allied designers and production managers if we continue the practice, which we have already developed in peacetime, of providing them with as much information as possible on the work of their opposite numbers in Germany. It has always been agreed that the Germans are clever technicians capable of displaying considerable ingenuity, more particularly in details of production. Their methods have, therefore, always been worth studying.’ p. 373.
54 George Dowty, In His Own Words: The Autobiography of Sir George Dowty, ed. By Ally McConnell (Gloucester: Hobnob Press, 2020). Elektron Metall GmbH was reorganised in January 1938 and became known as Mahle-Kommandit Gesellschaft, see Light Metals, 1/2 (1938), 61. Roy Feddon and Bert Newport of Rotol visited Germany in summer 1938 to glean information on propeller materials, see Stait op.cit., p. 18.
55 Specialloid Ltd, ‘British Aero Engine piston production’. August 1940 Typescript, (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.11.06). British intelligence derived from analysis of crashed Luftwaffe aircraft and from German technical reports was very thorough. On the performance of Mahle see B.I.O.S. Final Report No.693, The Investigation of the Light Alloy Forging Industry in Germany, British Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee, London: HMSO, 1950, Reported by J. H. Swain, J. Loew, L. W. T. Smith, V. H. Faulkner on behalf of the Ministry of Aircraft Production.
56 Harold James, The Deutsche Bank and the Nazi Economic War Against the Jews: The Expropriation of Jewish-Owned Property (Cambridge U.P., 2001) ch. 5 on aryanisation.
57 Peter Pulzer, ‘Foreigners: The immigrant in Britain’ in Second Chance: Two Centuries of German-speaking Jews in the United Kingdom, ed. by Werner E. Mosse (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1991), pp. 3–9, see p.8. Ludwig Loewy’s niece suggests ‘Ludwig had already left Germany in the fall of 1933’, settling in London (personal communication with Brigitte Linz, 9 February 2023).
58 The Autumn Annual Meeting of the Institute of Metals took place in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1929 from 9 to 15 September. This may have prompted Loewy’s membership application. Loewy and Lorant were elected to the Institute of Metals on 7 November 1929. See ‘Members Elected on November 7, 1929: Löwy, Ludwig, Dipl.-Ing …Düsseldorf, Germany’; also elected at the same time: ‘Lorant, Hugo … Düsseldorf, Germany’ Journal of the Institute of Metals, 43/1 (1930), 19.
59 Mock, op.cit., p. 88.
60 Alex Wilson, ‘The Loewy Engineering story: talk to the forum—28 Sept 1988’ typescript, p. 2 on the three founder directors (Dorset History Centre, ref. D-2636/1/1).
61 Those recruited by this route included their first draughtsman Fred Radford, and a female draughtsman Peggy Dormer, who was to stay with Loewy for at least 30 years. ‘Mr. Lorant would tell Mr. Clure ‘More English staff required’—he would then go round the corner and have a chat with his Foster-Wheeler friends …’ Alex Wilson, ibid., p. 3.
62 ‘London, 22 December 1938, To: The Directors of the Loewy Engineering Co. Ltd.’, acknowledgement by staff of gifts received. (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.19.02).
63 Ludwig Loewy sought support from Henry Ludwig Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett, a well-connected politician and corporate manager. See letter dated 13 February 1936 from Ludwig Loewy (c.o. Metropole Hotel, London) to Lord Melchett (ICI House, London), handwritten in English, about establishing a company in England, written on Schloemann letterhead (Lehigh University, SC MS 0078.30.03.) Mond was a fellow member of the Institute of Metals, see ‘Annual Autumn Meeting, report on Members Elected on 4 July 1929: Mond, the Hon. Henry Ludwig, M. P… London,’ The Journal of the Institute of Metals, 42/2 (1929), 7.
ICI gave Loewy Engineering an order within a month of the Company’s foundation in London. ICI also announced its move into aluminium production for aircraft use in 27 January 1937 and went on to develop their Kynoch Works in Birmingham which was to be equipped with a Loewy 5000 ton press, three high rolling mills and sheet mills. See ‘A New Source of Supply’ Aeroplane, 52/1340 (1937) 124.
64 Editorial: ‘Speeding Up Production’, Aircraft Production, 1/3 (1939), 77.
65 Wilson, op.cit., p. 4.
66 Dr. R. U. Reichl’s move is described by Clark, op.cit., see p. 2.
67 Daughter of E. R. Henschker, ‘A Christian Family Saved Twice by a Jew’, 2005 at http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/78/a3683478.shtml [accessed 11 October 2007, now deleted], with corrections. E. R. Henschker went on to became Technical Director of Loewy Engineering until 1964. See https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/E._R._Henschker [accessed 25 January 2022).
