File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1969-146-01,_Fritz_Todt.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Fritz Todt
Sign in to saveGerman engineer and senior Nazi figure (1891-1942)
Key facts
- Leader
- Adolf Hitler ( Führer )
- Preceded by
- Position established
- Succeeded by
- Albert Speer
- Born
- ( 1891-09-04 ) 4 September 1891, Pforzheim , Grand Duchy of Baden , German Empire , (in modern Baden-Württemberg , Germany)
- Died
- 8 February 1942 (1942-02-08) (aged 50), near Wilhelmsdorf , East Prussia , Nazi Germany , (modern Wilamowo , Poland )
- Resting place
- Invalids' Cemetery , Berlin
- Party
- Nazi Party
- Parent s
- Emil Todt (father), Elise Unterecker (mother)
- Education
- Technical University of Munich , Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
- Profession
- Civil engineer
- Known for
- Chief of Organization Todt
- Cabinet
- Hitler Cabinet
- Civilian awards
- German Order
- Allegiance
- German Empire , Nazi Germany
- Branch service
- Luftstreitkräfte , Luftwaffe
- Years of service
- 1914–1918, 1939–1942
- Rank
- Leutnant of the reserves, Generalmajor der Luftwaffe (Honorary) , SA – Obergruppenführer
- Battles wars
- World War I , World War II
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Fritz
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Weimar Republic
- Place of birth
- Pforzheim
- Place of death
- Kętrzyn
- Occupation
- military personnel
- Educated at
- Technical University of Munich
- Political party
- Nazi Party
- Languages spoken
- German
- Conflict
- World War II
- Military rank
- Obergruppenführer
- Image
- Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1969-146-01, Fritz Todt.jpg
Show 12 more facts
- place of burial
- Invalids' Cemetery
- Commons category
- Fritz Todt
- date of birth
- 1891-09-04
- date of death
- 1942-02-08
- manner of death
- accidental death
- name in native language
- Fritz Todt
- cause of death
- aircraft crash
- allegiance
- Nazi Germany
- P8168
- Alex Giorgi
- subject has role
- eponym
- archives at
- German Federal Archives
via Wikidata · CC0
~25 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Fritz Todt ([fʁɪt͡s tɔt]; 4 September 1891 – 8 February 1942) was a German construction engineer and senior political figure of the Nazi Party. In 1938, he founded Organization Todt (OT), a military-engineering organization that supplied German industry with forced labor, and he served as Reich Minister for Armaments and Ammunition in Nazi Germany early in World War II, directing the entire German wartime military economy from that position.
An engineer by training, Todt served in the Luftstreitkräfte during World War I and was a recipient of the Iron Cross. He joined the Nazi Party in 1922 and the Sturmabteilung (SA) in 1931. Steadily rising through the ranks, Todt became Inspector General for German Roadways after Adolf Hitler came to power. In that capacity, he was responsible for the construction of the German autobahns. Todt also directed large-scale engineering projects such as the construction of the Westwall (Siegfried Line) and the Atlantic Wall. In 1940, he was appointed Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production. During the war, OT made extensive use of upwards of 800,000 slave laborers from German-occupied territories. Todt's agency can be linked to the Holocaust as SS personnel collaborating with OT murdered many of the forced laborers (especially Jews) on the pretext of eliminating security risks or as a component of the Nazi genocidal programme.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Fritz Todt” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.