Skip to main content

70 Years Ago Today- Dr. Hermann Münch Becomes First Chief Trustee and General Director of Volkswagen

  • Dr. Münch paves the way for the Wirtschaftswunder era
  • Employees are the focus of his commitment

Production of the Volkswagen Saloon was begun in December 1945 under British control. On February 26th, 1946 the British Board of Control installed commercial lawyer Dr. Hermann Münch as the Chief Trustee. On June 17th, 1946 Münch was additionally appointed to the newly created post of General Director.

Hermann Münch was born on March 20th, 1885 in the town of Iserlohn in Westphalia. After leaving school and studying law, he worked in lawyers’ offices and as an industrial lawyer. The doctor of laws and self-proclaimed opponent of National Socialism was engaged by Volkswagenwerk GmbH to establish sound structures and provide clearly defined assignment of roles. In his dual role, Münch worked closely with Major Ivan Hirst, the Senior Resident Officer appointed by the British Military Government, as well as with the company’s Works Council, which had been elected for the first time in November 1945.

Committed to the principles of consensus, and an expert in finance, Münch concerned himself with the interests of the approximately 7,000 people employed at the plant. He worked especially hard to procure housing for them. Teamwork between the British Military Government and the German management, paired with a spirit of pragmatism, optimism and an untiring commitment to reconstruction, helped to gradually increase production. On October 14th, 1946 the ten thousandth post-war Volkswagen rolled off the production line.

The agreement negotiated by Dr. Hermann Münch with the Works Council which came into force on May 10th, 1947 safeguarded enhanced rights of co-determination for the employee representatives. Münch effectively prepared the business for the era of Germany’s post-war economic miracle, known as the ‘Wirtschaftswunder’.

Münch was succeeded with effect from January 1st, 1948 by automotive industry manager Heinrich Nordhoff. His successors in turn have been Kurt Lotz, Rudolf Leiding, Toni Schmücker, Carl Horst Hahn, Ferdinand K. Piëch, Bernd Pischetsrieder, Martin Winterkorn and Matthias Müller.

The post 70 Years Ago Today- Dr. Hermann Münch Becomes First Chief Trustee and General Director of Volkswagen appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/1WNOweq
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Project SportWagen: Going Stage 2 with APR

    When we last left you, the humble little SportWagen was fresh from the development process with our friends at AWE Tuning, sporting a new downpipe, exhaust and intake, allowing things to breathe a bit easier.  The car sounded great, but there was no getting around the fact that our wagon was still quite, well, slow.   While we realize that nothing we do to the Golf SportWagen at this point will make it a race car, we still felt compelled to do something .  To put it bluntly, we had a fever, and the only cure was more power. Flash forward a few hours, and we found ourselves at Waterfest, staring down APR’s palatial spread and the numerous tuned vehicles surrounding it.  Earlier in the year, APR had hinted to us that their 1.8 TSI files would be quite impressive, and based on what they were able to do with the 2.0 TSI found in the new GTI and our time in their Golf R, we knew it’d be worth the wait.  So with this in mind, we lined our G...
Post a Comment
Read more

Watch: The Zerouno Cruis’n USA

ItalDesign is drumming up excitement for its new supercar based around the same 5.2-liter Audi V10 that powers the R8. Naturally, it hit the road for a cruise around California last week to celebrate Monterey Car Week. There isn’t much in the way of V10 noise—which is a real shame given the sound it makes—but you do at least get a good look at the car inside and out in this video. With a body made entirely of carbon fiber and designed to be as aerodynamic and light as possible, ItalDesign figures that it will be good for a 0-60 time of just 3.2 seconds. “We put it our best skills into the production of the first car,” said Massimo Bovi, head of pre-series production, when the Zerouno was first unveiled in Geneva earlier this year. “Using some of the finest productions methods and engaging our high-skilled workers.” The car features clever aero tricks gleaned from single-seat racing, like a y-duct up front to improve downforce and turn-in. Available in a number of trim levels, the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Volkswagen Golf GTE Wins Top Honor at the 2015 Business Techies Awards

Golf GTE wins Green category in the 2015 BusinessCar Fleet Technology awards Judges praised the Golf GTE for its performance, ease of use and economy Golf GTE launched earlier this year with plug-in hybrid technology – priced from £33,755 204 PS performance combined with CO 2  emissions of just 39 g/km Volkswagen has added to its growing list of 2015 automotive industry accolades by winning the Green category in the annual BusinessCar Fleet Technology Awards – the Techies. The prestigious title was awarded to Volkswagen for the Golf GTE, an innovative plug-in hybrid that combines sporty dynamics with exceptional fuel economy and low CO 2  emissions. Now in their seventh year, the Techies are judged by both BusinessCar’s experienced editorial panel with help from TRL’s technology expert. The industry’s only technology-specific awards, the BusinessCar Techies reward the use of technology to make business car fleet operations easier, cheaper, cleaner, safer and more straig...
Post a Comment
Read more