68 Schwarzrock, op.cit., p. 6.
69 Rebecca Kobrin, ‘Introduction: The Chosen People in the Chosen Land: The Jewish Encounter with American Capitalism’, in Chosen Capital: the Jewish Encounter with American Capitalism, ed. by R. Kobrin (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2012), p. 3.
70 R. Lustig, ‘re. list of orders received in England’, 25 October 1941 from R. Lustig, Montreal, to A. B. Cudebec, New York, (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.03.06.) This reference list covers presses, not rolling mills. Also see Wilson, op.cit., p. 5.
71 It is likely that ICI Metal’s enthusiasm for the extrusion of copper tubes derived from their strong market position in the supply of ammunition for shotguns, rifles, and handguns. Only later did the firm move into rolled light alloys and then extruded sections and tubes. See 1936 Tenth Annual Report of the Directors of Imperial Chemical Industries Limited to the Members, Submitted to the Members at the Tenth Ordinary General Meeting to be held on Thursday 29 April 1937 and successive reports.
Not all of the aircraft industry would have been so welcoming. C. G. Grey, the opinionated Editor of the weekly Aeroplane trade magazine, was openly antisemitic. His frequent and prolific editorials were fiercely anti-communist, pro-Hitler, strongly pro-Franco, casually racist, and opposed to Britain’s foreign policy. For an editor of a technical journal, he also had peculiar views on the emerging aircraft technology of the day. On the right-wing, bias of the UK Aircraft Industry in general see David Edgerton, England and the Aeroplane: Militarism, Modernity and Machines, revised edition (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2013), pp. 90–92.
72 29 October 1936, p. 215, ‘Authority No.247 from Tube Investments Ltd. For capital expenditure for a new Heavy Tube Plant, provisional value £250,000’, Chesterfield Tube Co. Ltd 1906-August 1962. Schedule of Appointments and Acquisitions Extracted from Board Meeting Minutes. Typescript (Derbyshire County Council Chesterfield Library, CT42).
73 Order, Lustig, op.cit. There is evidence that Ludwig Loewy received a consultancy fee of £5,000 in December 1936, perhaps to help with the overall planning of the scheme. See ibid. 18 December 1936, p. 223, ‘Payment of £5,000 to Loewy Engineering Limited on account of Professional services.’
74 Clark, op.cit., p. 3 on the size of the drawbench. Clark points out ‘building of this type of machinery was practically a monopoly of Germany’.
75 Some Recollections of the Chesterfield Tube Company Ltd. Presented by the Management Committee to the Chairman, William Brown, CBE, JP, 31 March 1964 (Chesterfield Library, CT39). The First Lord of the Admiralty was the political head of the Royal Navy. Lord Stanhope took on this role in October 1938 but was replaced by Winston Churchill in 1939.
76 ‘Meeting the demands of British industry and defence’, The Times, 7 December 1938, pp. 29–32.
77 Lustig, 1941, op.cit.
78 ‘23 October 1931, p. 77. Requisition for (Schloemann) extrusion press to be drawn’ and ‘1 July 1932, p. 84. Extrusion press ready for trials’, in Chesterfield Tube Co. Ltd op.cit.
79 ‘For some time after the extrusion art had been accepted as a commercial part of the nonferrous field, no further progress with other alloys seemed likely. However, Ludwig Loewy continued to persist in the study and research for application in the field of stainless steel and nickel alloys. Finally, small presses, designed especially for this purpose, were developed and tried out in Great Britain. New problems immediately presented themselves. It was found that extrusion temperatures for these metals were around 2000 °F. or higher. Moreover, it was found that the width of the temperature band where these metals would flow was very narrow. This meant that heating must be carefully controlled and the speed of extrusion must be very high.’ Erwin Loewy, 6 April 1944, pp. 7–8, typescript of speech, (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.07.07). Erwin Loewy was dissembling over the precise temperature, which would have been a trade secret at the time. We are indebted to Ian Hoose for advice on stainless steel extrusion.
80 Worth £42,404/14s/2d, handwritten note ‘Briton Ferry, summary of orders’ (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.19.02).
81 Jonathan Aylen, ‘Construction of the Shotton Wide Strip Mill’, Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 78/1 (2008), 57–85.
82 John Summers & Sons, File labelled ‘Strip Mill’ including Strip Mill Construction, revised estimate 28 February 1940. The Loewy Orders are under Group Codes 9 and 12. (Shotton Records Centre, Tata Steel, Group Secretary Code 425, Consignment 36, box 6, Location 4747).
83 I am grateful to William Summers for discussion, 15 January 2022.
84 On the difficulties of procuring electric motors for Shotton and earlier contracts, see the extensive correspondence between Ludwig Loewy and various European contacts in Lehigh, SC MS 0078.30.03 passim.
85 Richard Summers, The New Mill 1940 (London: Jonathan Cape privately published for Chester: John Summers & Sons Ltd., Hawarden Bridge Steel Works, Shotton, 1940), p. 18.
86 Loewy’s competitor in building steel rolling mills, Davy-United, were asked to shift their business to shell forging presses and brass mills for cartridge cases when the war broke out. There were to be many rolling mill orders for steel, but not until the war had ended. See Ewan Hewitt, ‘The transfer of rolling mill technology from the USA to Europe: the relationship of Davy with United Engineering’, Ribbon of Fire: How Europe adopted and developed US strip mill technology (1920–2000), eds. by Jonathan Aylen and Ruggero Ranieri (Perugia: Pendragon and Fondazione Ranieri di Sorbello, 2012), pp. 331–350.
87 Letter to Ludwig Loewy from Air Ministry, Dept. ZA, 9 September 1939 (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.21.09).
88 Livingstone, op.cit.
89 Letter from Ministry of Aircraft Production, London, dated 20 July 1940 to Mr. Loewy (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.19.02). Beaverbrook complained Loewy wanted to move the firm to Canada.
90 Lustig op.cit.
91 Erwin Loewy deserves a paper to himself. See ‘The Loewy Institute dedication: speech by Brigitte Loewy Linz’, Resolve Magazine, vol. 2, 2016 at https://engineering.lehigh.edu/research/resolve/volume-2-2016/did-you-know-loewy-institute [accessed 23 November 2022].
92 High Duty Alloys Ltd., Souvenir corporate brochure 1940-1965: 25 Years of Our Extrusion Division at Distington Works (Workington: HDA, 1965) (Glasgow, UGD347/24/1).
93 Sequence of visit reports with British companies regarding propeller blade manufacture (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.11.07).
94 Specialloid Ltd., ‘British aero engine piston production’. August 1940, typescript (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.11.06). For the precise manufacturing process see: Bristol piston stampings produced in aluminium alloy by High Duty Alloys Ltd., Slough, Royal Aircraft Factory, 1939 (TNA, AVIA 6/7819).
95 See Some Recollections, op.cit.
96 A. B. Cudebec, ‘Memorandum concerning background of Ludwig Loewy, President The Loewy Engineering Co. Ltd.’, London, 26 February 1941. typescript initialled ‘A.B.C.’ (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.21.09). ‘Major Albert Cudebec was the representative of the Loewy Engineering Company in America’. (Brigitte Linz, personal communication, 12 February 2023). A huge American press was named ‘Major’ in his honour after World War 2.
97 ‘Naturalization’, The London Gazette, 21 April 1942, p. 1746. This official source gives a slightly later date than the Certificate in the National Archives (TNA, HO 334/160/17007).
98 ‘LOEWY, Ludwig aka LOWY aka LOWY, Ludvik: Austrian and Czechoslovakian’, 1 Jan 1934–31 Dec 1944, (TNA, HO 382/384), marked closed until 1 January 2045.
99 Dated 8 June 1940. Reproduced in Livingstone op.cit. It may have helped that Ludwig Loewy retained his Czech citizenship as the Czechs were not adversaries of the UK.
100 See Daughter of E. R. Henschker, op.cit. Also Letter from Ministry of Aircraft Production, London, 13 July 1940 to Mr. Loewy saying the Home Office were releasing Messrs Haffner, Hachenburg, and Wutscher. (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.19.02).
101 Nigel West, ed., The Guy Liddell Diaries, Volume 1: 1939–1942: MI5’s Director of Counter-Espionage in World War II (Abingdon: Routledge, 2005), pp. 90–92 is entertaining and implies Beaverbrook and Loewy met regularly. This story of the Minister of Aircraft Production’s staunch support for Loewy is repeated in other sources on Beaverbrook.
102 Bill Williams, ‘Refugees and Eccles Cakes: Refugee Industrialists in the Manchester Region, 1933–45’, Transactions of the Manchester Statistical Society, (2007-8), 1–22.
103 Office of Military Government for Germany (U.S.) Economics Division, Decartelization Branch, 18 October 1947, ‘MEMORANDUM TO FILE, SUBJECT: Aryanization of Schloemann A. G., Duesseldorf by G.H.H.’, p. 3. (Lehigh, SC MS 0078-20-0). We do not know Ludwig’s movements that day. A day trip from London to Düsseldorf would have been possible with a leisurely 10 o’clock departure by Deutsche Lufthansa on flight 455 from London Croydon to Cologne, arriving at 12.20, a swift car journey on the new Opladen Bypass into Düsseldorf, only to turn around and suffer an apprehensive wait for a return flight back from Cologne at 5 pm, getting into Croydon for 7.50. See ‘Deutsche Lufthansa Summer Timetable, 19 April–3 October 1936’, p. 4 at http://timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/complete.htm#Europe [accessed 26 August 2022].
104 This account is based upon the Office of Military Government for Germany, ibid. p. 5. Schwarzrock op.cit. says Loewy was forced to surrender his shares under a court injunction for a value of 8 million Reichsmark, although the payment into his bank was immediately blocked in September 1939. We find no other evidence for this figure. In any event, the bank itself, Hirschland & Co., being a Jewish bank, was largely expropriated by Deutsche Bank, see James, op.cit., pp. 77–81, and then traded under the name Jacob Burkhardt & Co. A completely different figure of 1,287,593.43 Reichsmark is reported by Erwin Loewy, Notes (Lehigh SC MS 0078.20.01, dated 15 October 1947 in German). Despite the outbreak of war in September 1939, litigation over the value of these shares continued until at least March 1941 (sic) see ‘3 March 1941 Memorandum in Sachen Schloemann A. G., Düsseldorf’ (Lehigh SC MS 0078.20.01 in German.) This legal note suggests Ludwig Loewy owned 50% of Schloemann.
105 Schloemann Aktiengesellschaft, Düsseldorf, illustrated brochure issued April 1940 (Lehigh, SC MS 0078.20.01 in German). ‘Before joining the Schloemann Corporation, Paul Multhaupt, a young engineer, had been working at a machine works similar to our own. The experience he brought with him, his drive, his ability to quickly grasp new possibilities together with his judicious execution of the tasks before him, and his skillful staff selection, he was able to transform the company successfully from one that was originally devoted exclusively to trade into one that became talented in the technical field as well.’ Perhaps, Ludwig Loewy’s name was simply replaced by Paul Multhaupt? We are grateful to Dr. Hilary Potter for the translation of this document.
106 Jonathan Aylen, Interview with Dr. Joachim Garnjost and Dr. Ing. Wolfgang Rohde, Schloemann-Siemag AG, Düsseldorf, 17 September 1980.
107 H. A. Brassert and Co. London, Set of drawings of Reichswerke A. G. Hermann-Goering Works, Eisenhuttenwerk Braunschweig, London: Granite House, Cannon Street, 1 June 1939 (Shotton Records Centre, Tata Steel, Search Room).
108 Luciano Frezza, ‘Italian Wide Strip Mills’, eds. by Jonathan Aylen and Ruggero Ranieri op.cit., pp. 217–231.
109 See B.I.O.S. Final Report No.693 op.cit.
110 Loewy’s story was commonplace throughout the European rolling mill industry 35 years after the war had ended. Schloemann’s senior managers were open about Ludwig Loewy’s role in 1980. Dr. Garnjost and Dr. Rohde joked that Schloemann had been responsible for setting up the British metallurgical plant industry, which was enjoying much success at the time. A similar story was told by Eric Earnshaw and John Robertshaw during a meeting at Davy-Loewy in Sheffield on 17 March 1978.
111 The ‘Schloemann: Engineering in Düsseldorf’ component of the current SMS website excludes any significant history after 1921. https://www.sms-group.com/company/our-heritage [accessed 17 November 2022].
112 Wofgang Mock, ‘Engineers from Germany in Exile in Britain, 1933–1945’, pp. 347–360 in Second Chance: op.cit., p. 347.
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Jonathan Aylen
Dr Aylen is a recent President of the Newcomen Society and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research within Alliance Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester. He has researched technologies, including missile guidance systems and Britain’s early atomic bombs. He has also written on innovation in rolling mill technology and on revolutionary computer use at British Rail.